Inside Pitch - Initial Impressions...

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed May 21, 2003 9:11 pm

I have played one half a exhibition game and one full online game and here is my early assessment strictly of exhibition and online play:
 
 Fisrt off, anyone who complains about base throwing needs to realize this... Here’s the scoop, if you use the buttons to throw to a base, you have to time it just right in order to get them to throw in time. I will admit it is a tad sensitive and could lead to some mistakes, HOWEVER, the game suggests you use the right analog stick to throw towards the bases (I guarantee that people are not doing this). This works FLAWLESSLY in my opinion. You can start them throwing to a base before the even get the ball. I have had perfect success with this method.
 
 Next, I think the pitching/batting interface is better than decent. I might take a little getting used to but coming from MVP, I still think it is really solid. You HAVE to remember that this game is probably primarily created for online play. I think the interface serves that well. You can select one of nine zones to place your pitch and the can decide whether it will be a ball or a strike in that zone. Contrary to others opinions, all pitches are NOT perfect. I have chosen ‘strike’ and it ended up a ball a couple of times. I think the pitch speeds are done very well too !
 
 Batting is done well also. You can choose to just swing at a pitch using the ‘A’ button and by swinging early or late, determine the placement of the ball. But, you can also chase pitches out of the zone or try to guess pitch placement with a batting icon that you can place up, down, inside or out. This is done rather well too IMO.
 
 Graphics are a mixed bag but for the most part are great. As many have mentioned, the stadiums are gorgeous ! The players leave a little to be desired but not as bad as ASB. There are a couple of animation glitches but again, not nearly as bad as ASB. Really nothing struck me as bad here (except maybe the players hands and their celebrations).
 
 Sound is GREAT !!!! The announcers are probably the best of the bunch this year and the crowd is fine. Good use of Dolby Digital and great use of custom soundtracks for player introductions.
 
 Online play was decent to good but could have been better (just a tad). There was very slight lag on some swings which made a couple of at bats difficult but most of the actual gameplay was better than I expected. Voice worked fine and there was never any bad lag to where it actually slowed the game down. Just a couple of ‘stutters’ here and there.
 
 
 Positives:
 
 -Great stadium graphics.
 -Great sound and announcing.
 -Very good player response (defensive and offensive).
 -Good throwing using the right analog stick.
 -Seems FUN!!!
 -Nice pitcher/batter interface. Somewhat original and user friendly.
 -Good online play (not bad lag in one game played and seems fun and to keep a good pace)
 -Good representation of pitch speeds.
 -Good choice of camera angles for pitching and batting.
 -Good ball cues in the field.
 -Decent options (can choose to warm up pitcher or not, ect…)
 
 
 Negatives: Honestly after two games I don’t have many yet…
 
 -Awkward player celebrations.
 -Big player hands.
 -Some defensive player movement can be a bit stiff.
 -Some ‘choppiness’ in online play on a couple at bats but none during fielding.
 
 So far I am really excited about this game. Hell, I even think it has potential to beat out a couple of the non-online games for regular gameplay !
 
 Time will tell, but my initial impressions are really positive. (the guy I played online was really digging it too !)
 [ This message was edited by: Spooky on 21-05-2003 18:12 ]

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Thu May 22, 2003 1:35 am

Just play about 4 more online games and I am loving it !!!!
 
 THIS GAME IS A BLAST !
 
 After 3 full games and a couple quick 3 inning games, I still have yet to find anything sigificantly wrong with it. IMO, there seem to be less issues here than with many other baseball games out there right now. I sincerely do not understand the really low scores in the recent magazines. I think a fair score would be between 7.5 and 9.0. I dunno, maybe it appears like such a good game right now beause I was expecting a piece of crap, but I can´t stress enough how pleasently surprised I am.
 
 This game is just good fun, especially online.

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Thu May 22, 2003 1:27 pm

Hey Spooky,
 
 I couldn´t agree more! I posted some thoughts of my own over at Calvert Games : <a href="http://www.calvertgames.com/cgi-bin/yab ... 1053565637" target="_blank" target="_new">http://www.calvertgames.com/cgi-bin/yab ... 3565637</a>
 
 We need to play sometime! Are you around tonight or tomorrow night? Let me know... you can post here, or e-mail me at <a href="mailto:kevin@calvertgames.com" target="_new">kevin@calvertgames.com</a>. My gamertag is K Moss.
 
