This game is just fantastic, and it's better than I expected.
Graphics: 1080p for the win. The game is "best played" at 720p but it is native 1080p and as long as you turn off 720p resolution on your ps3, you can force it to do 1080p. it is real 1080p because you lose the anti-aliasing, but you can see more detail, especiall things like scoreboards and such. It's a gorgeous game.
Home Run Derby: it is an arcade style derby for sure, and it's cool to see who on your team truely has the most power, it helps you decide who to hit the power button with and who to just go for contact. (the game is true to life as Ichiro has that sweet swing to hit the homers down the line in HRD even though his power meter is fairly low).
Road to the Show 4.0: good stuff, making a catcher is like making a pitcher, but you sacrfice accuracy (since the NPC is simply doing what you want them to do, or don't do) for batting prowess. You can really take your team to the world series if your batter ends up like Joe Mauer but with catcher's ERA of Rob Johnson (if you're that good of course).
Lets see, what else, The baseball physics change how the game is played, because the hits feel and look realistic. Oh and the balls bounce off every part of the player's body... including the umpires lol, i hit the umpire behind the plate in the groin on a bad bounce, and he collapsed gasping for air.
Few games are perfect, but sony has already patched the game with a 300 MB file (the finalized version of the game was done a month ago, so they've been working on bugs ever since).
Online gameplay: amazing, this is what we deserved as fans, it plays smoothly and 99% lag free. playing no visible strike zone plus no pitch guessing is the only way to play.
in reply to Earlaps' review, I struck out 14 players with Felix Hernandez on veteran mode my first game. They were hacking at some bad pitches... I think the pitcher-batter duel is very good this year... but everyone has their own experiences.
9.5/10 easy.