A PYS Newbie's Experience with PYS4 on PS3

Okay, so if you've seen anything else I've written on this board, then you know that PYS4 is the first game of the PYS series that I have had the opportunity to play and that I am playing the PS3 version. I have had the game since Tuesday night, but I've only gotten a few hours of playtime due to the reality that is being a graduate student and a college instructor simultaneously. The full review will have to wait until I've played more of the game, but here are some impressions from people who are either also waiting for the PS3 version or are debating the purchase.

- The game is very friendly to people who don't have any Japanese language knowledge. Each selection mode from the title screen has an English subtitle to let you know exactly what it entails, and a lot of the options function the same way when you go about setting the game to your liking. And if there's no English text, chances are there's a picture or some other visual aid to let you know what you're altering. Certainly, the tutorial and trial modes ask you to do specific tasks fully in Japanese, so there will be some trial and error there, but in the end we're dealing with baseball--an international language in its own right. The most difficult language-related aspect of the game is probably dealing with player names, but that can be helped by just keeping your team's roster page open from this site while you play.

- People who have been playing the MVP, 2k, or The Show in recent years might have some trouble getting used to the batting system. I was in the first batting tutorial where they just ask you to hit five fair balls off of a pitcher only throwing straight fastballs for over ten minutes before I started putting the ball in play. However, once you get over this hump, it really becomes second-nature to use the batting system. Compared to the cross-your-fingers-and-pray style of 2k7's batting, where doing the same thing results in a home run one at-bat and a ground out the next, PYS has a much more common-sense system--as soon as you contact the ball, you can be pretty sure what you're going to end up with.

- Trial mode is unbelievably fun--I actually spent nearly two hours playing through that alone last night. It's broken down into three sections: fielding, running, and then the extra 100-knock. For the fielding, you get put into each position on the field (even pitcher and catcher) and have to field hits of various types with various goals for you as a fielder. There are three levels of fielding, increasing with difficulty each time. For running, you take control of a base runner at one of the bases and have to do things like get a good jump to steal, work the hit and run, or tag up and score on a sac fly. Two levels, again with increasing difficulty. And finally, perhaps most emblematic of the Japanese practice idea, is the 100-knock. This mode puts you in control of the four infielders (1B, 2B, SS, 3B) for literally 100 hits, and the goal is to catch as many of the hits as you can. You don't have to actually throw the batter out or anything like that, you just have to cleanly field the grounder or catch the liner/fly ball before it falls. After one go-through, my high score is 86/100, which was good for quite a few VP points.

- I've played two full games in the exhibition mode, both times as the Chiba Lotte Marines. My first game, against Rakuten, ended in a 1-0 loss on a sacrifice fly they got with the bases loaded after I left my starter in a little too long. My second game, against Orix, ended in a 1-0 win after I got runners on first and second and hit a gapper to right. I also got 10 strikeouts with Shunsuke Watanabe in the second game, the tenth coming with the bases loaded in his last inning of pitching. Intense time. Considering that the approach to run-scoring in PS3 2k7 often comes down to crossing your fingers for the big hitters to come up and hope to hit it just right for a homer, it was nice to see low-scoring, fundamental games. It was also a nice touch when Watanabe and Imae were the "hero interview" subjects at the end of the game, the caption for Watanabe highlighting his 10K performance and the caption for Imae talking about his timely RBI hit.

- The home run derby is a great little deviation, even though maybe it's a little bit too easy when you're using a true home run hitter. I've played as Julio Zuleta in Marines Stadium and actually hit a home run over the scoreboard in center field. A little unbelievable, for certain, but I won't say it didn't feel good.

- For people who don't read Japanese, if you look at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen when going through the main menu modes, it will give you an idea of how long one play of that mode will take. For example, Exhibition games are said to take 40 minutes, while the Home Run mode says 5 minutes. A good way to know what you're getting into before you start.

- In the games I've played so far, the scoreboards in the stadium actually track the game stats and lineups in real-time, which is a major improvement over the some-do, some-don't truth of 2k7. As soon as I saw that the scoreboard on the monster in Fenway for 2k7 doesn't track the score, I was disappointed by the supposed next-generation claim of that title.

- Speaking of the stadiums, the crowds actually look quite good. Flag-waving in the outfield is present, a nice little touch. Perhaps the most impressive thing, however, is that if you look close enough you can see the occasional fan get up from their row to walk down the aisle stairs for the concessions or whatever. A neat little touch.

- I really like the animation of the fielders, coming back to the trial mode. There are some hits that ask you to cover the base as the first baseman to field the throw, or have you play as the shortstop or second baseman on both sides of the double-play ball (both flipping the ball and covering to turn two) which are really put on display in this mode. My next step is to get into MVP mode with a player and see how much fielding you get to do--hopefully more than the ground ball every few innings playing first base in MLB 07 The Show for PS2.

-------------------------------------------------------

It isn't all roses, of course, if you hadn't gathered that from other reactions.

- Although it is really easy to follow the directions to install to the HDD (you just go into utilities and find the option talking about the HDD, hit "X", and wait), the only thing this does is slow down the loading time before you get into the mode you want to play. It doesn't appear to have any effect on any loading within the game itself. This is important because...

- After any cut-scene in the game, the screen goes black for about three to four seconds before getting back to the action. This is tolerable, but of course it isn't a very good thing. Even if you skip the batter walk-up cut-scene, you still face the black screen--even worse, however, is that the commentary is cut off when you skip some of the cut-scenes, causing the game to suddenly go quiet and lose some of the immersion factor of watching a real broadcast.

- There is some slowdown in the game itself, but it hasn't happened to me in a game-breaking form yet. The slowdown typically occurs when you hit it foul to either side because of the fans packed into the stadium, but it doesn't affect gameplay because none of these balls can be played. I have also never experienced slowdown while pitching or batting, though the occasional grounder with runners on base might cause a hiccup. Disappointing, yes, but to the degree of 2k7? Not at all.

- Running the bases can be fairly difficult to do in manual setting at first, which can lead to some frustrating outs. To correct this, for the time being, I've been playing with the "Assisted" setting for running, if only to keep from making bad outs. With some more practice, hopefully I'll get comfortable enough to make the switch back to "Manual" soon.

-------------------------------------------------------

In the end, for me as the owner of an American PS3 lacking the funds to buy a Japanese console, there is a no-brainer situation about how I will be getting my NPB video game fix. It is not a game without flaws, but it is not a game that is game-breaking, fundamentally flawed. I don't doubt that the PS2 version provides a smoother experience, given the familiarity that the programmers have with that system, but the American gamer on a budget (hand thrown enthusiastically up in the air on this one) doesn't really have the option of following up their domestic console purchase with a foreign one. Even though I know more about MLB teams and players and have had MLB 2k7 for nearly a month now, I have already logged more time with PYS4 because it is that much more enjoyable to play. I'm not saying that the PS3 version of PYS4 should be lauded with a gold medal here, I'm just saying that it shouldn't be disqualified on the block either. There is an enjoyable game to be played here, if you come to the game with an understanding that some aspects of the experience must be coped with.

Whew... sorry for the length. Back to my reality which includes a heavy snowstorm here in Maine in the first week of April. Just ridiculous.