World Series Baseball 2k3 Review (1 Viewer)

[Ricky Hustle]

Hmmm. I thought this was the World Series Baseball 2k3 Review thread. Why dont you EA guys move over to another thread?

When you remove the batting cursor, the mode changes to 'Timed hitting'. You do not have to swing high or low to make contact, you only have to time the swing. It is easier to hit in this mode, but you see the movement of the ball much better. I upped the pitch speed in options and am playing on the hard difficulty level to counter the easier hitting and the games have been competitive with realitistic final scores. We'll see how this pans out as I get better.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Does anyone know what the return policy is at EB or Gamestop in a situation like this. I want to get either MVP or WSB 2k3 for the XBox but my blockbuster doesn't have either for rent(or even last year's WSB). I'm not sure which I'll prefer but I was thinking of buying both, and then seeing which one I prefer. I know EB and Gamestop have pretty good return policies but I'm not sure if they'd let me retun an opened game for a refund instead of an exchange. Anyone ever do that at EB or Gamestop? If not, I guess i'll just wait a while until I can give one or both or them a rental, and what a long wait it'll be

 

[RudyN]

The last time I bought something from Gamestop, I was able to return the game, which was opened, and receive my money back. This was back when Fifa World Cup 2002 was released. EB however will only let you return an opened game for another game or store credit. However, alot of people on the net have been saying that return policy is changing very soon. I'd say your best bet is Gamestop, but I'd give them a call first.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Rudy,
Thanks for the reply. I was actually able to rent MVP today and I'm enjoying it so far. If I can't find a rental of WSB2k3 by the time I have to return MVP, I'm gonna pickup WSB and give it a whirl. If I find I prefered MVP I'll exchange it for that(I'll make sure the return policy at my EB or Gamestop will allow that).

 

[Dave Bennett]

Perhaps Jay or another mod could move the MVP impressions into my MVP Baseball 2003 Review/Discussion Thread

 

[Dave Bennett]

Picked WSB 2k3 up today from EB and made sure the return policy was still the same. All in all, it's not perfect but of the three baseball games I've played this year, I think it's the strongest and I think I'll be keeping it. Here's my quick comparisons between ASB 2004, MVP Baseball 2003, and WSB 2k3.
Graphics-Overall, WSB 2k3 is the prettiest of the buch. It's noticeably crisper than the other two and almost looks like it's in a higher resolution. The stadiums are also of higher resolution. However, All Star Baseball still wins in the attention to stadium detail. In WSB, there's no "John Hancock" sign(or one saying something different). ASB has that, a sign for the Jose Fund(which is made to look like the Jimmy Fund banner in right field), a sign that looks like the Dunkin Donuts sign, a sign looking like the Fleet billboard in left, and other little details. I'm not even sure if WSB has the Citgo sign visible. Also, ASB has stadium specific crowds(In Fenway, you can clearly see people wearing Red Sox apparel and even a guy wearing a Yankees Suck shirt!)Also, some of the animations in WSB look, well weird. The swing animation for one, looks less realistic to me than the one in MVP. Also the bat looks a bit thin. Still that's nitpicking as the game looks great overall.
Sound-This is a tough one. In terms of in game sounds, the nod goes to MVP Baseball. The game just sounds more realistic to me than the others. In terms of commentary, ASB gets the nod. Tom Brenneman and Steve Lyons sound more natural than the guys in MVP, and as much as I like WSB, the commentary is a joke. It sounds like a high school kid calling his Dad's work softball league game. I hope to God the play by play announcer for WSB doesn't actually work in broadcasting.
Presentation-WSB 2k3. While MVP has some AMAZING replays(and they are phenomenal no doubt about it), the ESPN design to the game just makes it that much more realistic.
Gameplay-This is a tough one. Ultimately I'm gonna say WSB but MVP does do some things better. For one thing, the pitching interface in WSB seems kind of clumsy to me(why not have a different button for each pitch?) I actually had to look in the manual to figure out how to chose my pitch. MVP's pitch meter is really cool, though after playing WSB a bit I realize that it's not as groundbreaking as I initallly thought. Batting is another story. ASB is by far the worst in this respect. It's just insanely hard, and if you turn off the cursor then it becomes too easy to simply hit pop ups all the time. MVP seems to be pretty strong in it's batting interface but the aiming where you want to hit the ball doesn't work as well as you'd think. I was having some real trouble with batting in WSB but then, on a whim, I turned off the cursor. Instatnly batting became manageble. It's a bit on the easy side (I was playing on rookie with pitch speed at low) but I'm sure I can tweak it. The cursor just makes it too hard IMHO(though not as bad as ASB's cursor). Thankfully Sega included a wealth of tweakability so it should be quite good.
Extras-ASB has a ton of extras but I care more about the gameplay and ASB just doesn't cut it. ASB also has downloadable roster updates, which I was initally stalwart on my next baseball game having but I've since realized it's not that important. MVP doesn't have much in the way of extras, and WSB has lots of alternate uniforms and a few other nice little additions.
In summary, While I've not tried High Heat(this year) I wasn't too impressed with the PC version when I played it at my buddies house last year. I think I'll be sticking with WSB. It's a very good game overall and has a lot to offer. It can be customized so you can find the right balance for you. If Sega can get the little details of the stadiums down, add some sort of Live component(roster updates at the least), fix some of the animations, and maybe tweak the pitching/batting interface I think they'll have an unbeatable game next year. It's still a damn fine game as it stands but it's not perfect. MVP is a good game to try to get a taste of the future. I really think that MVP is gonna be a phenomenal game in 1-2 years and may bring the baseball crown back to EA Sports(though note to EA, I DON'T WANNA HEAR SUM 41 AND THE LIKE IN THE MENUS OF SPORTS GAMES!). ASB, really doesn't have much to offer unless you're a huge fan of the extras.
I'd say WSB is the one to get, with MVP being one to rent just to see some cool ideas put into execution. MVP is like your favorite directors first film, it's flawed overall, but you begin to see seeds of future genius.

