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IGN Review of MLB Superstars
If there is one thing Wii has in excess, its mini-game compilations. Developers have been pumping them out since day one. They have their place, sure, but it's getting out of hand. Publishers really just want to put a box on the shelf, and mini-games are the quickest and most inexpensive way to fill a disc. They'll hire a small developer, supply them with a shoestring budget and the chosen theme, and sit back and wait for the money to start rolling in. Case in point, MLB Superstars, brought to us courtesy of 2K Sports and Deep Fried Entertainment.
Don't be fooled; you will not be playing baseball in this game. Instead you'll be treated to six random mini-games, all of which have almost nothing to do with America's favorite pastime. You play as well-known major league players, but that's about as far as the MLB license is taken.
After choosing a character for yourself, and up to three friends or computer controlled opponents, you select from one of six games - Golf, Snack Cannon, Wall O' Bricks, Mascot Dance, Pachinko, and Baseball Bocce. All of these are extremely simple and involve swinging or pointing with the Wii remote. In golf, you hit or throw a baseball towards a giant hole in as few turns as possible. An alternative mode is available where you try to hit the ball closest to the pin in one turn. There are three different stages. That's it.
In Snack Cannon you use the Wii remote's pointing functionality to shoot various food at fans with bubbles over their heads. Give them the right food and get a point. In the Wall O' Bricks mini-game, you either swing the remote to break blocks falling from the sky, or in an alternative mode, use the pointing function to throw balls at two or more matching colored blocks to make them disappear. Whoever lasts the longest without the blocks reaching the top, wins. Mascot dance consists of doing timed motions with the Wii remote to make your mascot dance and gain points, with only a few different patterns that constantly repeat. In Pachinko you swing the remote to hit a ball into the bleachers. It bounces down like a pinball machine to rack up points. Simple.
Baseball Bocce is just as it sounds. You throw baseballs underhand, trying to avoid obstacles and get as close as possible to the target. A second mode is similar to marbles, but the same basic idea. In all these games, the player with the most points at the end of the match wins. And unfortunately, the strength at which you hit or throw a ball is determined by how hard you swing the remote, but it's impossible to precisely measure. When playing Bocce Ball, you swing the remote in an underhand motion, but for some reason I could not get my player to release the ball most of the time. I instead had to repeat the motion over and over for it to finally register.
And that's all there is to it. That is the extent of the gameplay. That's what you get for your money.
There is little incentive to play these games. You can unlock a few different outfits and gear to change the look of your player, but it has no impact on gameplay. You can also unlock trophies, but there are only two for each mini-game, and you'll unlock many of them on your first attempt. Really, there's nothing to keep you coming back.
The graphics go for a cartoony, cell shaded look, with dark outlines on all the character models. The backgrounds are extremely simple, with a few set pieces in front of flat background elements. The menus are typical for this sort of game - simple color changing buttons in front of a 3D backdrop. There are also unusually long load times for what's on screen. Every time you select an event, or go back to the menu, there is about a five second load time. Overall the game comes across feeling like a sub-par, last-generation effort.
©2008-11-25, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Don't be fooled; you will not be playing baseball in this game. Instead you'll be treated to six random mini-games, all of which have almost nothing to do with America's favorite pastime. You play as well-known major league players, but that's about as far as the MLB license is taken.
After choosing a character for yourself, and up to three friends or computer controlled opponents, you select from one of six games - Golf, Snack Cannon, Wall O' Bricks, Mascot Dance, Pachinko, and Baseball Bocce. All of these are extremely simple and involve swinging or pointing with the Wii remote. In golf, you hit or throw a baseball towards a giant hole in as few turns as possible. An alternative mode is available where you try to hit the ball closest to the pin in one turn. There are three different stages. That's it.
In Snack Cannon you use the Wii remote's pointing functionality to shoot various food at fans with bubbles over their heads. Give them the right food and get a point. In the Wall O' Bricks mini-game, you either swing the remote to break blocks falling from the sky, or in an alternative mode, use the pointing function to throw balls at two or more matching colored blocks to make them disappear. Whoever lasts the longest without the blocks reaching the top, wins. Mascot dance consists of doing timed motions with the Wii remote to make your mascot dance and gain points, with only a few different patterns that constantly repeat. In Pachinko you swing the remote to hit a ball into the bleachers. It bounces down like a pinball machine to rack up points. Simple.
Baseball Bocce is just as it sounds. You throw baseballs underhand, trying to avoid obstacles and get as close as possible to the target. A second mode is similar to marbles, but the same basic idea. In all these games, the player with the most points at the end of the match wins. And unfortunately, the strength at which you hit or throw a ball is determined by how hard you swing the remote, but it's impossible to precisely measure. When playing Bocce Ball, you swing the remote in an underhand motion, but for some reason I could not get my player to release the ball most of the time. I instead had to repeat the motion over and over for it to finally register.
And that's all there is to it. That is the extent of the gameplay. That's what you get for your money.
There is little incentive to play these games. You can unlock a few different outfits and gear to change the look of your player, but it has no impact on gameplay. You can also unlock trophies, but there are only two for each mini-game, and you'll unlock many of them on your first attempt. Really, there's nothing to keep you coming back.
The graphics go for a cartoony, cell shaded look, with dark outlines on all the character models. The backgrounds are extremely simple, with a few set pieces in front of flat background elements. The menus are typical for this sort of game - simple color changing buttons in front of a 3D backdrop. There are also unusually long load times for what's on screen. Every time you select an event, or go back to the menu, there is about a five second load time. Overall the game comes across feeling like a sub-par, last-generation effort.
©2008-11-25, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved