In this day and age, it’s hard for a single baseball game to get attention. The market is flooded with them, and to stand out you really need to offer something that the other guys don’t. Unlike the Madden football franchise, there is really no big name series for baseball that gamers eagerly await every year. You just have to sort through whatever is out there and hope you find what works for you. Sony has made previous attempts with their exclusive MLB series, and is now attempting to up the ante and stay in the game with their latest baseball title for the PS3, MLB '07: The Show. Does this game have what it takes to make it all the way to the World Series, or should it take a fast trip back to the minors?
gameplay
MLB ’07: The Show has a lot riding on it, because as of this writing there is only one other baseball game available for the PS3, which is MLB 2K7. Rather than starting from scratch, Sony has chosen to take the existing version of MLB ’07 which was released earlier on the PS2 and port it over to the PS3. Is this a problem? Well yes and no. Sony is using their own engine and tools, so the transfer from PS2 to PS3 works in their favor, but the main issue is that except for a boost in graphics you’re pretty much still playing a PS2 game.
One of the main hang-ups of baseball games is that there is usually only one standard way to play it. You pick your favorite team, create a player and bat your way through the seasons, following all the rules of the game. The charm of MLB ’07: The Show is that you choose the way you want to play the game. If you want to do it the standard way, it’s there for you. If you want to play a quick game, be a manager, play online, go at it with a rival, or see how it feels to run a franchise, MLB ’07: The Show offers it all in one package.
The highlight of MLB ’07 is obviously the show mode, which allows players to play through the career mode in a swift manner, which doesn’t involve dealing with the other tedious features of a regular game, (basically, the boring parts that don’t involve you) and just cuts to the good stuff. You create your player from scratch, decide what position you would be best at, and then select a team that you want to play for. Now for the best part, instead of having to play an entire game, you only have to play when your player is needed. For example, if you’re playing shortstop, the only time the game will focus on you is when the ball is hit in your direction. If nothing is sent your way, the game will fast forward until either you’re up at bat, or if someone hits the ball toward your position. This is totally a “Me” game, breaking the there’s no “I” in team rule we were all taught. A series of goals are presented for you depending on your position and batting skills, and completing them increases your stamina when batting, pitching and running bases. The goal is to go from being a complete nobody to a MVP overnight. Doing well during the preseason grants you an exclusive contract with the team, and you must continue to perform well, winning championships. If you decide you don’t like the team you’re on anymore, you can request a trade and try to move up to Derek Jeter territory.
If you’re interested in keeping it real, or just playing God, there’s the franchise mode where you select a team and then take on the tasks of keeping them from the bottom of the barrel. Obviously if you have a high profile team like the Yankees or the Red Sox, there’s a lot more to do, but if you take on a low end team your job is a lot simpler. This mode is pretty deep, allowing you to control everything from promotions and contracts, to what kind of soda goes into the stadium’s vending machines. If being the next George Steinbrenner is your goal, then this is the mode for you.
Pitching is taken very seriously in game, and it’s important to learn both the Pitch Command System and the Adaptive Pitching Intelligence features, which have been added to this year’s version. With the new meter based system, you select the pitch you want to throw, then hold the X button to load the meter until you reach the power range you desire, and then let go of the X. As the meter range decreases and glows indicating the power spot, you press X again to release the pitch. It sounds rather complicated, but after a few tries it becomes pretty easy to handle.
Added to the pitch meter is a confidence system feature that will help you determine which pitch to use at any given time. Above your selection of pitches positioned on screen is a bar filled accordingly with the amount of confidence the pitcher has with throwing that particular pitch. The better you get at throwing a certain type of pitch, the more the confidence bar will fill. But it’s very important that you balance out all your pitches, because if you only focus on curve balls, then the confidence bars in your other pitches will drop to zero.
Batting in MLB ’07 shines mainly due to the Swing Analysis system that helps you control the timing and location of your swing. The way I usually test a baseball game is by swinging at anything thrown at me to see how fast and how many homeruns I can get, which is a flaw with most baseball titles. With this game it’s not that simple, because a lot of factors will determine what kind of hit you’re going to accomplish. You have to deal with the personalities of both the pitcher and the umpire, and make a lot of instant decisions as the ball is thrown your way. Knowing the reputation of the team you’re up against determines the level of difficulty, so if you’re simply trying to hit a home run every time, you’re not going to get very far. Constant base hits are the best strategy to add runs to your scoreboard, while waiting for the right pitch to slam a homer.