 

[Jeff Peake]

I picked up WSB 2k3 last night.

Maybe my eyes are lying, but it does not appear to support 16x9.

I have double checked my XBox Dashboard...widescreen and 480p are enabled.

On my Pioneer 64", when I switch to "Full" mode, players are stretched. I wasnt 100% sure at first, but I went into "Replay" and looked directly down on the batters circle at Fenway. When I change my set to "Full", the circle is obviously an oval. When I go to 4:3 mode, the circle is shown as a perfect circle.

Can anyone else confirm this? Am I wrong?


Other than that issue, I am really liking the game. I use "timed" batting, and am playing at the "All-Star" difficulty. Games are generally low scoring affairs, no 20-0 blowouts yet, so I guess the AI is pretty realistic.

The animations are not perfect. Sometimes when people are throwing it doesnt look quite right. Not sure exactly what it is, but the ball just comes out kind of wierd.

The Commentary got annoying fast. I have turned it off and use the "At the ballpark" sound setting.

I have noticed something strange with the PA announcer, maybe a bug or maybe my knowledge of baseball is limited. Sometimes he will say a bunch of numbers after a pitch. I was just playing with the Red Sox, after Pedro's opening pitch of the game the PA announcer said, "First pitch, seven-oh-seven". What the heck does that mean???? Also, after foul-balls, I have heard him say "Zero" once in a while. I have no idea what he is talking about. I have only played as the RedSox, not sure if the PA announcer is different for other teams.

Other than these minor annoyances, I really like the game. I found the controls very intuitive. Diving and jumping when fielding is pretty cool. I havent snagged a HR from going out of the park yet, but came close once.




Jeff Peake

 

[RudyN]

I think I read over at the Operation Sports forums that it only supports widescreen in 720P mode.

I have noticed something strange with the PA announcer, maybe a bug or maybe my knowledge of baseball is limited. Sometimes he will say a bunch of numbers after a pitch. I was just playing with the Red Sox, after Pedro's opening pitch of the game the PA announcer said, "First pitch, seven-oh-seven".

He's announcing the time of the 1st pitch. Never heard the zero after foul balls though.

 

[RudyN]

If anyone is interested in tweaking the sliders, a user over at Operation Sports forums, FatPitcher(who worked on the game), posted the following regarding what the sliders do.

Where do I change sliders?

On the Main Menu, choose Options, Gameplay Sliders.

OK, fine. Now how do I change them?

Change the difficulty level to Custom. The other difficulties are listed for reference and cannot be changed.

How do I use my Custom sliders in the game?

On the Team/Controller Select screen, press X (Square on PS2) to get to the Options page. Change the AI Difficulty setting to Custom.

What do the sliders do?

CPU Pitching Ability - Turning this slider up causes AI pitchers to make fewer mistakes and work the corners better. Pitches outside the strike zone will be closer and harder to take.

CPU Batting Average - AI's ability to hit. Turning it up results in more hits of all types.

CPU Batting Eye (Strikes) - Turning it up causes the CPU to swing more often at pitches in the strike zone

CPU Batting Eye (Balls) - Turning it up causes the CPU to swing less often at balls

CPU Throw Strikes - Turning it up causes the CPU to throw a greater ratio of strikes to balls

CPU Steal Frequency - turning it up makes the CPU steal more often

There is also a lot more information posted over there. You must register to view the forums, but it seems worth it. The link to the forums are http://forums.operationsports.com//u...reads.php?Cat=

Rudy

 

[Jeff Peake]

I just played another game of WSB2k3 and found a couple of bugs.

