The Bigs 2 does a lot of fun things for videogame baseball, or should I say arcade-baseball, when played on the appropriate difficulty setting. More importantly, it shows that 2K Sports can publish a decent baseball title in the wake of the abysmal MLB 2K9 (granted, The Bigs 2 comes from a different developer, Blue Castle Games, but 2K is still cutting the checks). The previous incarnation attempted to be the best over-the-top arcade experience, per Todd Zuniga’s review. The Bigs 2 tries to improve on this formula by offering more features found in common with a traditional baseball videogame (season mode, trades, etc.), but its inconsistent difficulty ultimately makes it hard to recommend for everyone — your reflexes will truly be put to the test on the higher difficulty settings. Regardless, The Bigs 2 is a testament to exaggeration, excess, and fun that comes cautiously recommended from this baseball enthusiast.
That being said, I am a huge fan of the fundamental aspects of baseball, and not a lot of that is here. Putting the ball in play translates to a homerun most of the time, and quality pitching is replaced with a Turbo meter; both of these help create a different strategic approach to victory than you would find in a traditional baseball game. The earlier-mentioned Turbo meter gets built up based on throwing strikes or taking balls while at the plate. You can then use this meter to: Throw a faster than normal pitch, field the ball at an accelerated rate, or run the bases as though your feet are on fire. Additionally, to add some variety to your team lineup and gameplay, some players come equipped with either power-ups like a +3 to fielding, or a legendary trait that allows them to excel in certain aspects like fielding, hitting, etc.