"MLB 09: The Show" was perhaps the first baseball game I truly fell in love with. Coming right as I was starting to grow into a big baseball fan, I spent a good deal of time with it and grew to suddenly love the series. "MLB 10: The Show" was a release that snuck up on me a bit, but I remember picking it up around its release day and sinking even more time into it than I did with "MLB 09: The Show." If "MLB 09: The Show" was the game that fueled my love for baseball, "MLB 10: The Show" set my baseball hype thrusters to the max.
With "MLB 10: The Show," everything you loved about "MLB 09: The Show" is on full display: the presentation remains fantastic, with very realistic graphics and nice commentary, and the gameplay is still plenty of fun. The offensive mechanics remain as solid as ever, the pitching and defensive gameplay remain thrilling, and all of your favorite modes like Road to the Show are better than ever. And even though the game might feel like more of the same, a lot of the minor improvements go a very long way here: I think the Catcher Mode that allows you to control the pitcher's entire game is very cool, being able to create your own personalized audience cheers and highlight movies was awesome (I definitely did a lot of the latter), and the addition of new All-Star Game festivities like the All-Star Futures Game and the Home Run Derby were awesome. "MLB 10: The Show" did the little things, but those little things still made a big difference.
For me, the only thing that really held the game back was that there were a few minor bugs that frustrated me. I'm sure some hardcore fans of the series may remember the Tampa Bay Rays bullpen bug, and yep, I ran into it a good deal, too. Still, that was just a minor nitpick, and the rest of the game was far too fun.
Overall, "MLB 10: The Show" was a game I sunk a ridiculous amount of time into, and much like the previous game, it really helped fuel my love for the sport of baseball. Again, like many yearly sports games, revisiting it a decade later might seem fruitless because of the new features in newer games, but this is a game I'll forever have love for thanks to all the memories it gave me and the incredible amount of hours I sunk into it.
Final rating: 10 out of 10 "Fantastic"