1) I hit a homerun, that was about 5 feet inside the foul post in right. The announcer said the ball was "hit deep, but fouled", when in fact it was not foul and I got a HR.

2) Tori Hunter hit a ball into shallow right field and ran down to 1st. My right-fielder threw the ball to 1st, but Tori beat the throw easily. Tori stood on first base. When I hit the "A" button to skip the animation and proceed to the next batter, it showed tori hunter rolling around on the ground in the batter box . The announcer made some remark on how he looked to injure himself on the swing. The injury window came up, said he was out for 77 days with a broken wrist. It was very confusing! I guess he ran down to first, then ran back to homeplate and collapsed due to his injuries!


I do wish WSB2k3 was live enabled, we might have seen a patch.

 

[Scott_W]

I rented the game and have been playing it. Its fun, and I like it more then MVP. However, there are definitely bugs in the game. The injured hitter bug is the worst so far. If you get injured hitting, the hit basically doesn't count, your sub won't show up on the correct base. At times, my lineup doesn't translate correctly to the play screen, and I have to manually tune it. The game also plays to slowly, which is a bit frustrating.

That said, its my favorite baseball game so far this year. In the past I've loved High Heat, but after renting it, it didn't do much for me. MVP is fun, but pretty flawed in some aspects. WSB is the best package so far.

 

[RudyN]

According to FatPitcher, the injury bug will be fixed in the PS2 version along with a few other things.

 

[Dave Bennett]

Played a few more games and I think I'm getting realistic numbers. I'll admit I'm not very good(I have the sliders at 30 each and I think that was a bit much for me) but my team batting average is ~.330 I'm playing on rookie with pitch speed set at slow and I'm using timed hitting. I just can't seem to get the nack for the cursor. I've noticed that the cursor doesn't really add to the hitting system, it just makes it harder. For example, if I smack a pitch right in the middle of the cursor, it's just as likely to be a pop fly as if I just use the timed batting. For that reason, pitch selection is really more important(location and type). I know the computer rarely pitches it down the middle but it certainly varies from time to time so I think the cursor just adds an extra element of challenge that I'm not good enough to handle
So far I like the game alot, though I lost the second game of my season 3-0 to the Devil Rays, ugh.
After playing it for a good day and a half, I tried to play a game in MVP and ASB 2004 and I just couldn't bear to do it. WSB is the king of the 3 and with any luck I'll soon be cracking hits left and right(I think I only had 9 hits in my last game).

 

[Jeff Peake]

I found that the "Pro" AI settings got to easy after about 10-15 games. I changed it to "All-Star" and started getting blown out and unable to generate much offense. So I changed the sliders all to "50", which is half way between pro and all-star.

I also used Timed Hitting and Medium pitch speed. This combo is perfect at the moment. Games are very close and competitive. My team batting avg is around .300 (playing as Boston).

 

[GlenHaag]

I've only got 4 games in at this point, but I'm thinking I'll need to turn up the difficulty. I'm playing on Pro with all of the default settings, and Richie Sexson has 4 Hr's in the first 4 games.

It seems like the computer just serves them up to him sometimes, but maybe I'm good as well... who knows?

The only other issue is that I've already had two games where I've thrown 14+ K's. I'm hoping the step up to All-star will get rid of some of the minor things I've seen.

I'm really loving the game, and the 720P/Widescreen mode is just plain beautiful.

Glen

 

[Damien]

picked it up and played a game in miller park. it seems like it needs heavy slider adjustments until i start to like it. The graphics look killer, but the sound is horrible, i have to tinker with those sliders as well to salvage something. The batting cursor reminds me of the 16-bit incarnation of the series(in terms of use). I am having trouble seeing the ball cleary, I wish it had an indicator like ASB. I'll do some tweaking and post back...

 

[Jeff Peake]

Anyone else getting alot of in-the-park homeruns??

I hit 3 In the Park homeruns in the last 2 games. One was on an error, so I guess that is OK. But the other two were just line drives to the corners that got past the outfielders.

 

[RudyN]

I've only hit 1 in the park HR in about 40 games(30 Franchise, 10 exhibition).

 

[James_Kiang]

Question about Franchise Mode: Can player(s) control more than one team in the Fantasy Draft? That's something my friends and I loved doing back in the day with Tony La Russa on the PC. Thanks in advance.

 

[GlenHaag]

It looked like we had the option when I started my game. I'm not sure though.

Glen