From the “it should be obvious” department comes the second attempt at capturing the national pastime on the Wii. The Bigs is certainly suited for the hardware, and the controls make it loads of fun to play, though some significant tweaking is needed in places. Missing features also drop this version of 2K Sport’s new series down a notch.
Without a season mode, it’s the Rookie Challenge taking center stage. Here you’ll create a character and take him through various competitive challenges. The five inning standard gameplay makes for fun and non-tiring sessions, while the mini-games that build the created player’s stats work wonderfully with the controller.
While it's arcade style baseball, there’s unquestionably more depth and skill required compared to Wii Sports. Expected motions to pitching and batting are logical. Response to the players' movements are spot on, and adds the extra boost the Wii version needs to one up its competition on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3.
Unfortunately, the control scheme is needlessly complicated in places, and going so far as to require a nun chuck attachment at all times. It would have lessened the depth, but there are some obvious control schemes that could have easily eliminated the need for the cord. You can’t fully swing the Remote like a bat when holding on to the nun chuck, and it’s definitely a hindrance to the overall experience.
The only purpose for the attachment is to aim your swing in terms of where in the field you want the hit to go. Why not simply move this to the d-pad for a general direction? This is an arcade style title anyway.
For pitching, you’ll need to aim the general pitch location. Did the development team forget motion controls allow for aiming with the Remote? Why not let the player point right at the screen before they begin the pitch motion? There’s a wonderful touch that requires the player to move their wrist to throw breaking balls, and convenient on-screen guide makes sure you’re always aware of what motions produce what.
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