The BIGS Review (X360)

The BIGS is an arcade-style baseball game that puts the focus on pure hitting and nasty pitching rather than the tedious stat tracking and complex controls that you find in simulation baseball games these days. The result is an enjoyable, although shallow, game of fast paced baseball that hardcore fans and casual sports fans alike will enjoy. It isn’t without some issues, but the hitting is extremely satisfying, and that really is what The BIGS is all about.

Features and Modes

The BIGS is a fully licensed MLB game and features all of the teams, stadiums, and players you’d expect. It doesn’t have a traditional season mode, and instead has a Rookie Challenge where you create a player and then take them through spring training, into the season, and eventually onto the playoffs and World Series. In addition to playing standard games (which are only 5 innings in The BIGS), you also do stat challenges such as hitting and fielding drills or having to get a certain number of hits or home runs in a game in order to earn points to upgrade your player. You can also play in games that allow you to steal a player from your opponent if you win in order to build up your ultimate fantasy team. Unfortunately, the same handful of scenarios and tasks are repeated throughout Rookie Challenge, so after the first hour or so you have seen pretty much everything the game has to offer. Also disappointing is that there is no stat tracking. This is a bummer because it would have been fun to see the insane home run and RBI numbers you could accumulate over a season.

Other modes include a Home Run Derby and exhibition games. There is also a mode called Home Run Pinball where you play in a version of New York’s Times Square and earn points for knocking out signs and tagging buildings. These are cool, certainly, but a season mode would have been better.

Gameplay

The gameplay in The BIGS is fast paced, easy to get into, and pretty darn fun. When hitting, you have two swings – a contact swing and a power swing – and using the right swing and putting it in the right spot (you can aim your hits with the left stick) will produce a lot more runs than just trying to hit a home run every at bat. Hitting is easy, and very satisfying and fun. Pitching is also pretty easy, but just as fun. Different pitches are assigned to the face buttons, and the power and location of a pitch is determined by holding the button for the pitch you want until a little meter gets up into the sweet spot. Then you release. If you hold it too long, or not long enough, the pitch won’t go where you want it and it will also tip the batter to where it will be located. If you do get hit, that particular pitch loses some “health”, and if you fail at a particular pitch too often, you’ll lose it entirely.

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