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MLB '07 The Show (PS2)
Rudy Dyck
Sat Mar 17 07 The Show ’06 on the PS2 was the greatest baseball game I have ever played. I thought MVP ’05 was a very, very good title on the PS2 but its graphics, presentation and some issues I had with the ease of pitching and the pitcher-batter interface could have been improved. The Show ’07 for the PS2 has improved in many subtle areas over ’06 as well as regressed in one major area but is still a great game.
PRESENTATION
The first thing you have to mention when you talk about the show is the tremendous presentation. The three-man booth is maybe the best announcing group in all of sports video game history. Matt Vasgersian as the play-by-play announcer does a fantastic job once again. Dave Campbell and Rex Hudler provide the color commentary and you will hear some of the same comments from game to game but they still have plenty of variety. It feels as though the announcing team is actually commentating on a real game as opposed to a video game production. The presentation from the announcing booth, to the overlays, replays, and panoramic stadium shots is second to none.
GRAPHICS & AUDIO
The player models and general graphics are great for a PS2 game. I have no issue with the actual graphics, which appear nearly identical to the ’06 version. However, there are serious issues with the frame rate this year. The ’06 version ran at a silky smooth 60 frames per second and the ’07 version simply does not. Its noticeable and a disappointment. This kind of stuttering can be found in many PS2 games but since it did not appear in the Show ’06 it is a large negative that I must mention. You do get used to it after a few games and it no longer bothers me so I would not consider this to be a game killer. I believe this is due to the fact they tweaked the camera angles. The medium (default) camera is better this year as it focuses on centering the ball a bit better and the high camera is more useable as well.
Player animations are immense and just add to the fantastic presentation of the game. Whether is just simple things like a runner being frustrated after being thrown out, from the outfielder charging a fly ball or a player diving for a ball, everything has a very natural and great feel to the game. The different umpire animations for close plays at the bag versus routine plays are always a treat. The catcher will even slide from side to side behind the plate to set up for outside or inside pitches. Simply a great job.
The audio is great beyond the commentary. Turn a double play and hear the crowd grown when the umpire punches him out. Hit a home run and silence the visiting crowd. The surround sound is also great. I won’t comment any further on the audio or presentation. Sony just does a phenomenal job capturing the big and little things about baseball to make the game feel right.
GAMEPLAY
The game plays great. Before I go any further to discuss game play, one of the biggest improvements in this game is the tremendous increase in the amount of sliders, particularly when it comes to pitching. Think your pitcher has too much control? Want more movement on your pitches? Want the computer to steal more? Want the computer to pull the pitcher sooner? Think the relievers have too much stamina? Increase wind and bad calls by the ump? You name it and you can tweak it. One of the only things I wish they would have added was CPU pitching accuracy (they only have user) but there are two separate sliders that deal with pitch count as well as aggressiveness to affect things. That’s my only wish for ’08.
PITCHING
We all know that baseball games ultimately come down to the batter vs. pitcher interface. Much like last year you can choose between a meter style pitching system or a classic style where you have less control (more sim like). With the extra sliders this year, you can fine-tune this part beautifully. You no longer can have pinpoint control of where you want your pitches. Furthermore, the confidence level of the pitcher has also been tweaked. Each pitch has its own confidence level along with an overall confidence level of your pitcher. If you throw nothing but fastballs all day long and decide to break out that fifth pitch in your arsenal in the sixth inning, don’t expect it to be very sharp. You will find yourself struggling to locate some pitches and having great success with others. It’s a great system to keep the game fresh and realistic. Another huge plus is the addition of the radar gun to the pitcher camera since that was absent in last year’s game.
This year also features a brand new system called Adaptive Pitching Intelligence (API). You can turn it on, off or leave it on default (can selectively use it). This has the catcher call the pitch and location for every batter for you while on the mound. Of course you can shake him off and do what you want but it’s a feature that many may like. I prefer calling my own game and don’t use it.
I enjoy pitching to the computer more this year. Not only is it harder to hit my spots but the CPU seems to take more called third strikes as well as swing at more pitches out of the zone (sliders for these too). I don’t see quite as many mistake pitches crushed as in the past, which is a good thing, but they do make you pay. I will walk the great hitters rather than give in to. There is a nice balance of hitters taking pitches, working the pitcher and swinging at balls out of the zone. You can do a really nice job setting them up. After a couple of inside fastballs, watch them flail away at an outside change. I think the emulate CPU hitting very well.
