There used to be a time when a person would have to choose from 5 or 6 different baseball games a year. It seemed that every year the decision would get tougher because each game was trying to outdo the other with innovative, more realistic features. MLB 2002’s franchise mode, Allstar baseball 2005’s 4 different hitting interfaces, Triple Play 2001’s unlockable legends. Of course those days are gone and fans of baseball sims are left with 2 options: a completely broken and mediocre experience, or MLB ’07: The Show. :(Though I still sorely miss the All-star baseball series): Thankfully, the fine folks at SCEA didn’t take EA’s approach at a lack of any real competition and actually put together a solid set of new features that really makes the installment an enjoyable experience. Pitching & fielding: It feels appropriate to start off discussing this part of the game, since it’s by far the most improved. New this year is the ability to have the effectiveness of any given pitch in your repertoire increase and decrease as the game goes on, depending on how well or often you’ve been throwing it. If your consistently throwing your fastball for strikes and occasionally striking hitters out with it, you’ll find that pitch becoming faster and harder to hit throughout the game. Like wise; if a certain pitch keeps getting hit hard or if you ignore it all together, it will be much harder to use it effectively in the later innings. Basically, if your using only one or two pitches for most of the game and the opposing team begins to lock on, its almost impossible to just switch the other pitches and still be effective. This really forces players to think like a pitcher (or catcher) while on the mound and is an important piece of information to keep in mind for players who are too stubborn or lazy to switch thing up, the AI will catch on and you’ll find yourself in A LOT of trouble! Of course every pitcher has a certain pitch that starts off effective and usually stays that way: Barry Zito has his curveball, Brandon Webb has his Sinker, and Johan Santana has his….well….all his pitches. This is by far the most realistic feeling pitching interface I have ever used! Ever! Fielding is still solid and enjoyable, though in this installment you may get a few more past balls due to players getting stuck in animations than you’re used to. Nothing has changed from last year’s game, so let’s move on. Hitting: Hitting is once again a very solid and on the right difficulty level, near perfect experience it’s always been. You can guess the pitch location and type, and if you guess right you’ll be rewarded with an all expense paid trip around the bases. Though no new features have been added, I think it’s actually for the best this time around. One awesome and completely unmentioned feature they’ve added is the ability to switch the homerun celebration camera off. And though you might not think so, It goes a looooooooooooong way towards making the game feel more immersive as you’ll find yourself holding your breath to see if the ball I gonna make it over. The Modes: MLB ’07: The Show has the game modes you have become familiar with through the years: Single Season, Franchise, Homerun Derby, Exhibition, Career…. But new to this installment is the ‘Road to the Show’ mode. It functions very similar to the regular career mode, so similar that you’ll wonder why they even bothered adding it to begin with. The biggest difference you’ll see is that all events including fielding are automatically forwarded to events that involve your player. I found it more gimmicki and annoying than anything, so I’m actually glad they left the old career mode in. Closing Comments: The folks at SCEA have once again put out the best baseball sim of the year. And even though they had no real competition this year, some real nice improvements were made from the previous installment to help the game feel more like the real thing. It is worth mentioning again that the pitching is fantastic, and no baseball sim fan should miss out on it. This game is a clear buy, no doubt about it!
I really enjoyed last years version and this year The Show is back and better than ever. I am a serious baseball fan and this game brings home all the treats I need until the real season starts! The improved career mode,... Read Full Review
(Note: This is strictly a review of MLB: The Show’s Franchise mode.) I’ve been milking EA’s MVP ‘05 franchise mode for as long as possible, convinced that video game baseball could never get better. Finally broke down... Read Full Review