 Kevin

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Thu May 22, 2003 2:14 pm

I´d love to play. I should be availible tonight after 9:30 or so Central time. I might be seeing amovie until then but maybe not.
 
 Let me know when you´re availible and we´ll schedule a time.
 
 Add me to your firends list. It´s ´Spooky Oooky´.

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Thu May 22, 2003 3:47 pm

Cool!
 
 How about 10 PM CST? I´ll send you an invite...
 
 Kevin

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Thu May 22, 2003 3:53 pm

Sounds good. I´ll be there.
 
 What team are you using so I can get ready ??? <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_wink.gif">

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Thu May 22, 2003 5:17 pm

Ha! I´m playing my lowly Tribe, so I expect a whoopin´! I did all right with them last night, though...
 
 Kevin

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Fri May 23, 2003 2:27 am

Good game tonight Kevin ! Nice rally there at the end.
 
 This game is too fun !
 
 I am going to go out on a limb and say BEST X-BOX LIVE SPORTS GAME YET ! <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_biggrin.gif">

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Fri May 23, 2003 9:14 am

Spooky,
 
 I had a blast, too... I had some "seeing-eye" singles there in the 8th that put the game away. Sometimes you get lucky!
 
 How about that play at the plate, with the collision where the runner failed to touch home! Too cool! (I hope that wasn´t a bug!)
 
 Do you want to get together again tonight? I´d like to try and see if we can play with modified rosters online, and also if we can change the lineup prior to starting the game. If not, that hurts the prospects of a decent online league... Is 11:00 EST okay again?
 
 Take Care,
 
 Kevin

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Fri May 23, 2003 10:49 am

Can´t promise anything for tonight but I will definitely try to be around.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Fri May 23, 2003 1:04 pm

Kevin, Spooky, if you guys are around tonight, I am up for some IP tonight also.
 
 -BK

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Fri May 23, 2003 1:17 pm

BK (Brian, right?),
 
 What´s your gamertag? I´ll be on around 10:00 or 11:00 PM EST tonight, and I´ll send you guys an invite...
 
 Kevin
 
 BTW, my ´tag is K Moss

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Fri May 23, 2003 1:27 pm

Yeah it´s Brian, but around DSP, SR and OS I m known as BK, which is cool with me.
 
 Gamertag: bkrich83
 
 I´ll send you a friend invite today.
 
 -BK [ This message was edited by: bkrich83 on 23-05-2003 10:28 ]

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Fri May 23, 2003 5:05 pm

If I´m around (not sure what my plans are tonight) I would like nothing more than to play some baseball against you guys !!! Just look for me online or shoot me an e-mail if you want to ´victor81373@sbcglobal.net´.

snate · Post by **snate** » Sat May 24, 2003 4:39 pm

I am shocked.
 
 Wednsesday - I am not buying ISP. I think it is going to suck.
 
 Thursday - I get tempted from some posts saying the game is decent. I pick up the game and play a few games against some strangers on XBL. My general opinion is that it is rough but a decent game of online baseball. Not sure whether it will have long term staying power.
 
 Friday - Fireworks. Romance. Orgasms. The night I fell in love with ISP. I don´t know what happened. I played till 3:30 in the morning. I had all sorts of games. Some pitchers duels. Some slugfests (Hipe ). Some wins. Some losses. I had an absolute blast. The more I played the more I started to see the depth and beauty of this game.
 
 Playing against a good player is an absolute chess match. Trying to pick up patterns and an early read on breaking pitches in the box. Trying to outhink the batter from the mound. And there is a huge difference b/w good and bad pitchers. I played several games with both teams using the 2-5 starters instead of the ace. They don´t hit their spots nearly as much, they don´t have the same bite on their breaking stuff and they fatigue quicker. I actually walked several guys last night. Nice stuff.
 
 Fielding is fun and responsive. Don´t think an outfield of Carl Everett and Juan Gonzalez is going to get to too many balls. The "super dive" is not equal for all. I dove with Gonzalez and I don´t think he did anything but fall on his face. They were a disaster in the expansive outfield of PNC. The cutoff man is well implemented and absolutely necessary if you want to play well.
 
