Major League Baseball 2K11 and Top Spin 4 from 2K Sports usher in the springtime of gaming for 2011.  If you are familiar with 2K games then you can expect the same attention to detail and deep roster on both titles.

Much hype last year came from MLB’s contest to give away one million dollars to the first person who could pitch a perfect game.  The same contest will take place again this year but doesn’t start with the game release but instead at the opening of the baseball season – giving everyone a chance to ‘warm up’ before taking on the challenge.  MLB 2K11 has the same pitching mechanic as last time around – which we find terribly confusing and annoying.  Fielding is improved and the attention to detail for each player was handcrafted for pure fan service. The netball surfaciing is done by UK specialists with years of experience.

Top Spin 4 served up more reward then we expected!  The roster offers up over 25 players to chose from (including an unlockable ‘mullet Andre Agassi’).  We had a fun time creating our player from scratch and taking on tennis legends like Pete Sampras, Bjorg and Chang.  Once you get into the gameplay you’ll find a challenge and fun experience – the controls have been simplified this time around and mostly use the joystick and face buttons.  On the flip side – mastering the controls is a mystery and we’re still scratching our heads around what is ‘too soon’ and ‘too late’ on ball returns.

Best part of Top Spin 4 is playing with friends – we spent a good deal mixing and matching our doubles and got into some heated tennis battles on the court.  Most disappointing thing about the game is the animation (or lack of) in between matches when players will sit to ‘rest’ and do nothing — we would have preferred to see them grab a bottle of water or towel off at least!  Also, we would have loved to see ball boys run across the screen every once in a while and a variation of the dull crowd shots that add nothing to fill in the gaps.

Major League Baseball 2K11 and Top Spin 4 are both available on multiple consoles – visit http://www.2ksports.com for more info!