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OK, so I’m a busy man this week. On top of regular work and life stuff, I got seven – yes SEVEN – different version of the MLB 10/MLB 2K10 games to feature and break down on the blog this week and next and probably the week after that as well. Obviously I want to be completely fair and thorough in my critiques and gameplay experiences rather than rush everything out for you guys at once.

I’ve played both current-gen versions of MLB 10: The Show and MLB 2K10 to give at least some initial thoughts here. I also touched on each one’s PSP iteration for about an hour total, so I’ll make quick mention of that. I still have the Wii version of MLB 2K10 to play and then the PS2 versions, which I’ll likely get a chance with at the end of the week.

Read more of my thoughts after the jump…

First off, MLB 10: The Show is everything you liked about MLB 09. I honestly didn’t notice much difference in the general gameplay mechanics at all, and that’s probably a good thing. I actually prefer the baserunning in MLB 2K10 over this one though, I just find it easier to target my runner with the X button and queue his run with the analog (as in 2K10) rather than targeting him with the analog, but maybe I’ll get used to it (btw, I HATE the stealing mechanism in 2K10, it’s much easier in MLB 10). The baserunning in Road to the Show mode, though, is really kinda tricky at first. Since you have to point the analog to the desired base, it’s difficult to get a feel for this. I’m still not sure if running requires pressing up on the analog or right, or some diagonal direction to where the next base is as opposed to your third-person camera perspective. Running from second to third on a sharp single, I could have maybe scored, but my runner stopped between second and third for a couple seconds before casually easing into third while I was jamming on the analog.

I also tried Home Run Derby, which is still kind of a no frills affair. The contest is set up as in real life, but can be modified (as I did for one of my videos on the channel – so I could fit it in under 10 minutes). It’s a bit harder to hit home runs in this one (as compared to 2K10) but does feel a bit more natural. Camera shots of the AL or NL players gawking at long drives gets old after awhile. There’s really not much to this event. Compared to 2K10 though, it’s probably better. 2K10 also has a “realistic” setup that can be modified, but instead of each batter facing 10 outs, they get three apiece as they cycle through the order, then get another three, and then four. There is a stamina bar that decreases as you hit homers (and moreso if you get outs) and you generally won’t hit more than 6 or 7 per three outs, which, yes, is a lot, but would feel better if it wasn’t always affected by the stamina – it feels unnaturally locked in. Also the distances are all wonky. I can’t seem to top about 412 feet, even on shots that cleared the 400 foot mark in center field by a large margin. Homers that look much longer than your previous blast will sometimes still be shorter. After finishing up the derby, I noticed all participants longest shots were mostly 407 with a few at 409 and 412. That’s a bit silly. If your looking for a great HR derby mode, check out MLB 2K10’s PSP version with the HR Derby Career mode.

While I had few issues with the general game play of MLB 10: The Show, I will say that in the eighth inning of my classic affair with the Nats and Royals, the game crashed on me when I tried to save a highlight. This could be do to my fumbling with controls as I wasn’t sure how to exit the replay menu after recording, but when a notice came up saying that my video had been saved to the HDD, it wouldn’t let me back into the game. A couple more annoyances; it would be nice to know exactly what is wrong with my rosters when I change them. The game lets me know my rosters are illegal after a few moves, but it’s easy to miss a step and then not know exactly what you needed to do to make them legal. In fact, you may have to restart the game if you can’t figure it out, since the CPU won’t let you out of the roster screen until you make them right. Also, where is the historical stadiums? Well, it seemed Sony put up a quick fix today as the 343 MB v1.06 apparently added them to the game – but they are still not selectable for me.

I have yet to try catcher mode in RTTS. I will, don’t worry. I’ll also look at the movie maker (and hopefully recording highlights works this time around). I also want to mess around with the team audio editor and, of course, online play.

OK, now to MLB 2K10. I actually quit my first game in anger and frustration over the batting interface. I played through a couple tutorials to get it down better and went back into an MLB Today showdown featuring the Mets and Braves. Now talk about a weird game…

So I could hit the ball, but I generally couldn’t string together a consistent attack. The one time I did, in the 7th inning, I made a beginner baserunning blunder (I selected my runner from second, and instead of queuing him to score with analog, I did so with L1, moving all runners). An easy score instead resulted in an out at third (my initial runner from first being overzealous) and left the game at 0-0. It does make me wish that once you selected an individual that all “advance all runner” options get thrown out the window. Then again, I was learning the controls still, so my bad on that one.

I wish I had scored. 15 innings went by without so much as a run. I had a few hairy situations defensively I got out of. I generally found that it’s pretty easy (on default settings) to keep the opposing offense at arms length. Granted, they could have scored a couple times (play at the plate on one occasion and at least once putting men on first and second with no out), but somehow I kept them scoreless through 16. In the bottom of the 16th I finally hit a solo shot with David Wright to end it. We compiled 29 hits (total) in the game. The most unrealistic thing though is that Derek Lowe pitched 13 innings. Yes, he went to a 114 pitch count, so say what you will – it’s realistic in terms of runs allowed and pitches thrown. I guess I’m still used to accelerated fatigue and lower pitch counts in baseball games. That and it is generally easier to have longer at-bats in MLB 10 than in MLB 2K10 (though I did draw one or two walks in the latter). All in all, you shouldn’t be having 1-0 16 inning affairs all the time. At least I didn’t notice any real glitching that the 2K series is known for and I’m willing to give the game a few more shots on default before I delve into the deep abyss that is slider tinkering.

Last I’ll say is that while the general presentation of 2K10 is very smooth and nice, I still feel that MLB 10 dominates in terms of graphics. You’ll get a nice visual experience playing 2K10, but the player models can use a lot more work.

Quick note on the PSP games. MLB 10: The Show generally plays like its current-gen counterpart in most ways while MLB 2K10 plays like last-gen, with that circular charged pitching meter and the aiming reticule in batting. Neither game really impressed me right away, but I’ll get in some more time with each of them tonight. They both are certainly less featured packed and – most surprising to me – both are ad-hoc only. It seems the PSP is getting fewer and fewer online titles these days, and moreso with sports games. Must be expensive to keep those presumably lesser used servers up I guess…

Well, that’s it for now. Check out my videos below of both games in action. I will be posting plenty more on the channel, and I’ll be doing plenty more features as the days and weeks go by. So stay tuned.