I'm not a big fan of sports games, but I had a blast with the arcade baseball game, "The Bigs," which came out a few years back.

So I'm torn about its sequel, "The Bigs 2." On the one hand, it's incredibly similar to the first game, so that should mean I'd love it. But on the other hand, man, I had a tough time with it.

It could very well be that I just lack the talent to do well in baseball video games - even unrealistic ones such as this. Or the game really is troublesome. Either way, I found myself awfully frustrated a lot of the time, and that's not what I want when I sit down with a game like "The Bigs 2."

There are the typical baseball game modes, but I mostly played the Become a Legend mode in which I created a player and worked to get him past an injury and back into the big leagues. Along the way, through minigames, he can earn boosts to his stats. I loved the leveling-up aspect.

"The Bigs 2" is Major League Baseball on (more) steroids. Certain players have incredible skills at hitting, fielding, etc. I'm talking about "the ball is on the other side of the field, but I'm still going to catch it" skills. (I'm looking at you, Ichiro Suzuki.)

Also, you earn points for big plays, and these points fill a meter. When the meter is full, you can unleash it as a nearly impossible-to-hit pitch or a crazy home run.

You fill up a turbo bar, too, which you can use to make your players run faster or hit harder.

This all sounds great in theory, but somehow, even with "superpowers," I kept getting my butt kicked by the computer.

The arcade features are easily, and often, used against you. It's no longer fun when you're unsuccessful at bat game after game because the other team always catches it. Meanwhile, my own team never seemed to move nearly so well.

On the other hand, when you're not being cheap-shotted by the AI, "The Bigs 2" is a heap of fun.

If you're good at baseball games, you probably won't have the same experience I did. And for sitting down with your friends and playing crazy baseball, "The Bigs 2" achieves what it sets out to do.

So maybe I just need to head back to the minor leagues.

Etc., etc.

Tilt: The fun Home Run Pinball makes a triumphant return in "The Bigs 2."

Get moving!: Baserunning proved to be frustrating. I frequently found myself shouting at the TV when my guys decided for some reason to just stop dead between bases.

Aimee Green reviews video games for the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star, a Lee Enterprises newspaper.