The BIGS (Xbox 360)

Manufacturer: Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Part number: 39177

CNET Editor rating:
4.0 stars Excellent
Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 4 reviews

More product information:: Editors' review; User reviews; Specifications; Manufacturer info

Where to buy

store	customer rating	inventory	tax & shipping	price
	Not yet rated Rate this store See store profile	In stock	Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price	$28.99 Shop now as of 10/12/2008
Amazon.com Marketplace	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$29.99 Shop now as of 10/11/2008
Amazon.com	Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$28.20 Shop now as of 10/12/2008
	Not yet rated Rate this store See store profile	In stock		$28.99 Shop now as of 10/12/2008

*Total price for the The BIGS (Xbox 360) are estimated and may vary slightly based on exact tax, shipping, manufacturer rebate or any sale/promotion on the merchant site.

show

Gamespot editors' review

The BIGS (Xbox 360)

price range: $28.20 - $29.99

Reviewed by: Aaron Thomas
Reviewed on: 06/26/2007
Released on: 06/25/2007

Read full review

As good as baseball games have gotten, many people feel that they're too complex and yearn for the old days where you could play an entire game in 15 minutes but didn't have to have a college degree to figure out the controls. If you've ever felt this way, or you just like fast-paced, over-the-top baseball, The BIGS should be right up your alley.

The BIGS has a lot in common with Midway's Slugfest series; the games move along at a brisk pace and there are plenty of gargantuan home runs, as well as some absolutely filthy pitches. On the mound, each of your pitches is mapped to a face button on the controller. To throw a pitch, you simply press the corresponding button and hold it until you've gone past the mark on the meter. If you wait too long or release too early, your location will be off and you'll tip your pitch to the batter. Each pitch is rated according to the pitcher's ability to throw it. This ability decreases as the game goes on, but the change can be accelerated by giving up hits. The harder the pitch is hit, the less effective it will be, and eventually, you'll lose the ability to throw the pitch completely. This isn't a huge problem when playing a single game because you've got plenty of pitchers at your disposal, but it's an issue in rookie challenge because a pitcher's stamina level carries over from game to game.

Pitching is as much fun as hitting.

For every strike you throw, you'll fill your turbo bar a little, and when you've filled one of your bars, you can press a button to activate turbo. This adds some extra zip to your fastball and adds some break to your breaking pitches, making them very difficult to hit. Above the turbo meter is the power-up meter. On defense, this can be filled by striking out hitters, making great plays, and robbing home runs. Once it's full, you can use it on either offense or defense for one at-bat. When it's used on defense, your pitches are all powered up and nearly (but not quite) unhittable. You'll also steal some of the points from the opposition's power-up meter depending on how many strikes you throw. Even when you're tossing regular pitches, it's a blast because the pitches are so darn nasty.

Hitting is just as simple and just as satisfying as pitching. You've got one button for a contact swing and one for a power swing. You don't have to worry about lining up cursors or using the analog stick to try to match the pitch location--it's all about timing. The left analog stick can be used to aim your shot, but there's no reason to be intimidated--it's easy to do and not all that necessary. You can earn turbo by taking balls, but the pitches move so fast and break so much that judging location is nearly impossible unless the pitcher tipped his pitch.

The turbo that you've accumulated on defense carries over to when you're on offense though, so you'll get plenty of chances to use it. If you activate it before a pitch, you'll add some power to your swing and force the pitcher to throw a strike. If you use it after you've hit the ball, you can run extra fast. While you might not be able to fill your turbo meter much on offense, you can increase your power-up meter fairly quickly by getting base hits, walking, or getting beaned. Activating your big hit power-up will guarantee a home run, provided you make contact. But this isn't just any old home run, it's a titanic blast that will spark as it hits the fair pole or explode when it hits the scoreboard. It would have been nice to have a bit more variety with regards to where the ball goes when it's hit because it seems to go to the same few spots over and over again. It also would have been nice to not get home runs taken away by the CPU several times in a game (even when you use turbo to hit), but for the most part, hitting is a lot of fun.

