Mlb the show is the most realistic Baseball game on the market. However does it live up to the hype? Lets find out.
Graphics: First thing you notice about the game is the graphics. It's absolutely Breath Taking. The stadiums look top notch, the shadows are fantastic, and everything is just about perfect. You would even admire the reflection of the stadium bouncing off the helmet, it's something that was never seen in the 2k series by far and mlb the show delivers on all levels. The character models fit their real life counterpart, something that was also lacking in the 2k series, all the models look blurred and unrealistic, Pablo Sandoval during 2010 was very fat during the real season, but for some reason in the 2k games, he was as slim was Andres Torres. It was rather odd? However in 2011 he lost around 45 pounds and mlb the show 11 matches his shape perfectly, another aspect mlb the show 11 nails perfectly. Basically Mlb the show nails every single aspect of graphics in this game; however with these great graphics, how are the animations and movements?
Animations: A big problem in the 2k series was the animations, there were usually the same after every play and none of the movements actually fit their counterpart. Mlb the show again delivers on this aspect, but the animations are something that you thought you would never see, when they said this is the most realistic baseball game, they weren't kidding, all the fielding, batting, and pitching, bullpen, and manager actions fit real life plays. Its rather amazing, how they perfected this aspect is insane, adding almost all signature batting stances and pitching stances that are lacked in most other baseball games, this game maximizes the idea and makes it nearly perfect.
Commentary: The commentary in this game is phenomenal, however most websites (Gamespot, Ign, Etc) said that the new commentators pale in comparison to the previous ones. However I beg to differ, I love watching baseball and yes Eric Karros is a terrible announcer, and I hate him in this game, however comparing to the 2k announcers which repeat the exact same lines that were used in 2k6 up to 2k11, then you really appreciate the great and accurate calls that are made in the show. So again another aspect mlb the show nailed, Jesus is there anything this game can't do right? Well only a few things I can think off but well get to that later.
Game play: I'll go through all the aspects of the game.
-Fielding: The fielding is solid in this game, it offers several different options and allows the computer to play for the new players and allow them to get a feel for the game. This is the first game that actually makes defense important, all the fielders play a crucial role in the game, and you can't skip on a sloppy outfield or infield, or errors will happen. Balancing batting and fielding is something that was never used in any other baseball game and is a great addition to this baseball game.
-Pitching: Pitching is fantastic in this game, there are several different options to pitch and it allows new players and experienced ones to enjoy this aspect. Pitching is a little harder since it's most realistic especially when you play on an analog pitching which is harder. Keep in mind hard is the key word in this game.
-Batting/Base running- The two aspects of this game that very much set my teeth on edge and truly gives you the definition of the word hard. Batting is very difficult in this game, and I understand what the developers were going for, but man this is insane. Basically it allows to you check if the pitch is going to be above below or to the left or right side of the plate and predict what pitch it's going to be. Now let's clear something up, you can have different kinds of contacts, such as very early, just early, solid, perfect, superb, just late, or very late. Now depending on your time, you'll get a hit or an out right? Wrong, I have had several times where the pitch is right over the plate, fast ball, Not only did I predict the right pitch and spot and have superb timing and contact, with all these factors, you would assume you would get an obvious hit, wrong most of the time I'm usually out and at times it doesn't even leave the outfield? I understand they were trying to make the game realistic, but in real baseball, when a pitcher throws it over the plate and the batter predicts the right pitch, usually the batter makes the pitcher pay, here apparently the batter never makes the pitcher pay. It seems rather random? The base running is pretty basic, you can command the players to slide head first, leg first, and send them in a certain direction, but I've encountered a few glitches such as first and second no one out. I hit a single and of course that means full on base right? Well I was thinking of sending the guy around third to score, but after I push L1 to round the base, I say nah never mind go back to third so I hit R1 and guess what? All my base runners run backward? Even though it's full on base? Apparently the AI in the running isn't very intelligent, long story short, I got tripled played out. I was completely speechless. However, besides a few base running glitches, glitches are almost nonexistent. This game is just about perfect but the main problem is that the game is just to dam hard, I guess they were trying to make it realistic, but they made it basically impossible.
Verdict: Besides of a few glitches and making an incredibly hard game, this game is one of the best games I have played. Yes it does make you bite your finger's due to the suspense of frustration of the game, but isn't that what baseball is all about? The adrenaline? The game truly does live up to the title of being the most realistic baseball game every created and I will recommend this game to any gamer, especially baseball lovers! Enjoy the game and let's play some ball.