Baseball. Finally. You know it is almost time for THE season to start when the baseball games start coming out. MLB 2K9 makes a return this year and has one goal in mind: Closing the gap between itself and MLB: The Show. Xbox 360 fans have no choice, which blows, but PS3 gamers do and they chose The Show in overwhelming numbers. Last years iteration, MLB 2K8 was not bad, but it was not great. They completely revamped the pitching mechanic and it was a disaster. It was easier to throw a curve ball in reality than do it on the virtual diamond. Did MLB 2K9 make huge strides this year? It did and we are very excited.

The demo that was released this week lets you play a 3 inning game between last years World Series teams, the Rays and the Phillies. You will notice right away how good the player models look. As an avid baseball fan, one who watches upwards of 150 games a year, thank you DVR, you know what the players look like. You know their stances, their nuances, and in Carl Crawford’s case, his neck tattoo. All are present in 2K9. The hitting is a breeze. As long as your timing is right, you can make contact. Hitting has been too hard over the years and I am glad that they made it easier because baseball games are truly won and lost on the mound.

The pitching, as it seems, has been dumbed down and that was needed. You still need to direct the RS in the direction that the pitch calls for, often a first direction, followed by the second. It seems hard at first, but it catches on quick. There will be a pitching tutorial in the full release (I said full release) version, so you can master it with some practice.  The mechanic itself has not so much changed, but it is MUCH more forgiving. You don’t need the exact 270 degree circle to get your slider to move. You also don’t need the release point which was the death knell of last year.  The throwing to bases is tough, but fair. You need to have a checks and balances system and they do.  The field has a nice overhead view from behind home plate, so you can easily see your outfielders. You can throw fastballs without them landing in the upper deck, which has also been a disaster before. When Matt and I played last year online, we made a pact to throw one fastball for each AB to make the game sort of realistic. You can only take so many eephus pitches before you lose your mind.

We have the full version already and have been playing it, so I will save all my comments for our review, but if you compare MLB 2K9 to MLB: The Show 08, 2K9 IS a better game. That is really saying something because The Show 08 was outstanding. Baseball fan or not, download this asap. Great baseball has come back to the 360. Thank you 2K sports.