Major League Baseball 2K6 review (GameCube)

Hitting and pitching are intricate but fairly easy to learn. The default hitting interface lets you swing the bat with the C stick. You pull back on the stick to take a step and then let go for a contact swing or push upward for a power swing. At the same time, you can target your swing to specific spots in the strike zone by positioning a circular batter's-eye indicator with the left analog stick. Taken together, you have to pick your spot and time your swings in MLB 2K6, just like the pros do. Pitching employs a new take on the meter-style pitching that's all the rage in baseball games these days. You select pitches with the buttons and aim using the left analog stick, just like you've done in every other baseball game produced in the last decade or so; but now, the circular targeting cursor quickly grows and shrinks after you press the button. This indicates how much power or break you've built into the pitch. Letting up on the button locks in the effectiveness and causes the circle to quickly collapse into a crosshair. You then have to tap the button one more time to lock in the accuracy. The smaller the circle is, the more accurate the pitch will be. In practice, it's a highly intuitive system that boils the complex art of pitching down to a couple of quick button presses.

Another intriguing aspect of the pitching interface is that it's actually possible to specify where the catcher sets up for each pitch. Pulling the C stick will position the catcher's glove over any of eight spots around the strike zone. This lets you psych out players by setting up outside for inside pitches and inside for outside pitches. It's also the key to the game's optional payoff-pitch mechanism. In a real baseball game, a pitch made on a two-strike count is called the payoff pitch, because the pitcher's confidence can be shaken or strengthened based on whether the next pitch is a ball, a hit, or a strike. MLB 2K6 simulates this when you choose to position the catcher on a two-strike count. If your pitch lands in the glove without causing the catcher to move, you'll add a couple of points to your pitcher's effectiveness rating. If the catcher has to move to catch the ball, you'll lose a couple of points. Perhaps the implementation is a little bizarre, but the ability to adjust the catcher's positioning is still a welcome addition.

Unique to the batter-versus-pitcher confrontation in MLB 2K6 is the game's Inside Edge system. Besides incorporating scouting reports and statistical data into player strengths and CPU behavior, the Inside Edge system will actually make hitting and pitching suggestions to you on a pitch-by-pitch basis during the game. When you're on the mound, the game will suggest the most effective pitch and location based upon the hitter's past performance in that particular count. When you're up to bat, the game will show you how likely a pitcher is to throw each of his pitches, as well as display the three most likely spots where the next pitch will be located. What makes Inside Edge so captivating is that it makes scouting data an integral part of gameplay, but still challenges you to factor your own hunches and baseball knowledge into each situation.

Generally, MLB 2K6 does a good job of portraying what tends to happen during a real-life professional baseball game. The CPU plays a smart game, is relatively aggressive on the bases, and makes substitutions when they're appropriate. Overall, the ratio of ground balls to liners and fly balls is right on the money. When you swing too early or too late at pitches, foul balls and weak pop-ups are more likely to result than clean hits. Nitpickers will notice that hits are somewhat easy to get on the default pro difficulty setting, but that's easily fixed by upticking to a higher setting or adjusting any of the 40-plus tuning sliders. Pitchers get rattled when there are men on base with no outs, or when a fast runner is on first, which causes the pitching cursor to bob and weave. Inexperienced fielders also tend to bobble the ball or make offline throws more often than veteran players do.

One pleasant surprise regarding the GameCube version of MLB 2K6 is that it doesn't seem to suffer from any of the glitches that the other versions of the game do. In the PS2, Xbox, and Xbox 360 versions, base runners will sometimes overshoot the bag, and fielders will sometimes run over the ball without picking it up. Once in a while in those versions, when you press the analog stick to have a fielder run in one direction, he'll run in the exact opposite direction! These bugs don't happen in the GameCube version. It's nice to see that Kush Games used the extra two months of development time to iron out these kinks. The game is much more enjoyable when you're not constantly worrying whether your players will go stump-dumb at inopportune moments.

If you're a baseball fan and the only game console you own is Nintendo's GameCube, then by all means, go out and grab Major League Baseball 2K6. Its portrayal of the sport may not be exciting, but the underlying gameplay is deep and satisfying.