The stamina of the players is much better this year as well. Shortly into my new season I had a stretch of five straight days of playing and only one starter who was scheduled to pitch was fully rested. I found you could run with less than a five-man rotation last year if you wanted to play that way. Reliever stamina seems better this year as well. You’ll have to use more of your bullpen and can adjust the sliders for pitcher fatigue as well. Overall, pitching is done extremely well in this game.
BATTING
This is always a subject to debate. MVP used to have a “hitter’s eye” system where the color of the ball out of the pitcher’s hand would indicate what type of pitch it was. A particular color was used for each breaking ball whereas no color was the fastball. You can debate as to how sim-like this feature is but it did a nice job of giving the user an aid in differentiating between each pitch type. The Show does not use a system like this. Most people may find themselves late to swing on a mediocre fastball while they wait to determine the pitch type and location (this was true last year as well). Often times you will go the other way with fastballs or simply swing and miss as a result. It is rare to pull a fastball at the default pitch speed unless you are simply guessing up there, which often leads to many strikeouts particularly on breaking pitches. You can lower the CPU pitch speed to make this easier but that can also make hitting a little too easy. Luckily there are sliders for CPU pitch speed as well as user contact, power and how well you hit balls out of the strike zone. Feel free to tweak to find the right medium for you.
The Show does use an optional guess pitch feature that can help you identify pitches a little easier but I don’t use it. I think a true sim-like feature is to guess fastball myself and then hit fastball when I see it. On the higher two difficulty levels, the game is more of a zone based hitting system where you aim the left analog stick to move your bat where the ball is versus a pure timing system on the lower two levels. You also have the ability of trying to hit ground or fly balls before the at bat using the right analog stick.
The CPU will do a good job of pitching. You can really tell the difference between an ace and the fifth starter in the rotation. Chase too many balls on the first pitch and prepare to see a diet of them out of the zone. As pitchers build confidence, you will struggle to score runs. Get to a starter early and hopefully you can send him to the showers but that is easier said then done in ‘07. They don’t like to walk many batters but you can work the pitcher if you have the patience. I’m more of a hack at the plate so my walk totals are pitiful.
One of the areas of improvement in this year’s game is that the hits are more varied. This is not to say ’06 was bad but you did not see many bloop singles into the outfield or infield singles. Already in ’07 I have seen broken bat singles just over infielders heads, shallow pop flies falling between players and squibbers in the infield. I have found myself cursing the lazy fly ball landing just in front of my outfielder, which never really happened last year. It is a good example of the subtle improvements in this game.
Since baseball is a sport that is so heavily dependant on stats, some people may argue over the numbers of hits, walks and strikeouts. In my opinion, these are largely based on the user. How much patience you have as well as your skill level will determine these things. No game is perfect but with all the sliders and four difficulty levels, hopefully everyone can be happy. While I think Sony can do things to improve the hitting, I still find it very enjoyable.
FIELDING
Fielding is really improved this year. No more balls magically going through an infielder or balls running past your charging outfielder. There is an optional throw meter that can help you judge how hard you are throwing the ball. I don’t make nearly as many throwing errors as in ’06. There are bobbles by players now. I’ve seen a few booted balls as well as throwing errors. Not every great play gets made. There still are not enough errors even with the slider set very high but it is a nice improvement over last year.
BASERUNNING
The new control scheme is more intuitive and easier to use than the old system. However, the Show still lacks CPU assisted base running. You either let the computer handle EVERY decision on the base paths or you perform EVERY decision on the base paths yourself. Even in extremely obvious situations where a runner should advance based on a wild pitch or a hit in the gap; you have to tell them to run when using the manual control scheme (they call it assist but there is no assistance). It would be nice if there was an assisted base running option like MVP has. The CPU in MVP will still make all the basic decisions but you can override them as well as make all stolen base decisions. Stealing bases is a bit easier in the Show this year and there are sliders to adjust this if you want as well. I’ve seen the CPU steal far more often along with many double steal attempts this year.
GAME MODES
I won’t go into depth here other than to say you have your usual season and franchise modes. There is a glitch in the franchise mode where there are no CPU trades. Don’t expect to see any trades at the deadline and this may really bother some people. They have a Road to the Show game mode where you can create yourself as a minor leaguer and work your way up to the big leagues. I haven’t tried this mode out but the game only features the plays you are involved in and therefore can be played very quickly.
OVERALL
The game is just a great game of baseball. It captures the feel of baseball incredibly well and does SO many things right. You have to play the game awhile to truly appreciate the subtle things it does well. It is an improvement over the ’06 version although the frame rate drops are disappointing. I have to knock at least a ½ point off the final score for the frame rate issue. The game plays very well out of the box and even better with the ton of sliders they give you this year. Either way, any true baseball fan would be missing out on if they don’t purchase this game.
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