For lovers of Baseball game simulations, that may be the one closest to reality, but still big improvements to be done.
The Strikezone
It's so frustrating to notice that the strikezone is so small in every MLB The SHOW I've played so far compared to MLB Baseball games on television.
More often than not, it took me "4 strikes" to strikeout batters because umpires never call strikes on the black of the plate. When they do miss calls (when you select UMPIRE BALLS AND STRIKES : VARIABLE in gameplay settings), they always miss their calls in batters favor. When the commentator implies that the umpire misses a call in the pitcher's favor by saying : "Oh, the umpire seems to expend the strike zone now"... The ball actually always touches the corner... which is normal to call it a strike.
On television, umpires, 90% of the time, call a strike when the ball is near the black of the plate without even touching it. They even call strikes when the ball is totally off the black sometimes. In MLB The show... The ball has to touch half its size the corner of the plate... which is far from reality and makes it so hard to strikeout batters, cause the game steals many strikes we are supposed to get.
The Gameplay Pace and Fluidity
The game, plays and player movements feel slow compared to reality or to one of the best Baseball game simulation ever (in my opinion) : MVP Baseball 2005.
Unrealistically, CPU batters swings are in slow-motion graphically and often, start swinging when the ball just entered the catcher's glove. When I almost hit a player by a pitch... The batter starts his reaction to move away when the danger has passed and the ball is in the catcher's glove.
The ball speed is too slow as well! When I see a 99 mph fastball on television... it doesn't look like the 99 mph fastball from my pitcher. My fastball feels more like a 86-88 mph real fastball.
Same here for the plays in defense... everything feels slow. If the game were just like reality : same pace, same fluidity and correct reaction time of players to every situation, I would even more enjoy the game, 'cause I'm really looking for realism in games.
Graphic and deepness of RTTS
Graphic-wise, I only have good words. They are amazing and close to reality.
I really enjoy playing RTTS for the content of this mode and for making my player improve many attributes through the game with training points. I like the training sessions as well in the regular season giving me a break. It allows also my pitcher to train if there's no more training points left, avoiding certain attributes to decrease after 60 days without improving with training points.
Pure Analog Control
I love this new feature giving a bigger challenge pitching. I've never felt so stressed on a 3-2 count in all games I've played before. In addition to work for the right timing, you have to point your analog stick in the direction of your target. That's brilliant!! That makes the pitching more realistic... that would have been even more enjoyable if umpires called strikes off the black of the plate... That's so frustrating!!
Overall, I enjoy the game and I have a real good time with it. I'm a little disappointed regarding the realism of the game though, especially : the pace of the game, the speed of the pitchers pitches, the players time reaction and the unrealistic strike and ball calls... It makes me wonder if the developers of the game watch Baseball games on TV.
I hope next year... I'll feel it more realistic as if I'm watching a game, but actually... controlling it!