Major League Baseball 2K9 for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

The MLB 2K series is in trouble, there's no doubt about it. Anyone who played the PS3 or 360 versions of 2K9 will be able to tell you that the series has certainly seen better days. Thankfully the same cannot be said for the PS2 edition. While it doesn't have nearly the same glitz, glamour or feature set as its current-gen brethren, Major League Baseball 2K9 on PS2 still manages to offer a solid representation of America's favorite pastime.



The only truly new feature in MLB 2K9 as far as the PS2 version goes is the new commentary duo in the box. Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips do a good job of presenting the action and, come to think of it, are the best part of the rather paltry offering of presentational flair. Thankfully, the general lack of bells and whistles makes it possible for 2K China to deliver the smoothest baseball of any version.



Those who have played the PS3 and 360 versions of 2K9 know that it's a choppy affair. After every hit the camera pans to the crowd and things get jittery. Not here. The action is generally locked at a smooth 30 frames per second, no matter what's happening on the field. Sure, some camera angles are designed to limit the view of the action -- like when you slap a ball into left field and are running down the first base line -- but the benefit is a less jarring play experience.



MLB 2K9 on the PS2 also benefits from ditching the right analog pitch controls. Some like them, some don't, but in this version it's all about the classic face button pitching. You hold a button and the power circle expands, and then press it again when it contracts to its smallest point. It might not be as (marketing keyword) "immersive" as the right analog stick interaction, but it feels more natural when playing a videogame rendition of baseball.



Hitting, something that has also made use of the right analog mechanic in other versions of 2K, retains the same style of control here on PS2. Thankfully hitting feels much more natural than pitching when using the right analog. It's a simple pull back and thrust forward motion that is dependent on timing. It's interesting to note that 2K9 on PS2 doesn't allow you simply pull back on the stick and wait for the pitch as you can on PS3 and 360. Instead you'll need to have a sense of timing and rhythm. Sure, it may not be as easy as what's available elsewhere, but it's much more faithful to the sport.



Modes in MLB 2K9 include the standard offering. There's GM Career, Franchise and Season, all of which follow a similar path of letting you control different aspects of a club. The level of detail is the lowest for the single-season mode and ratchets up through Franchise and GM Career. There are also supplementary modes like Homerun Derby and custom situations to wade through. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in the feature set deviates from what I've seen from past years, but that doesn't mean that it isn't the same solid experience that we had before the series started to stumble.



Online play is here with roster updates and leaderboards. There's also a simple lobby system for players to congregate and join a game. I experienced some pretty serious lag in the handful of games that I played, but that could've been due to the fact that there were only six players online. Still, props to 2K China for including online play in a version that didn't exactly call for it.



Aesthetically 2K9 is what you'd expect from a PS2 game. Edges are rough, player models are very angular, and animations aren't all that fluid. That said, it's still a smooth overall experience with very few framerate drops. The rest of the 2K dev teams should take note of the importance placed on fluidity. Forget about pumping up the polygon counts, baseball developers need to ensure liquid-smooth gameplay around the diamond. MLB 2K9 does it as well as any, regardless of system.

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