Capturing the Feel of America's Pastime

The pitchers and catchers have reported, Spring Training is fully underway, and my beloved Mariners are scrapping along in lots of close games that they always seem to lose. Adding to the excitement of the national pastime, and building on another year of evolutionary gameplay and meticulous simulation by 2K Sports is MLB 2K7 for Xbox 360.

A beautiful day for a ballgame.

Few sports series are as committed to creating wholly authentic sports moments as the MLB 2K series. After all, baseball is most exciting in the small, dramatic moments, like a daring lead off, the creep of a baseman to cover a bunt, or the payoff pitch on a full count with bases loaded. These are the moments that make baseball, and they're all here in MLB 2K7.

Hitting and Pitching
Creating baseball mechanics that are satisfying requires a strong understanding of the actual sport's mechanics and drama.

• At the Plate: Any baseball player will tell you that hitting is all about timing and recognition, and those are precisely the elements required for successful hitting in MLB 2K7. Pull the right stick down to initiate the batter's step, then release it to swing the bat.
  
  To do this properly you must recognize the pitch, and decide if you want to hit for power, by pressing up on the stick, or simply for contact by releasing it. You can use the Batter's Eye feature to guess where you think the next pitch is bound. If you guess right, an icon will show you exactly where the ball will cross the plate.

Choose your pitches wisely.

• The Art of Pitching: If hitting is about timing, then pitching focuses on disrupting that timing, and MLB 2K7 offers you all the tools you need to do just that. With the press of a button, you can select the pitch you want to throw. Each pitch has two parts, the effort, designated by how long you hold the button, and the timing, achieved by tapping the button a second time at just the right moment, creating a constant challenge.
  
  The drama of a two-strike count is baseball at its finest, and MLB 2K7 simulates this with the Payoff Pitch. You can utilize this to not only boost individual pitches, but also temporarily increase your pitcher's overall skill with a perfect pitch. If you succeed, you reap the reward, but if you fail, you'll take a statistical hit.

Fundamentals
While the pitching and batting mechanics play the most notable role, they're far from defining the authenticity of MLB 2K7. Here are a few more examples:

• You can tap a button immediately to hurl the ball to first base after fielding it, and it will look pretty, but it's risky. Take another moment to gather your feet, and you will actually make the play faster and more accurately.
• Press towards the ball on the right stick while fielding to climb the wall or dive to make a save.
• You can enter a first-person mode from the catcher's perspective when you spot a runner trying to steal a base. This mechanic captures the drama of the stolen base while allowing a perceptive catcher to throw the runner out.
• When attempting to pick off a runner, weigh risk versus reward by choosing to throw the ball in the dirt for or keeping it safer in the air.
• Before the pitch you can adjust your catcher's mitt with the right stick. This simulates the timeless art of confusing the batter, giving them a false target, but it also increases your odds of dropping the ball or throwing a wild pitch.

MLB 2K7 treats its mechanics with two goals in mind. The first is offering easy to understand controls that even casual gamers can access, and the second and perhaps more important is capturing the essence of baseball itself. Where MLB 2K7 finds its unique success is by not just simulating the skills of the game, but by capturing the feel of the game within the mechanics.

Article by Ryan Treit