Even Chris Berman would get tired of saying 'Back, back, back' when calling some of these blasts

Where The BIGS stumbles a bit is in its fielding and base running. Once you've practiced (and when it works) mashing a button to run faster and using buttons to select the runner, moving the analog stick to direct them works OK, but too often the runners don't make the turn when you want them to or they stop in their tracks just shy of the base. The ability to run full-speed into the catcher like a freight train is totally awesome the first time you see it and makes up for some of the base running woes, but not all of them. The rest of the game is so simple you wonder why base running is so complicated. In the field, you can use boost to run faster or throw the ball faster, but the game plays so fast that you'll rarely have time to discern that you need turbo and press the button before it's too late. You can rob home runs by running up to the wall, pressing a button to jump, and then replicating a sequence of button presses shown onscreen. But unless you're playing another person, these opportunities are few and far between.

Once the ball is hit, you're given control over the player in the best position to make a play, but the ball is hit so hard that it's often already passed you by the time you figure out who you're controlling. This issue is exacerbated by a fielder's inability to change direction quickly; if you take one step in the wrong direction, you can forget about getting to the ball in time. Finally, the plays where the ball hits a fielder, knocking him down as it ricochets away are far too common and are all the more frustrating thanks to the lousy fielding controls. But even these issues don't prevent the game from being a ton of fun to play.

See pricing

show

User reviews

Write Review

Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 4 reviews
My rating: 0 stars

Showing opinion 1 to 4 out of 4

Sort by:
8 stars

loads of fun

by MixMasterBean on January 2, 2008

Pros: special features, easy to understand and play

Cons: I get my ass handed to me on this thing

Summary: This game is very life-like and fun to play. Being a diehard Cubs fan, everything's as it should be. Pitching, batting, practicing, it's all ridiculously fun.

Summary: This game is very life-like and fun to play. Being a diehard Cubs fan, everything's as it should be. Pitching, batting, practicing, it's all ridiculously fun.
7 stars

Fun for what it is

by kinggorman on November 26, 2007

Pros: Gameplay, monster home runs, rookie challenge, home run pinball, everyone looks like they are on steroids

Cons: Repetitive nature of when the monster HRs land, everyone looks like they are on steroids

Summary: I have played through and completely beaten this game using a player on the Yankees (I grew up in NY) and a player on the Cubs (I live on the ...

Read more

Summary: I have played through and completely beaten this game using a player on the Yankees (I grew up in NY) and a player on the Cubs (I live on the northside of Chicago now). It is definitely a lot of fun to go through the Rookie Challenge the first time and do all the drills and go through the pains of having a sh*t player until he is respectably good. It jsut feels a bit anti-climactic to have him be 5 stars in all attributes. Also, not being able to create a pitcher kind of sucks. I would have loved to create an outfielder and then a pitcher. The game would have been different the second time around.

The HR Pinball mode is pretty cool. Having grown up in NY, lighting Times Square up with baseballs is a lot of fun. No real NYer likes being in/around/anywhere near Times Square. It is a satisfying, in a way, to drop baseball bombs all over the neon lighting.

Online mode is a bit lacking. Every at bat is either a K or a HR...it gets old after a few games of scores being 35-33.

For what it is though, the game is a lot of fun. It's hilarious to see players like Ichiro and David Eckstein look jacked. It almost as if this game is a fun jab at the steroid era, saying that this is what the game would look like if everyone keeps juicing.

Fun regardless though

Show less
2 stars

Obnoxious game....period.

by ninrocket on July 5, 2007

Pros: Graphics are OK.

Cons: Computer "wall grabs" get annoying very fast, commentator is very repetitive, base running controls could have been a lot simpler, hitting is pretty much a guessing game.

Summary: This game is kewl for about 30 minutes. The first time you get powered up and get to blast a homer is kewl. Watching an outfielder kick off the wall ...

Read more

Summary: This game is kewl for about 30 minutes. The first time you get powered up and get to blast a homer is kewl. Watching an outfielder kick off the wall and jump 10 feet or more in the air with one foot is neat for a couple of times but gets very annoying. The computer opponents constantly do the wall grabs and take away homers.

