Overall a nice looking game with excellently simulated gameplay, but lacks a lot of polish.
User Rating: 7.5 | MLB 12: The Show VITA
As an avid fan of the MLB The Show series I bought this game when it immediately came out. I have several key issues. This game plays and feels almost identical to last years PS3 THE SHOW. This isnt a bad thing per se. However, I feel like they could have done something special for the Vita. The gameplay is tight as ever and the overall baseball experience is amazing. The camera angles are just right and it looks as much like ESPN as I've ever seen on a portable. That being said, there are a lot of little concerns. First, when you play a game, most times when the ball goes foul you can see the bench is completely empty. This seems like a small issue, but its an odd programming mistake that distracts from an otherwise complete experience. My next issue is with home runs. By default, in season, there are no highlight replays. The game seems to skip through the homerun replay that the old THE SHOW had. I am certain you can turn this feature back on, but its odd that it would default to off. My next gripe is the box animations. The framerate dips way down when the camera pans to a batter stepping in the box. Its off putting considering how beautiful the game looks. It goes as far as to make the crowd behind it look 8-bit. Its just wonky and considering the hardware it shouldnt be. I also have issue with the pitching. In days of old when you aimed the ball it typically went where you intended to pitch it. I find that it doesnt seem to matter where you intended the ball to be thrown in THE SHOW. 75% of the time the ball goes where you wanted to pitch it. The other time it seems to go wild and do whatever.
All in all I do like this game a lot. The graphics are unbeatable on a portable and the game is as fun as MLB The Show ever was. For the price its definitely a good buy. With some extra polish by the devs and a little baseball TLC this could have been a solid 9.
