The Bigs (Wii)

As a life long baseball fan (GO PHILLIES), who has been playing baseball games since Nintendo Baseball, I was extremely excited when I heard that Nintendo Wii was going to have its first true baseball game. I had downloaded the demo of The Bigs on Xbox 360 and truly enjoyed it. The bigger than life home runs, the 120 mph fastballs, to the sound of bones breaking when you bean someone, this game was the first non realistic sports title I had played since NBA JAM and NHL OPEN ICE and the folks at 2k7 really did a great job on their second baseball title of season. But, that was the Xbox 360 demo version; the Nintendo Wii version falls short in my estimation. I knew the graphics would not compare to that of the Xbox 360, but I did not buy a Wii for its graphics.

What I was excited about was the ability to play virtual baseball in my living room and by virtual baseball; I mean swinging my bat (Wii remote) and throwing pitches (Wii remote) just like if I were on the diamond once again. Where this game falls short and becomes a disappointment is the sluggish controls and sometimes unresponsiveness of the Wii remote. The pitching is extremely hard to control, you need twist you had one way and throw forward for one pitch and then turn it the other way for another and despite sitting through the on disk tutorial TWICE, I could not get the pitching down. I chalked this up to just being a part of the learning curve. Well, I said to myself, Tamer, you were never really a pitcher, your strengths were always at the plate, so I stepped up to the plate as the best team in the National League, when not decimated by injuries, the Phillies and had the side struck out, only getting a piece of the ball 3 times. Again, I chalked this up to the learning curve. Next inning, I lead off with the 2006 NL MVP, Ryan Howard and 1-2-3 strikeout, not so unrealistic, but again the side was struck out and I thought to myself, this can not be just me. Well as frustrating as hitting and pitching is, fielding is much worse. I could not make a catch to save my life and forget about throwing to the right base.

In the end, I was very disappointed in The Bigs for Nintendo Wii. What was supposed to be a fun cartoonish larger than life baseball simulation, left this former little leaguer and current coach dejected and frustrated. Hopefully next year’s version will be easier to control and more responsive. But for right now leave the Bigs for Nintendo Wii on the bench.

Should you want to give 2k7 The Bigs for Nintendo Wii a shot, remember to always, try before you buy.