Take me out to the ball game!
The Show, is such a GREAT baseball sim, it is very difficult to find fault with it. However, there are a few small things that keep this game from being perfect. I will now go through the good, and bad aspects of this game.
Controls:
For the most part, there are no issues with the controls. Batting by guessing pitch location and pitch type is made easy by using the left bumper and stick. Running the fielders is smooth and easy, the only thing I don't like is sometimes I feel the infielders don't react quick enough to get to easy ground balls, which leads to a few to many base hits that should be outs. Pitching is easy, pick the pitch type by selecting it with the corresponding button on the controller.
Graphics:
Although not as crisp and clean as MLB2k8, the graphics here are simply beautiful. There are small things that may be left out, or missed in some stadiums, but over all each stadium is represented in beautiful colors and small details. Player models are clean and smooth, and you can easily identify players by just looking at them. Even the crowd is done well in this game, with small groups of people standing and reaching for foul balls when hit near their section.
Audio:
Ever been to a real game? No need to if you have a decent surround system to use while playing, the audio is AWESOME and the play-by-play announcers are quick and on top of most every play. It seems like this is the first BB game where the crowd actually follows the game, and gets loud and quiet at the right moments.
Depth Of Game:
As I mentioned above, this is a baseball sim, and not an arcade game. If you know baseball, you can follow pretty much ANY stat you like. In franchise mode, you control the day in, and day out functions of the team. Setting vendor prices, buying stadium upgrades, making sure you players, and fans are happy, it's all here in this game. Want to make sure your players are well rested for road trips? Buy them a private airplane to travel on. Want to make sure fans don't have to wait in long lines to buy food or souvenirs? Add more concession stands and places for kids to play.
Road To The Show:
This is one reason why a lot of people buy this game. It's basically a create a player where you pick a position, and start out as a rookie in double A. You then play in games at your position, and take your at bats when you come up in the lineup. As you play more games, you earn points which you can put towards increasing your talents and abilities. Assuming you do well, you will get called up to AAA and then make it to the MLB team. This part of the game is very fun, and a nice break for those that don't like to play full team seasons or are just looking to do something different.
Of course there is a online feature, but I have yet to try this out
The little things in this game are what make it great. Not every diving attempt will end up in a catch or great infield play. Not every crushed ball will go over the fence, and not every wall climb will end up in a highlight play. There are broken bats, awesome plays, errors, over thrown players, wind conditions, ejections, injuries, walk off celebrations, inconsistent umps behind the plate and many other things that you will find in a real MLB game.
The little things that take away from the game are things like to many passed balls, or wild pitches from the computer, to many close plays at first that NEVER go the runners way. The lack of energy loss by bullpen pitchers, it seems they are always ready to go the next day, no matter how much they are used. And, it seems that the announcers don't have enough lines, sometimes you hear the same thing over and over and over again.
Over all this is a GREAT game, I give it a 9/10