The sixaxis controller opens up a few new ways to play the game. For instance, by flipping the controller up, you can make your fielder jump up to catch a ball coming at him. Aiming it down, or swinging it left or right makes the fielder dive in the desired direction for the ball. And when you want to slide into a base, swinging the controller at the right speed will make you touch the plate before the baseman taps you out. In my opinion, this is actually one of the first times that the sixaxis controller has been used effectively in a PS3 game. The controller actually responds well to the motion without any delay in the action. But if this is not your bag, you do have to option to use the standard analog stick.
MLB ’07: The Show is fun game, but it’s in no way perfect. The camera is often problematic, especially when running bases. For instance there were a few times when I would score a double, but the camera didn’t seem to follow me as I advanced from first to second base. Also, I still can’t help feeling cheated that I’m still playing a PS2 game with a glossier coat of paint. These are minor gripes, and since PS3 baseball fans currently don’t have that many options, this game will definitely satisfy the need to play in the big leagues.
graphics
MLB ’07: The show supports full 1080p, but there’s nothing visual that blows you away. Don’t get me wrong, the game looks good, but I really wasn’t impressed with the animations of the players. They look very flat with the same dead-pan expression on all their faces and barely look like their real life counterparts. I’m sure this has to do with the game being a port from the PS2, and not being built directly for the system. On the other hand, the stadiums look decent, even if cartoon-ish at times. The one visual treat is the crowd itself, which is very animated (even more so than the players). It’s great when your team scores and the audience jumps up in excitement, or when you really screw up and they turn against you, throwing stuff onto the field.
Also, it must be noted that this game has one of the best create a player modes I’ve ever seen in a game. It’s so detailed that you can choose the neck size of the player, determine how detailed their crows feet and smile lines should be, and control how deep the cleft is their chin is. Besides a baseball game, this could definitely be used as a plastic surgery simulator.
sound
You’re going to feel like you’re in the middle of the ballpark as play-by-play announcers Matt Vasgersian, Dave Campbell, and Rex Hudler spit out perfectly detailed commentary to highlight all the action of the game. Sure, sometimes their comments can be annoying and repetitive, but it is effective with immersing you in the game. The crowd also sounds great, especially when you’re hooked up to a surround sound system. There’s nothing like hitting a homerun and hearing the crowd explode in applauds from your rear speakers.
replay value
Connecting to the PlayStation network offers a variety of features such as Online Leagues, giving you the ability to set up leagues with up to 30 teams, offering leaderboards, full stat tracking, playoffs and league championships. There’s also the MLB Sportscast, which allows you keep up to date in real time with all Major League Baseball games. The Online Player Card allows you to view complete stats about any player in the online network to see if they’re worthy to play against, or to offer them a league invitation. Online play did have some issues, especially with lag. At least twice I had to exit a game because the lag was unbearable, but when the lag issues weren’t present gameplay was pretty solid. Just for kicks, there’s also a movie player thrown in, offering highlight videos of featured players, as well as showing behind the scene clips of the making of the game. Music videos are also accessible by artist who contributed music to the game such as The Wylde Bunch (Okay, I don’t know who they are either). There’s definitely plenty goodies to keep this Blu-ray spinning in your system for a while.
bottom line
MLB ’07: The Show is a solid baseball game offering a huge variety of features to get your money’s worth. Being that this game was made by Sony and is their first offering of a baseball game for their new system, I really did expect more, especially on the visual side. I remember seeing target videos from Sony last year showing how sports games would look on the PS3, and this doesn’t even come close. Let’s hope that the next MLB will be built from the ground up and take full advantage of the PS3’s power. There’s also room for added features, such as the option of swinging the sixaxis controller as a virtual bat. I’m sure there will probably be over a hundred Wii baseball games on the market by this time next year that offer that same feature, but come on Sony, I know you can do it better. Play ball!
Review by: Johnny McNair
Posted: 06/05/2007
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Gameplay:
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8.5 |
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Graphics:
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7.0 |
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Sound:
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8.0 |
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Replay Value:
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8.5 |
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Bottom Line:
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8.5 |