 The batting and pitching model is excellent. There is great hit variety and ball physics. I can tell you where the ball is going to go as soon as I hit it pretty much. When you swing late it goes the other way, early you pull. There are lots of foul balls. And when you get into one you really feel it. Pitching against a good player requires alot of thought and guile. You try to stay out of the strikezone as much as possible, but players with a good patience get ahead in the count and look for a good hit to pitch. Several times last night I threw ball off the plate on 3-2 counts trying to get a guy to chase.
 
 The graphics have even grown on me. The game has a photo-realistic style of animation. More like ASB, unlike the cartoonish beauty of WSB. The stadiums are drop dead gorgeous. The player faces incredible - the stubble on some guys faces looks so real. The models are well done besides the hands being a little large. But players are scaled well - Mo is fat slob. The broadcast camera angles are varied and entertaining. The ball cam and the double play cam are especially well done. The playing angles are excellent as well- although I prefer battting from cam 2 and pitching from cam 3. As the night went on my jaw continued to drop further to the ground. The details are astounding and realistic. I really felt like the graphics do a great job of representing the players, venues, and game of baseball.
 
 Running the bases is easy and responsive. I really had no problems getting to where I needed to go.
 
 The speed of the game is right on. Players score from 2nd when the should. Players tag when they should. Double plays are turned when they should. Etc., etc. The throws from the outfield are a little too floaty but they are the right speed. So in other words, the result is proper but the animation is a little off - They should bounce more and float less. The differential in arms is very well represented. I played Ichiro and Vlad last night and theyboth had cannons.
 
 McCarver and Buck are the best announcing tandem in any sports game ever imo. They are timely and entertaining.
 
 After playing all night on XBL, at 3:30 I wanted to try the single player game. I started a season on the highest level and played a game. It was a 4-3 game with realistic stats for the most part. The only thing that bothered me was the CPU pitching AI. They were way too many pitches in the middle of the plate. The jury is still out on the 1P experience.
 
 You guys that know me, know how picky I am about baseball games. I buy them all and play them more than any other sport. I have to say that ISP is a great game and a great start for the MS baseball franchise. I really hope that the bad press doesn´t kill it - ala Home Run King. If I read one more time about not being able to pinpoint my pitching location, I am going poke my eyes out.
 [ This message was edited by: snate on 24-05-2003 13:41 ]

snate · Post by **snate** » Sat May 24, 2003 4:40 pm

Just had a few more great games. I really believe that this game is the most underrated game I´ve ever played.
 
 Keeping runners honest is an art form. You really need to vary how quickly you go to home plate to prevent runners from getting big jumps. This part of the game is done very well.
 Xbox Live Gamertag : snate

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Sun May 25, 2003 8:56 am

Great posts, snate. I´ll be setting up a league over at Calvert Games shortly. Keep an eye on the site over there, and sign up! Playing with guys you "know" makes for big fun, like you´ve described, and I think an IP league will be a blast! Hope you join (same to any other "regulars" over here!)
 
 Kevin
 
 PS - I hope to post league rules and announce a sign up period late next week. Then, I´ll give a couple weeks for signups, with the season starting when I return from my vacation in the middle of June.

snate · Post by **snate** » Sun May 25, 2003 11:51 am

Sounds good Kev. I´m in. I´ll keep a look out for details over on your site.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue May 27, 2003 12:53 pm

I rented Inside Pitch last night, and I must agree with Spooky, KMos and SNate: This game isn´t nearly as bad as many posters are saying, especially at the SR Forum. (Yeah, I still lurk at times. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_smile.gif"> )
 
 I think IP does a lot of things right, and I haven´t even played online yet. The pitcher-batter interface reminds me of High Heat without the foolish exaggerations of breaking balls. I also love the way you can move the batter around the box.
 
 The variety of hits is very believable. And yes, you know right where the ball probably will go based on your timing and contact with the pitch, which is realistic.
 
 I´m having no problem with baserunning or throwing runners out. Have turned a handful of DP´s.
 
 I´m also seeing a nice variety of offline games, from pitcher´s duels to slugfests.
 
 I´ll give IP a try online tonight or tomorrow night. If it´s strong online, it might replace WSB 2K3 in my collection. It´s just a really fun game of baseball for players like me who still haven´t warmed up to cursor-based hitting. IP has flaws but fewer than MVP, in my opinion. Plus the carrot of online play is appealing.
 
 All of the games have flaws this year. But I can live with the flaws in IP. My only big quibble right now is that the CPU leaves starting pitchers in a bit long. But I´m also not being very selective at the plate, either. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_smile.gif">
 
 So far, my impressions of IP are very positive. I can´t understand why this game is being put into the virtual pillory at some sites.
 
