MLB 2K10 My Player Impressions

Year after year, game developers bombard the game market with sports titles that many people view as nothing more than a “plus one” to last year’s iteration.  Of course, each passing title is always a little shinier, the interface is always a little smoother, and the player movements are always a little more fluid.  The question that the money-conscious gamer faces time after time is – “Why is this year’s game worth my $60 when I know next year’s will be better?”  The only way for developers to rope in this crowd is to add some new bells to significantly enhance their franchise.

This time around, MLB 2K10‘s “new bells” came in the form of the My Player mode.  My Player is the game style where you create a player and guide him through his entire career.  You start as a pipsqueak drafted right out of the first round, and are immediately assigned to the organization of your choice’s AA affiliate.  Of course, your player is incredibly raw, with an entire career’s worth of development ahead of him.  It’s a daunting task, indeed.

As soon as you start, the game is incredibly difficult.  You have a goal for every time you are at the plate (assuming you’re a position player), and you shouldn’t expect to achieve them too often.  The reason for this is that because of your player’s low stats, he is easily overwhelmed, and often makes weak contact, if any at all.  Predictably, MLB 2K10 rewards you with stat increases for good performance.  Therefore, you can expect a lot of 0-4 and 1-5 games at AA before you see any noticeable improvement.

Interestingly, at it’s core,  My Player feels like an RPG.  As you eventually start earning points, you stat your player out based on how you want to play the game.  You could throw most of your points into speed and contact and have a quick outfielder like Jacoby Ellsbury that wreaks havoc on the base paths, or you could jack up your power numbers and crush everything that you see like Albert Pujols.  It’s entirely up to you.

One of the most positive aspects of My Player is that it provides for a streamlined game mode.  The reason for this is that you only control the moments of the game that you’re directly involved in; the rest is simulated.  Therefore, you play the at-bats and the defensive plays that come your direction.  I played as a center fielder, so the games flew by; I imagine that a catcher or first basemen would have considerably longer games.  This is a double-edged sword of sorts because you end up feeling incredibly detached from the team you play for.  The mode is literally completely about you, which meant I found myself not caring at all if my team won or lost, just how I performed.

The thing to take away from My Player is that it’s incredibly addicting.  At first, this is out of frustration.  You’ll probably underperform, and you’ll probably want to keep playing until you’re actually good.  However, when you finally turn the corner, you will do so in a big way.  Your batting average will slowly climb, your power numbers will go up, and you’ll start driving in more runs.  Balls that would have been lazy fly balls are now driven to the gaps, or over the wall.  You’ll want to keep playing because it seems as if all your previous struggling has finally paid off.  Because of this, it’s clearly apparent that My Player is certainly a valid addition to MLB 2K franchise.  It could have easily felt like a half-hearted tack-on, but instead it’s something that is easy to lose yourself in for hours.