Things begin with the requisite player creation. But the more time you sink into the mode, the more its design and technical failings become apparent. It's 2K Sports' first effort at delivering a career mode in their baseball franchise and, at least at first, it seems like they might have nailed it. Take the new My Player mode, for instance.

Everything else has one problem or another that keeps it from being great or, in some cases, good. batter interaction that's really the only shining achievement for this year's game. It seemed like neither the hitter nor the pitcher had an advantage with the newly refined mechanic, something that was a worry when I first played MLB 2K10. It's up to you to display discipline and patience in waiting for a pitch to hit, much like players do in reality. If you swing at everything thrown your way, you'll absolutely never get a hittable pitch. It's something that other games have gotten right in the past, but 2K10 finally seems to have mastered the AI that drives these conflicts. The authenticity that 2K Sports has been able to capture when you step to the plate or hurl the ball across it is probably the single best achievement in MLB 2K10.

pitcher duel that is inherent to the game of baseball. If you've been watching any of our coverage leading up to the launch of MLB 2K10, it should be clear that 2K Sports is putting a large focus on the hitter vs.

While MLB 2K10 takes small steps towards fixing the problems that made last year's game such a disappointment, it still doesn't come close to delivering the definitive baseball experience that we all want from the oldest baseball franchise around. Every year we wait and see if 2K is going to be able to keep pace with what Sony brings to the table, and every year we walk away disappointed. The old and wise MLB 2K series has been totally usurped by Sony's MLB: The Show, which only recently broke onto the scene. You'll find no better real world example of this phenomenon than what's happening with the current state of baseball games. The adage of the once-great star being overshadowed by a young up-and-comer is ever-present in sports.

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