BIGS Things Poppin'

I make no secret of my love for The BIGS. I consider it the best arcade sports game of this generation and don't think it's close. NBA Street Homecourt is the only game in the genre I felt had a better art style, but the larger than life style of the parks and players - maybe not to best thing for a league still fighting off the stigma of performance enhancing drugs - fits the The BIGS like your favorite, trusty fielding glove. The back and forth battle of building and strategically using turbo in the pitching and batting duels really brought a fun new twist on that classic sports battle.

For those great things, the Rookie Challenge mode was a bit of a disappointment. Granted, the nature of the modes title screams one season, but the one season mode was just too little of a good thing. A complaint levied by many in the game's fan base.

Enter The Bigs 2.

The game maintains the original's artistic charm but now adds in a both a full season mode as well as expands on the Rookie Challenge with Become a Legend mode. Season mode takes the BIGS's signature gameplay into the actual MLB schedule. So plays can take their teams through their season schedule with full stat tracking, roster management, and trades on the way to the World Series.

Become a Legend mode starts with the premise of your created player being injured and having to work himself up from a Mexican league. Much like the former Rookie Challenge mode, this mode has players completing challenges in game to build attributes. Instead of beating teams to recruit current players onto your team, this time you'll be beating baseball legends to unlock for use in the game.

With various other mini-game modes, The BIGS 2 seems to have the potential to live up to - with MLB Power Pros - what's becoming a reputation for 2K Sports putting out some brilliant arcade baseball titles. The game is to release on July 7 for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, and PSP.