Let me start by saying this is the best VR baseball game you can get right now. I've looked around at others, and this appears to be the most complete package you get among any other VR baseball games out there right now.
In the most concise way possible, this game is like Wii Sports baseball, but more fun.
Before I get into my critiques, let me preface everything by saying I have exclusively played single player, so everything I say is coming from that perspective.
With that said, let's talk about the good: the game is fun. While both hitting and pitching take some getting used to, it's pretty gratifying to get a solid handle on the game's mechanics. Hitting a home run feels satisfying, especially with the different bat sounds. Pitching is fun too, and each pitch feels like it has it's own bit of mastering required before you can throw it confidently (other than the splitter, which often feels like an automatic strike a lot of the time).
So, the game is fun, but it's pretty far from perfect. I have a lot of critiques that don't ruin the game, but they definitely detract from the overall experience.
I have never seen a game with so many logic issues, like from a programming perspective. Don't get me wrong, I'm no programmer, but there seem to be some weird ways the devs made things work. Let me just run through some of the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
- I have scored runs for the other team. I don't remember the exact setup, but I had a runner on third with two outs, and I put a ball in play. A play was made right as my team crossed home plate and the sound effect for a run scored played as I was transitioning to defense. I look at the scoreboard and see that I am losing 1-0.
- I have had a runner thrown out at third while trying to stretch a double. There was no runner behind me, but I was standing on second and the defense threw the ball to third before my other baserunner got there and it counted it as a force out. The game seems to only check if there's only one runner behind each base runner to determine if an out is a force out or not.
- Some stadiums have very long back stops, and the defending catchers don't seem to be able to catch curveballs. This means if a curveball is thrown and no contact is made from the batter, the ball will roll all the way to the backstop, resulting in a pretty long wait before the next pitch. The game does not make a ball or strike call until the ball was in the catcher's glove (most of the time). A curveball was thrown outside of the zone (as strikes tend to be called immediately upon crossing the strike zone), and it began rolling to the backstop. In that time though, the game must have registered a swing somewhere, because once the catcher picked up the ball, a strike was called.
- Baserunners have questionable AI. The defensing outfielders seem to be able to know when they can't reach a ball and are programmed to stand behind where the ball will land so that it doesn't roll all the way to the fence, which is good and feels like a natural way an outfielder would play. Unfortunately, your baserunners don't seem to have that same ability, and won't start running until the ball lands. I have had numerous runners thrown out at second on base hits, which feels really frustrating.
There are other instances that I can't remember off the top of my head, but I think by now you get the idea that the game can feel a bit rough around the edges.
Earlier I mentioned that hitting and pitching can take some time to get a feel for. While I feel like I've got a decent grasp on pitching, I don't think I totally understand hitting yet. Now, I totally understand that this could be a skill issue, and I just need to "git gud", but I genuinely have not been able to understand hitting. Let me explain.
I mentioned the different sounds the bat makes earlier, and they add a lot to the feel of the game, but I think can also be bit misleading. There are 3 different sounds: a standard "donk", and louder "whoosh", and a "crack". I assume the "crack" indicates perfect timing, and the "whoosh" is an "almost" and the "donk" is the "well, at least you hit it" sound effect. That's all well and good, but I don't know what the timing window actually is.
It's worth mentioning that after every pitch, a shadow of your bat and a red sphere shows up indicating where you swung and where the ball was. I have made contact with pitches where my barrel is squarely on the ball, and the bat shadow is (essentially) parallel with home plate. This, to me, would seem like perfect timing, yet those types of hits usually result in a flyout to the outfield somewhere. Other times, I have swung at a splitter and hit the ball off the top of the bat, but heard the "crack", indicating solid contact.
So, it's left me feeling confused. Is it timing? Bat placement? Both? I've played entire games where 90% of my at-bats have ended with a flyout to left or center field, with very little variation in where the balls land. I've played around with how I swing (dipping my shoulder, etc), and it does seem to have an impact on the trajectory of the ball, but not necessarily the quality of contact.
As far as pitching is concerned, I think it feels good and is fun. The issues really arise in the unpredictability of the AI. It's the classic "the AI cheats" complaint, but if I give up another homerun to a splitter because the AI batters dislocate their shoulder, elbow, and wrist to swing at the pitch immediately after I throw a pitch, I'm going to riot.
In all seriousness though, I have a few frustrations with the slow ball and the splitter in particular. If a splitter is thrown to me, the best I can do with it is foul it off. If a slow ball is thrown to me, I usually bunt because it is damn near impossible to make any meaningful contact and put the ball outside of the outfield when the pitcher throws one. Yet, when I throw one, there's just as likely of a chance they'll hit a home run on a slow ball or splitter than any other pitch.
This does a few things: 1, it removes a lot of the strategy out of pitching. I can't rely on a splitter to net me a ground ball our a slow ball to net weak contact if the situation would call for it, so I tend to avoid throwing the slow ball in it's entirety because it's hard to control and is just as risky to throw as any other easier to control pitch would be. And 2, it leaves me feeling frustrated that I gave up a 2-run homerun in the 8th because I threw a slow ball.
Again, I know the argument here is just "git gud", but I feel like I've put enough time into the game to start identifying these patterns.
There's more I could say about the game, but I want to finish this off by giving some recommendations for things I'd like to see with this game going forward.
- Baserunner control. I get that programming AI is really hard, but you could avoid that by giving the player the ability to switch to other baserunners when they put the ball in play. I've a few ideas on how this could work: Similar to fielding, when the ball is put in play, slow the game down and have the player take control of the lead baserunner. You could also have runners automatically sprint when on the base paths, and give the player the option of which baserunner to control. By automatically having runners sprint, you're not requiring both hands to be occupied holding analog sticks forward, so you could use one of the face buttons on one of the controllers be the "change baserunner" button, slow down time while the player is making the decision, and then have the player look at the baserunner they'd like to take control of. Once the button is released, the player would then be controlling the new baserunner. This, in my opinion, would do a lot. It would allow for sacrifice flyouts, more control over how far runners tag up, etc.
I have more to say, but I'm at the character limit. Fun game. Keep developing it. I'll keep recommending it :)
