Creating a new baseball game concept is almost impossible. Nearly every angle has been played, twisted, and turned. There are really only two types of games currently being produced under the baseball banner; over-the-top arcade or simulation-style games. The former has been represented with games such as MLB Slugfest, which features players who look like BALCO cases and baseballs that turn into fireworks. Simulation became somewhat exclusive after 2K Sports scooped up the license. Having finally established their foothold there, 2K is now attempting to skew the line between two those genres with their new game, The Bigs. Unfortunately, this is a game that, even at its best, falls short of making the majors.

The Bigs' Rookie Challenge mode is where the meat of the game lies. Creating a character is simple enough, with players able to choose a likeness and position, and also give themselves basic attributes. This is where the problems with the game begin. First off, there is very little to no choice in terms of your player's appearance. There are only a few generic faces to choose from and there is no option to move parts around. When the biggest feature a game touts is your ability to make a hero in your likeness, it's a shame so few options exist. Progressing through the game allows for more character customization, but even that lacks much oomph. It's true that new glasses, tattoos, and different wrist bands can be somewhat exciting for some people, but as a reward system, it grows threadbare quite quickly.

The gameplay grows tedious rather quickly.

Instead of using the now standard statistical system generally accepted for rating players, The Bigs uses stars to define your skills. The better you play offensively in the game, such as getting on base, RBI's, etc., the more points you receive to use in building up your player. Continuing through the game means the player needs to beat individual opposing teams in a series of challenges. One such challenge includes beating the Marlins in a five inning game or coming back in a nine inning game when down by a few runs. There is also an option to steal players from other teams, a total of ten altogether. The challenges grow more difficult as you move forward, but even then, gaining statistical points can prove irritating. With no points given for defensive plays, it is possible for your player to progress at a slug's pace. In addition, individual challenges are issued which help to move the player along. Due to the quality of most teams, especially once all of the good ball players have been stolen, the usefulness of your rookie comes somewhat into question. Even at the player's peak, this feature grows tiring as you approach the end of the regular season. To counteract that, ball games have been intentionally shortened, with many of them lasting only five innings in order to quicken the pace. Three-inning games occur quite often as well.

The arcade aspect of The Bigs lies in the power-ups that you acquire and can lead to some entertaining moments at first. However, even these can quickly grow repetitive. Pitchers can throw perfect pitches which are nearly impossible to hit, and while doing so, can gain turbo for your team. Likewise, batters can obtain turbo by taking balls on the plate. When a useable amount of turbo has been obtained, either player can get into "the zone." The zone allows the player to throw difficult pitches or smash the ball out of the park with ease. Each strike out or tremendous defensive play also brings points that lead to your player being able to either throw a big heat pitch or swing a power hit. Big heat pitches are untouchable for most batters at first, but you can sometimes get lucky, and hit a single over the middle. Power hitting allows for instant home runs, but if the pitcher goes into their "high heat" mode a duel begins. This is basically a tug-of-war for supremacy. Great hitters can still hit against great pitchers fairly easily though, even against skilled opponents. It seems that the hitters have a slight advantage in The Bigs. In fact, any time a hitter uses their turbo, an apparently perfect catch by the defense might just fall right out of their glove. In any case, players need to conserve their turbos for just the right back-breaking moment.

One of the biggest problems with The Bigs is that although there are a lot of interesting additions to the game of baseball, too quickly you'll find yourself bored and looking for more. Aside for the mini-games which serve to strengthen your player, there is little that we haven't seen before in previous games. There is a standard home run derby mode that is exactly like the one featured in the normal MLB 2K games. There is also a mode called "home run pinball" which is much better than the other mini-games provided. Set in New York City's Time Square, you have to try to get the highest score by hitting various spots in the area as many times as you can. However, even this grows boring quickly, as there are only so many combinations that can be obtained. Included in the game is a multiplayer online feature which can be fun, when it isn't lagging. Just like everything else though, it can become mind-numbingly repetitive after awhile.

Home run pinball is a neat addition.

The soundtrack was touted by the developers as being the very definition of their game, but it leaves a significant amount to be desired. Not only are there songs here from other games, but some of the songs are ten or more years old. There's even a track that was featured on the first Tony Hawk game. Of the sixteen or so songs, there's only a few that aren't retreads from other games and that really is a shame. Even the in-game commentary grows tiring, with the announcer stating the same comments for many of the batters. With so little emphasis on actual statistics, players are not even mentioned in relevance to their past accomplishments or anything past their star ratings. In the end, the sound becomes nothing more than a repetitive mess that will leave you turning down the volume after a few games.

Graphically, the players are blown up but not that disproportionably, at least when compared to Slugfest or games of a similar ilk. They still carry that plasticized look of other 2K sports games though, which does not really help add to the realism, but then again, it's arcade baseball. Characters seem somewhat standard physically. Although you can definitely tell who the stars are, everyone else seems like a generic cut out. One saving grace is the stadium design. Taking all the interesting aspects of the various parks, the developers have blown them up and infused a bit more style. The big bottle in San Francisco's park for instance looks great, as do the other various things that make each stadium stand out on an individual basis. Overall, the graphics are decent, but nothing to get excited over.

In the end, The Bigs offers exactly what it claims to: arcade style baseball with no frills attached. The issue is that after years of feature-crammed titles, what is offered here becomes old hat far too quickly. The multiplayer is entertaining but only for so long. The single player feels like it ends too fast. The lack of statistics tracking means this game is not for fans of baseball games in general. The game ultimately fails to do what it set out to do: revolutionize baseball games by streamlining and taking out all the aspects that can be boring to casual fans. It seems, ironically, that some of those features are necessary to make a game like this worth purchasing. Perhaps another year will do this game justice, but for this season, The Bigs just feels minor league.