Just as good as The Bigs
I'll start off by saying that I'm a huge fan of The Bigs. It's such a fun game with a ton of replay value, but was also, at times, extremely frustrating and challenging (I always play in super hard mode). Same goes for The Bigs 2. But what’s a game without frustrations and challenges? It's pretty much a jazzed up version of The Bigs, with loads of additions & changes. This review is aimed more towards those who've played The Bigs, but it's helpful for everyone.
There's now a Wheelhouse in the strike zone of every batter which serves as a good risk/reward. If you pitch it into the WH and the batter makes good contact, it's an automatic base hit. If you throw a strike in the batter's WH without the batter hitting it foul, the WH shrinks and you also get extra turbo opposed to just throwing a regular strike.
They also added a Big Slam, similar to the Big Blast, only the Big Slam is a 4-pitch rapid fire power up. This means you have 4 pitches to load the bases and blast a grand slam. If you have 1 runner on base, then you have 2 pitches to hit basehits and 2 pitches to hit a homerun. It's a pretty sweet addition, especially if you're behind. They still have the Big Heat power up, only this time you get 25K Big Play points for every strike and 25K for a Big Heat strikeout, so if you throw 3 strikes with no foul balls and get a strikeout, you end up nearly getting all of your Big Play points back. There's also no more stealing Big Play points from your opponent when using a Big Heat power up, which isn't really a big deal at all IMO. You need 100K Big Play points to use a Big Play power up and if you use a Big Blast power up, it's a guaranteed homer with any contact.
Another addition is instead of being allowed a max. of 5 stars for power, contact, glove, and speed, you can get your player up to Legendary status in any or all categories. If you're in the field and possess a Legendary glove, you can perform Legendary catches by successfully pulling off a certain button mini-game, depending on where the catch is in the field. If you successfully perform a Legendary catch, you receive 20K Big Play points.
They changed the 'Rookie Challenge' mode to 'Become A Legend' mode. Instead of starting in the Major Leagues as a rookie and working your way up, you start in the Mexican League because you got injured and have to work your way back up. They also added a ‘Season’ mode, which you can play a full MLB season with any team. They also messed around with the set difficulty. Instead of choosing just one difficulty at the start before you create your player and becoming stuck with that one difficulty (Easy, Medium, Hard, Super Hard), you get the option to change the difficulty at any time during the season. Trust me, Super Hard can get beyond frustrating, especially when you're on the mound (You'll know what I'm talkin' about, hope you have good timing).
They’ve also added some new locations for Homerun Pinball, way better than just Times Square which got kind of boring.
If you’ve never played The Bigs 1 or 2, I’d recommend skipping the first and going right to the second, but that's your choice. The Bigs 2 is a really fun game; arcade baseball at it’s best. The replay value is relatively high since not one game is ever the same and you could play either mode with every team. Pick this game up for a good price here at good ol’ eBay and I guarantee you it’ll be a good addition to your collection. I’d rate it a solid 9/10.Read full review
