Starting off The Bigs Rookie Challenge
by 
Just getting back from a long day of travel and hassle, I figured I would just get home and rest up. Yet with The Bigs sitting here I couldn't resist putting it in despite feeling worn out. Here is a recap of how far I have gotten as I started on the Rookie Challenge.
With the Rookie Challenge, you create a player and add him into an existing lineup. You then gain experience points based on what you accomplish to help improve your player. Basically through that you play a season mode.
I created Pasta Padre, the new 3B for the San Diego Padres. You adjust and choose the make-up of your player. It isn't exactly deep, but it is sufficient for a game like this. Having the Xbox Live Camera import in your face would've been awesome though.
After that I went into a Spring Training game. That is better described as a tutorial, as it explains the different aspects of the game throughout. I played on medium difficulty.
I like the simplicity in pitching. It is all about timing just once, not twice like the simulation type games. You release at the top of the meter. If you're in the sweet spot, it'll be green. If you miss, it'll be red and your opponent will be tipped off to the pitch location.
There is a turbo meter you fill up during the game. As you have success it builds up and you can utilize that to enhance your performance. With pitching though, if you use turbo on a pitch and don't release in the green, not only do you tip off your pitch but the turbo isn't applied and you lose it.
The hit variety was a pleasant surprise in the first game. One homerun, a couple hits into the gap, a couple homeruns knocked back in by leaping outfielders, and a few grounders through the infield. A handful of foul balls also were seen. All of that is actually an improvement over MLB 2K7.
It took a little adjusting to in the field. Pressing A is an action button, and I'm used to the right analog. I also overran a fly ball cause it didn't lock me into the circle. Baserunning is still a little confusing to me, you point towards the base you want to go to with the left stick. I think I just need more practice with these things and I'll be fine.
As I mentioned when the achievement list was released, I was disappointed because it seemed you'd be able to get many of them just through playing normally, probably even within the first couple games. Well I got six achievements in that one Spring Training game. That is a bummer to me.
So the game was not as insane as I had expected. The final score was 2-1, not something like 25-20. The games are 5 innings default, so I went into the bottom of the 5th down 1-0. Marcus Giles tied the game with a homerun. Brian Giles later drove in the winning run with 2 outs on a potential homerun that was leapt for but dropped and the runner on 2nd scored.
Padre went 1-2 with a single and got 100 upgrade points.
So through one game I found it enjoyable and surprisingly not as "arcadey" as most people would probably assume it is. I'd say the way 2K described it as highlighting the exciting parts of baseball is probably more accurate than just saying its a replication of the old Slugfest franchise.
My next Rookie Challenge update will probably come by morning. Looks like next up are some training mini-games. I'm planning on capturing screens and video in future reports.