Last February, the precocious Mariners franchise went down to a Baltimore area Gamestop and laid down some hard earned prospects to acquire the latest installment of a video game franchise that was seemingly ready to live up to it’s hype. When early editions of the game were first released to little or no fanfare, gamers saw a game that had potential but needed a few kinks worked out. However with the release of Bedard 07, everything changed. Now this is what everyone had been waiting for. There was tremendous gameplay, better control and all-in-all a fun experience to be a part of. Yes, the ending left a little to be desired but there was no question that Bedard 08 would be one of the more buzzed about and anticipated releases in recent time. So in February when the makers announced that Bedard 08 was ready to hit the market, the Mariners, having just seen how happy the Mets were with their copy of Grand Theft Johan, went above and beyond to make sure they’d be playing Bedard 08 all summer.
Well Seattle, as well as the rest of the baseball world, has seen the result. Bedard 08 is a stinker. It’s not definitely not E.T. The Video Game, but at the same time, it’s certainly been a disappointment. Mediocre gameplay, terrible controls and a storyline that is awfully familiar and seems to be going nowhere. Worse off, every single time Seattle goes back and thinks “Maybe it’s not that bad, let me give it another go” and tries to play Bedard 08 with an open mind, it in fact gets worse and ultimately now Bedard 08 is just sitting there on the shelf, collecting dust. And although the M’s haven’t completed the game yet or seen the ending, there’s apparently rumors that others want to give Bedard 08 a try, so I say to the Mariners, cut your losses and bring him back to the store and trade him in. As is always the case, you won’t get back nearly what you shelled out for him, but I hear the Philadelphia area video game stores are offering a good price for trade-ins if you’re willing to take store credit instead of cash. Besides, if you wait to long, Bedard 09 will come out, which may even be worse, and the game we have now will have little or no value all together.
