MLB 07: The Show

"Has Anyone Seen My Jockstrap?"

Spring is here (though it's freezing across most of the country) and that means we all have to pretend we care about baseball for a few weeks. The year's storylines are definitely intriguing; will Dice-K's gyroball bring hitters to their knees? Will Mark Prior ever actually pitch in a game? Will Barry Bonds break Hank Aaron's record before his steroid enlarged head becomes to big for him to carry? So it was with these epic questions in mind that I ventured into the world of MLB '07: The Show.

Now, I must admit that I have been out of the baseball game world for a couple of years, so I was worried that a great amount of rust would need to be knocked off. Thankfully, after a quick few innings in an exhibition game, I was ready to jump into the meat of the game. While there are a large variety of modes (Season, Franchise, Home Run Derby, King of the Diamond, etc.) most of the action is focused in the career mode; aptly named “The Road to the Show.” (RTTS)

As is to be expected in such a mode, you create a character with a fairly deep level of customization, assign stats and abilities, and then proceed to make a fool of yourself trying out for a major league team. Even on Rookie difficulty, the learning curve can be a bit steep, as your created character will likely be overmatched in spring training facing pitchers the likes of Dontrell Willis and Kurt Schilling. Usually after an embarrassing spring outing you will be sent down to AA or AAA clubs in order to hone your skills against non-godly players. Gameplay itself in RTTS mode is fairly intuitive and incredibly time-saving. The game will automatically fast-forward to your character's at-bats and fielding opportunities by giving you a brief description of the game situation, and sometimes assigning goals. The goals are exclusively offensive in nature, and you will be required to do things ranging from simply not striking out in an at-bat to driving in the winning run from second. While you will normally get one or two goals per game, in some outings you may bat five times without a single goal, and other times you will be required to make something happen every time you step into the box. The only reason this truly matters, is that successfully completing goals allots you more ability points to spend on the abundance of performance categories for your player (which we'll discuss in a moment). The big disappointment in RTTS is when you are on defense. There are no goals in this mode, and the only reason you are even playing defense is because there is a 95% chance the ball is going to be hit to you. Yeah, it's nice to get the full “realism” of playing baseball, but it's hard to genuinely know how good you are at reacting and fielding if you already know to expect the ball, and the only real question is whether you'll have to step to the right or left.

Compounding the irregularity of goals and the boredom of fielding is the overly cumbersome training of your player. You are required to keep up stats in batting (contact vs. righty, contact vs. lefty, power vs. right/lefty, clutch hitting, plate vision, discipline), fielding (catch, arm, accuracy, fielding skills), and baserunning (speed, baserunning ability, aggression). There are a number of exercises which will increase certain parameters, but you must spend at least 100 training points for any of them. To put this into practical terms, in any one game you can gain as few as 15 or as many as 100 points, with the average usually being somewhere around 40. With so many categories to take care of, and all the emphasis being on offense, you would think that the smart move is to invest all your points in batting. Well you would be correct, except that if you let a stat languish for more than 30 days it will begin to rapidly decrease. This is a big issue, especially if you get called up to the big leagues during the season as a utility infielder or reserve player. You may spend weeks sitting the bench, and occasionally get a single pinch hitting opportunity. This leads to massive degeneration of stats, and a painful trip back down to AAA.

There was a lot of potential for a really fun and engrossing career mode, but unfortunately it's really hard to get going. If you're willing to stick with it for 3-4 seasons you can develop a competent player, and 10 or more years will net you a stud, but it's a long haul. Fast-forwarding to character-specific appearances is helpful, as you can complete an entire game in minutes, but the situations become stale and you feel like you have very little impact on your team's overall performance. It's hard to care about getting a hit when you're already down 18-1 due to inept teammates and an overall lack of talent. I won't even mention how boring baserunning is, as most of your teammates will consistently either strike out or hit into double plays. The system they've built is a good start, but there's a long way to go if the career mode is ever going to be considered great.

A few quick notes on the other components of the game and then we'll be done. The graphics are average, nothing mind-blowing, but appropriate for a baseball game. The player models look good with their stances and pitching styles, and there is an occasional sweet-looking play, but most of the game is the same routine ground balls and pop flies, so there isn't a great deal of detail. The fans are terrible, as they are rendered to be masses of color. I know there's not a lot of priority in making fans look good, but fouling off a ball into a blob of random green and blue circles just shows a lack of interest by the developers. There is also a problem of slowdown during pitches with several runners on base. This is a killer since hitting is all about timing, and such a lag can turn a well hit ball into a foul tip or pop fly. Overall the game looks okay, but it definitely won't be wowing anyone.

While the game doesn't look so great, the sweet sounds of commentary will please your ears. The three-man booth does a great job of calling the game, and most of the time you could almost swear they were actually watching you play (that would explain the press box above my couch…). There are a few slip-ups, such as calling it “The ninth pitch of the at-bat” when it was only the second, or claiming the pitcher “Retired the leadoff hitter” even though there are already two men aboard. The errors are rare though, and you'll spend far more time marveling at the commentary than cursing it.

Controls take a step back as the game uses the old three-click pitching and single click batting routine. While I can understand the pitching setup, there's really no reason not to use an analog swing. While the game lets you “influence” hits by using the right analog stick, I found it to be pretty inconsistent, and felt it was much easier to aim by hits based on pitch location and swing timing. Baserunning is a mess, especially for more than one player at a time, and you'll often find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time because you couldn't remember what convoluted button scheme retreats the runner on second while advancing the man on third.

While the multitude of games and somewhat addictive RTTS mode may appeal to hardcore baseball fans or general sports fans needing a fix, there are a number of flaws that keep this game from achieving greatness. However, the game has a strong foundation, and if there is continued growth next year the game could be very, very good. Make consistent hitting a little easier, pare back the requirements to train characters, and streamline the controls, and this game may just win the pennant yet. Watch out though, Barry's in the batter's box and it looks like his head is taking up two-thirds of the strike zone.

Overall Score 6.5 out of 10

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 04/13/07