The base running is very annoying. Nintendo got the base running thing perfected in the first baseball games. Why would anyone do anything different? The programmers just had to be different....and the big difference is the playability of this game is bad.

The computer opponents constantly have line drives hit off of their infielders only to be caught by another infielder. This wouldn't be so annoying except for the fact that when it's your turn to play defense you get absolutely no help from the computer. I have had balls hit my pitcher and roll directly in front of my 2nd baseman. I actually watched a replay of one of these type plays and the ball actually rolled over my 2nd basemans shoe. He just stood there. When you hit the button to select another player you'd think it would pick the closest man to the ball. NOT!!! It will pick anyone in the vacinity...like the right fielder for instance.

It only gets worse later on. Trying to judge a pitch is next to impossible. The pitchers wind up and delivery is identical for most pitches. At the harder levels you are just pressing the button and hoping that you get a fastball...purely guessing.

Online game play is probably worse. I played 3 games online...1-2. The first game I was down 7 nothing in the 1st and lost 7-4 because the host had started a 3 inning game. This same host continuosly bunted to load the bases. There is no defensive adjustments available in this horrible game.

Anyway....I wouldn't recommend renting this game...unless you are considering buying it and want to find out for yourself. In that case...rent it...play it for an hour or so...and then you'll realize I told you so.

I bought this game at Costco for my son. Fortunately they have a good return policy. It's going back to the store tomorrow.

Show less
10 stars

MUST-HAVE FOR SPORTS FANS

by Bravesboy on June 30, 2007

Pros: Amazing graphics, fun gameplay

Cons: Lack of a true franchise mode

Summary: The most fun baseball game ever. Amazing graphics, the most fun 360 game yet, great sound. My only word of warning is that it may not be the best choice ...

Read more

Summary: The most fun baseball game ever. Amazing graphics, the most fun 360 game yet, great sound. My only word of warning is that it may not be the best choice for hardcore baseball fans wanting a realistic game. But no matter what, it is far better than MLB 2K7.
Updated
The lack of a franchise mode doesn't take away from the fun. Most baseball or sports fan who would buy this game probably wouldn't mind that anyway.

Show less

Showing opinion 1 to 4 out of 4

See pricing

show

Specifications

Manufacturer: Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
Part number: 39177

Product Basic Spec
Platform Xbox 360
ESRB rating Everyone - Mild Violence
Genre Sports
Number of players 1-4 Players
Connectivity Online,Voice Chat,Broadband Only
Customization Downloadable Content
Offline modes Competitive,Team Oriented,Cooperative
Online modes Cooperative,Competitive,Team Oriented
Sound Dolby Surround
Resolution 1080i,1080p,720p

Game
Developer Blue Castle Games
ESRB Everyone
ESRB descriptors Mild Violence
License Major League Sport
Release date 2007-06-25

See pricing

show

Manufacturer info

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Reddit
- Facebook
Print

Shopper.com strives to provide the best price, review, user opinion, and product information on the The BIGS (Xbox 360). Shopper.com updates pricing for all products multiple times each day. If you find a price, link, product specification, review, user opinion, or any other error for the The BIGS (Xbox 360), please notify us through our support form.

Shopper tools: All products; Popular brands; Deals; Rebates; Notebook Shopper; Site map

Popular topics: Apple iPhone; Apple iPod; Best hybrid cars; Cell phones; Dell; GPS

CNET sites: CNET TV; Downloads; News; Reviews; Shopper.com; Site map

More information: Newsletters; Corrections; Customer Help Center; RSS; What's new; About CNET

Privacy policy
Terms of use
Visit other CBS Interactive sites:

#networkSites {display:none;}BNET | CHOW | CNET.com | CNET Channel | GameSpot | International Media | mySimon | Search.com | TechRepublic | TV.com | ZDNet

The BIGS (Xbox 360)

Where to buy

Gamespot editors' review

User reviews

Submit your review

Specifications

Product Basic Spec

Game

Manufacturer info