 Take care,
 PK

RandyM · Post by **RandyM** » Tue May 27, 2003 12:54 pm

>> Friday - Fireworks. Romance. Orgasms. The night I fell in love with ISP. >>
 
 Um...Dude...I must refer you to Genesis..you know--the part where "God created Woman, and it was good". You´re scaring me dude. Next thing you know, you´ll start demanding health insurance for your "domestic partner videogame"!
 
 Randy

K_Mosley · Post by **K_Mosley** » Tue May 27, 2003 1:30 pm

Snate, Spooky, I have "unofficially" included you guys in the league I´m starting. Check out this thread at CG and let me know if I´ve got it right:
 
 http://www.calvertgames.com/cgi-bin/yab ... 7;start=30
 
 I will be posting the league rules tonight or tomorrow (about 2/3 done), and then soliciting owners for the league. You guys have expressed interest, so you´ve already got a spot if you want it.
 
 BK, PK - if you´re interested, let me know! Just tell me which team! (BK, the Padres were just picked up by pigpen, but he´s a Dodger fan, so I´d bet you could talk him into taking LA if you want in with the Padres).
 
 FYI - there will be trades, FA´s, and some restrictions to limit the "cheese." Based upon who´s playing, I don´t think there will be any problems. I am trying to address what I can think of in the rules I´m writing...
 
 Kevin

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue May 27, 2003 1:53 pm

Kevin,
 
 I´m in !!! Looking forward to it.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue May 27, 2003 2:19 pm

You know another thing I really like (which hasn’t been mentioned a whole lot) is the way the teams ratings or strengths/weakness’ are incorporated.
 
 IP does a really great job of capturing individual players strengths and weakness’. It is really evident in each game I play. It also helps balance out each team rather nicely, meaning, if I play with the Cubs, I can really incorporate their strengths and weakness’ into my strategy and have it actually work, even against a better rated team. It also helps in my strategy against the other team I am facing. I know I can’t throw a certain pitch to ‘so and so’ because they will crush it, but to ‘this guy’ I can throw strikes all day long and can count on an out. I think IP exemplifies this better than most baseball games available.
 
 I also really like the ‘green, yellow and red’ indicators for player speed and fielding ability. What a simple yet great concept. I love seeing that green dot on 1st base and knowing my opposition is just itching at the chance to steal with him. I love how I have to question my use of runners with yellow and red indicators. Great idea !!!
 
 Anyway, just wanted to add a couple of recent thoughts.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Tue May 27, 2003 3:16 pm

"´ll give IP a try online tonight or tomorrow night. If it´s strong online, it might replace WSB 2K3 in my collection. It´s just a really fun game of baseball for players like me who still haven´t warmed up to cursor-based hitting. IP has flaws but fewer than MVP, in my opinion. Plus the carrot of online play is appealing."
 
 PK, I think you will really enjoy the game online. I´m waiting for someone to wake me up because I NEVER thought IP would be this fun. I don´t even feel like I am "settling" for IP just because it is the only game online. There are many areas that are solid in IP. In fact, IP has a good chance of getting my business again next year, especially if they work on enhancing the offline experience and options. The batter/pitcher interface is very well done in IP and great for online play. As much as I enjoy WSB, I can´t imagine trying to chase the ball with a cursor online. Especially at my age <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_smile.gif">
 
 I can tell a game is good when I re-live the game afterwards. Today I am still thinking about my 4-2 loss last night and all the missed chances....the shot that curved right around the foul pole, giving up a homerun way up in the count, the misplayed ball in left field, a couple of base running mistakes, the fielded rocket comebackers to the mound with the bases loaded. Fun stuff.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue May 27, 2003 3:59 pm

>>>IP does a really great job of capturing individual players strengths and weakness’. It is really evident in each game I play.<<<
 
 This is something that Inside Drive 2003 does exceptionally well, too. One of the real highlights of that game.
 
 So far I don´t put IP in the ID 2003 category. But it´s closer to great than it is bad. I´ll definitely put it in the same category as ID 2003 as a very underappreciated game.
 
 Any of your IP devotees going to be online playing tonight? I´d love to break my XBL IP cherry with someone from the DSP clan. Let me know what time you´ll be on!
 
 Thanks,
 PK