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By Keith B (5th Sep 2007)

Baseball video games are typically quite similar no matter who produces them and what system they are meant for. MLB the Show 07 for Playstation 3, however, throws a few curveballs at the Major League Baseball video game genre. The effect is refreshing, and at times exciting. For the most part, though, MLB the Show 07 is just an average game on a new, better-looking, platform.

MLB the Show 07 satisfies, but does not captivate; it entertains, but does not impress. But, there are some bright spots. Despite the inevitably rote and repetitive cycle of hitting, pitching, hitting, and pitching, individual games maintain a nice degree of fluidity throughout. This only keeps the gamer going for so long, however, because full 9-inning games seem to take forever. As far as entertainment is concerned, after about five innings the game gets increasingly boring. Even playing with a friend can get fairly dull before long.

Part of this is no doubt due to the intrinsic monotony of baseball itself. The home team pitches, then hits, then pitches, then hits. It’s an ongoing sequence that carries little variation, and when a video game becomes routine the entertainment value is lost. The makers of MLB the Show 07 seem to realize that, and come up with their own solution: Road to the Show Mode. Road to the Show Mode is the single most stimulating element of MLB the Show 07. Instead of taking the user through the traditional inning-by-inning, game-by-game approach to a season or career (Career Mode), Road to the Show allows the gamer to create themselves as a player and try-out for a professional league team. Now, the thing that makes Road to the Show unique is that the gamer only plays when their created player is called into action. For example, my likeness was a shortstop. If my first appearance was an at-bat in the third inning, the game would fast forward to that moment. If, during the fifth inning, a batter hit a ball to short, the game would fast forward to that play.

In effect, the gamer only “plays” when his player or likeness plays. Not every inning, depending on position of course, but maybe once every two innings or so. Thus, games only take about 10 or 15 minutes, not an hour. And instead of playing as the whole team, you only play as yourself. This makes games a lot less repetitive and more interesting. Additionally, it results in a seriously vicarious experience for the gamer. My player was dropped after Spring Training from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, so I got marginally upset. My friend who I was playing MLB the Show 07 with jokingly said that he was going to find me in a bar that night miserably recounting to people that I had almost made it to the Big Leagues. In this way, every high point and every low point in Road to the Show plays to the gamer’s emotions, because you just play for yourself, trying to better your Major League Career. You can be traded, demoted to the minors, called up to the majors, benched, and even released. It’s truly a high-octane roller coaster ride.

Other aspects of MLB the Show 07 are not so bright. The pitching is incredibly frustrating. It is hard to figure out the correct method to pitching, there are so many buttons and joystick movements that makes every pitch very complex. And it’s odd that when you seem to pitch it right, it doesn’t always work out, but sometimes the worst, most awful pitches do the trick and get the batter out. It’s very confusing. The one pitching feature that was remarkable in a good way was the “Use it or lose it” mentality: The more successful the gamer is with a certain pitch, say the pitcher’s fastball, and the more the gamer uses it, the more accurate it gets. If the gamer totally ignores the changeup or slider, those pitches become less accurate when they are finally used.

Hitting in MLB the Show is just as baffling as pitching. Some swings that I took would seem to just barely scrape the ball, but somehow it would land out of the park. Some swings that made full contact would result in a slow roller or a short pop-fly. The “Power Swing” button is virtually useless because it is near impossible to make contact while using this swing. Hitting for contact is much more efficient than hitting for power, which, while frustrating, also rings true in real life baseball.

The sound in MLB the Show is decent, with a very intuitive commentary. The announcers know the ins- and outs- of every pitch that almost every pitcher has in his arsenal, and can recognize when a meatball is thrown high into the strike zone, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the majority of Major League hitters. The in-depth analysis made on all plays and decisions by the player is very impressive, with only a few lines often repeated. Online, MLB the Show does not disappoint. Gamers can IM, send mail, and chat with fellow gamers which intensifies the competition. For a game that gets dull after a bit, the Online mode may give the gamer a second wind. Online play is an arena in which the MLB series redeems itself.

Visually, the game looks good. That’s not so much a comment on the game as the system, because PlayStation 3 has arguably the best graphics on the market (no more jagged elbows or square heads). To the game’s credit, players swing smoothly and run with fluidity. The flexible camera angles are the best I’ve ever seen in a sports game, though that isn’t saying much because the PS3 is still a relatively new system. The way the view switches from batter’s eye to pitcher’s eye after a home run enhances the excitement. The best way to describe it is that it feels as if you are watching a game on TV. However, a major flaw in MLB the Show 07 is the crowd. The crowd consists of maybe 8 varieties of people, which means the same brown-haired lady in the red shirt is sitting in every eighth seat, and hundreds of the same angry fan in a white T-Shirt are jumping up and down yelling in unison.

On the whole, MLB the Show 07 is just OK. It will take up some time on a hot day, or provide friends with something to do with each other when it’s raining. It’s main flaw is that you expect more from it: More out of the game play, and more out of the total experience. Short-cuts like the fan repetition show a lack of finesse within the development. Even the “Road to the Show” mode can wear thin, leading the player to “Sim” the next 5-6 games out of boredom and desire to hurry up the preseason. The game has a long way to go before being considered anything more than what it is: an average video game for a dazzling video game system.