OK, I may have been a little too harsh on MLB 2K7 for the Xbox 360 – that game has certainly grown on me, and the jump from 360 to PS2 for this game was slightly painful – but The Show has my heart when it comes to video-game baseball. Aside from console differences, The Show is still the baseball game to beat. No crazy hitting mechanism, all the managerial options that Phil Garner and his ilk have to weigh, and still the most realistic hard-ball sim on the shelves. The biggest weakness here is its lack of availability on the Xbox 360 – it can only be purchased for the PlayStation2, PlayStation3, and PSP.

We already know how much I love The Show – for my gushing review of the ’06 model click here – so let’s discuss this year’s new additions. When playing in one-player mode, the new adaptive pitching intelligence takes over as catcher and suggests the best pitch and location for that pitch taking into account all situational aspects of that at-bat. This is a nice and well-done new feature that also serves as a tutorial for learning how to best set up the batter for a strikeout or weak ground ball when playing your friends in two-player mode. The umpire personalities feature is a fun one that adds the “human” element to the umpires’ calls. Some umps have a wide zone, some a tight one, and some just plain suck. Good – and frustrating – stuff.

This year’s hottest new feature is the Road to the Show which is an exciting game all in itself. Create a player and work him up through the ranks – spring training, signing a contract, AAA ball – to his debut in the bigs. You bat, pitch, field, and run only for your player. The game fast-forwards to your next onfield event offering different aspects and situations of a big-league game not found in the conventional video game. This makes for a nice change of pace after clocking in considerable hours of The Show. The big question now is how they can make this game any better for next year’s model. The addition of Hunter Pence will be a nice start.

This article appears in June 29 • 2007.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US