The countless flaws in The BIGS makes for minor league fun.
While hitting and pitching controlled well with the new Wii controls, other important baseball aspects, such as base running and fielding, were oddly left to the computer AI to control. Hits were calculated on where the ball landed in the park and base running felt similar to old-school sandlot "ghost man" rules. In other words, Wii Sports' baseball feels nothing like America's favorite pastime.
Enter the new baseball game simulation The BIGS. Taking the same motion sensing controls of Wii Sports' baseball, The BIGS manages to add the complete experience of controlling and playing in a baseball game. Whether it makes this feat accessible and fun for all players is about to be discussed.
One of the first things that players will notice when starting a quick game of The BIGS is how this isn't exactly an accurate portrayal of real baseball. Sure, some of today's hometown heroes are exponentially expanding in size by the season, but in The BIGS, everyone but the batboys look like they are possible gym buddies with Jose Conseco.
On top of the beefed up players with their edgy appearances and attitudes, the game itself is an over-dramatized spectacle of impossible catches, smash hits, and extremely aggressive base running. With an all-around caricaturized presentation of baseball, The BIGS is best described as a resurrection of aggressive sports games like the glory days of NFL Blitz.
Gameplay wise, The BIGS is rather, excuse the pun, hit or miss. Batting is the biggest thing that takes awhile to get used to. Swinging doesn't feel quite as natural as Wii Sports due to a nasty delay when swinging the physical Wii-mote and the on-screen player swinging, but it does become easier with practice and timing. Delayed swing aside, the options at bat feel a lot more in depth here as ball placement and coinciding base runners help increase strategic plays.
Pitching on the other hand feels much tighter and expansive in The BIGS as opposed to Wii Sports' two button pitch availability. Players are given four or five solid pitches that, when thrown right, can be downright nasty for batters. Even little things like twisting of the wrist and flick speed is registered on the Wii-mote to make every pitch different than the last. It's just a shame that the rest of the game isn't as fun as pitching and hitting.
Despite the irony that Wii Sports baseball doesn't even allow players to field the ball and round the bases, the biggest downfall of The BIGS by far is the lackluster fielding and base running controls. Fielding is an absolute pain, mainly because the overpowered hitters will smoke it out of the infield before players even have a chance to lay out for the ball. Even when the ball is hit mid-field where a player should easily make the play, the game has a tough time choosing who is closest to the ball which oftentimes turns into an unnecessary hit.
In the rare occurrence that a player stops the ball with the seemingly useless piece of leather situated on their hand, the game goes through another complete relapse with throwing to bases. Some developer somewhere decided that it would be a neat idea to have people flick their wrists in one of the four directions to throw to a bag, but the game has real trouble deciding what direction a Wii-mote has been flicked in. The bottom-line is expect a ton of unearned runs to flood in with this sloppy mechanic. Thankfully, and mercifully, the developers have also assigned bases to the Wii-mote's D-pad for easy throwing.
The BIGS really has some game-hindering flaws that keep this arcade baseball game from becoming the next great sports game. When it works, it really works, but those moments are too few and far between and will possibly end up frustrating gamers. With really only three differing modes to play, including a slightly barebones Create-a-Rookie mode, this game is a disappointment for sports and Nintendo Wii enthusiasts looking for that complete baseball experience. Just don't forget to dust off that copy of Wii Sports every so often.