Some of us may remember the gorgeous arcade game NFL Blitz. Though some people I know preferred to spend their money on Street Fighter and the like, I pumped dollar after dollar into NFL and NBA Blitz. Those videogames were stripped-down versions of the real game, aiming to provide quick pickup and understanding of the games they portrayed.

This year, I decided I wanted to get to know and understand two new sports - AFL and Baseball. AFL was easy, I just joined a club in Wellington. But for Baseball, I couldn't be bothered joining a team. I tried watching it and found it boring - it's like chess but with a big stick. 'OOOOO, he's on a 3-2 count, what's he gonna do, try for the walk or go for the hit?'. It has it's own language that isn't explained to you; 'so that breaking ball hit on his third at bat now gives him a 4 RBI count for the day' and is like an exclusive men's club.

A few weeks ago though, I saw The BIGS 2 sitting on a shelf at JB Hi-Fi and eventually decided to buy it. I was apprehensive, but wanted to try something new instead of getting Madden 10 immediately. It's a decision I still don't regret.

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When first starting out, I chose the 'Become a Legend' mode. Hell yeah, I wanted to hit like 300 home runs in my first game. Bring it! The game doesn't work like that though. You're taken on a linear path where you begin the game injured, and sent to play in Mexico to rehabilitate [chortles between my friend and I were shared at this development]. After you've played the three games there you choose the team you want to play for [Since I wanted a challenge I elected not to go to Boston, and New Orleans doesn't have a team - they're my two NFL teams - so I chose to go to my NBA team, Cleveland, and play for the Indians so LeBron James could come along and not support me.] Once you're in the big leagues, you'll quickly realise your created dude sucks. Your skills improve as the game goes on, but not on a level-up basis or anything. Oh no. Most of the time you're struggling to get to first base even when you've smacked the leather off the ball.

Because of this, you'll get good at fielding and pitching, and very quickly. The game aims to make it easy for people to pick up and play and in the field is where this is showcased. In certain situations a mini-game will be triggered where the player must hit a button, a succession of buttons, or a particularly tough one where you must balance a ball on a line using the triggers [kind of like grinding in the old Tony Hawk games].

The career mode is quite short, but still gets boring. In one instance you're stuck in Japan and must steal a base with your player - at a time when they're still very slow. This took my friend and I at least 2 hours of restarting and trying again to do.

As you go on you'll find yourself getting used to this game and regularly blowing out teams. Yet it still remains entertaining. It is at this point that co-op play comes into its own - there's nothing funner than being able to have a friend play with you and yell at each other when one of you messes up.

The criticisms I have for this game, aside from the impossibility of some of the challenges, stem from the 'gamebreaker' ability. As you perform certain plays [get a strikeout, get a hit, get a 'legendary' catch' you will gain points toward this ability, which allows you to throw near-impossible pitches or try to get a 'grand slam' [get one person on each base and then hit the home run]. For some reason in this game hitting a ball and getting around three bases gets you the same amount of points as getting an inside-the-park home run. And an actual home run earns you less than a triple. Similarly, striking out Tim Linecum - who cannot hit a ball - and striking out Alex Rodriguez - who hits home runs with ease - gets you the same amount of points. These discrepancies get annoying, but are workable. The commentary is surprisingly good.

So I suppose you want a rating then. If I was to give it a numerical value, I'd give it a 7/10. But suffice it to say I enjoy this game, and it's taught me a lot about baseball [while also teaching me nothing. WTF is a ground rule double?]. It's awesome to play with a mate, and the games are quick [maybe about 10min for a 5 inning game] once you get the hang of it.