GameSpy Review of MLB '09: The Show

The job of Major League Baseball general manager is a thankless one, even for winning teams. From year to year fans fall in love with certain players that, if traded, will cause mass discontent from supporters. On the other hand, not enough action during the off-season will draw complaints in the opposite direction, as fans feel like the team that doesn't do enough will end up watching more aggressive teams race past in their quest for the postseason.





Such is also the case for developers of baseball videogames, who have the thankless job of making a 150-year-old game fresh each year while also staying true to the traditions and purity that make baseball America's pastime. MLB 08: The Show enjoyed a banner season last year, so the folks at SCEA had a few choices: stand pat, gamble with wholesale changes, or make minor tweaks to a game that was already a proven winner. Instead of shuffling the deck and throwing money around like a gang of Steinbrenners, SCEA were the '90's Atlanta Braves, making a few strategic upgrades to an already sound franchise.





The main key to a successful baseball franchise is making it deep and challenging enough to keep gamers playing for the equivalent of a 162-game baseball season (which in videogame terms is probably five to ten franchise seasons, maybe more). The way The Show accomplishes this is in the battle between pitcher and hitter, making that matchup as consistently realistic as possible. In other words, hitting is hard. Homers are rare. AI pitchers change speeds, mix up locations and take advantage of your weaknesses (put it this way: If you swing at every pitch, this may not be the game for you).










Pitching is based on the same meter as in MLB 08,where you press X to start the meter, press X again at the top of the meter for velocity, and then press X again to throw the pitch. Pitching is a little easier to pick up than hitting, but painting the corners is quite difficult. Sometimes it's almost more effective to simply aim for the middle of the plate and let your natural inaccuracy take the pitch out of the meaty part of the strike zone, especially with a pitcher who has blazing stuff like Johan Santana or Ben Sheets. Pitching is especially smooth when you get on a roll, as the location indicator on the meter gets wider and easier to hit and the capable announcing trio of Matt Vasgersian, Dave Campbell and Rex Hudler compliment your quality hurling. Conversely, the more you struggle the fuzzier those meter indicators get, which means warming up relievers in time can become vitally important.





Fielding is just plain fun. Everything's in real time with no speed-ups or slowdowns in terms of the ball in play or the fielders involved. Errors are as rare as they are in real life, and the marriage of outfield arm strength and speed on the basepaths never seems out of whack. The ability to release the ball quicker or put a little mustard on your throw based on the strength meter is also enjoyable, as is the new basestealing mechanic that utilizes the left stick. Clipping is still an issue when fielders and baserunners collide, however, especially on tag plays when gloves and hands often become one.

















One way to improve your batting skills is to just play for hours/days/weeks, or you can take some batting practice. For the first time, MLB 09: The Show has practice sessions available for hitting and baserunning (pitching and fielding should be available next year), and since the action is quick and the feedback actually useful, the practice sessions were more enjoyable than average. The baserunning practice session is especially addictive, as you can try to get a lead and steal second or third as a pitcher varies his routine every time. Trying to figure out a pitcher's move is a game in itself, and a stopwatch tells you whether you got a bad, OK, good or great jump, down to a hundredth of a second.





Like a confident General Manager, SCEA hasn't made a ton of changes or updates to MLB 09: The Show, but lighting was a huge focus. Lighting transitions are noticeable yet not obtrusive, although hitting becomes even harder when pitches are coming out of the shadows. Physics are top-notch; nothing about player movement or the direction of batted or thrown balls seems unnatural. Ballparks themselves are perfect replicas as well, for the most part -- as a resident of the Bay Area, I was quick to notice that the Jumbotron at AT&T Park actually had the same player card displays and stat placements as in real life.










Even crowd size is realistic. One of our biggest pet peeves about sports videogames is that it often seems like every single game is a raucous sell-out. In MLB 09, a weekday Royals/A's game is going to have less than 20,000 fans. The crowds are improved from last year with more body and facial types, although just because 12 fans might be separated by a few seats apiece doesn't mean we won't notice when they all sit down or stand up in unison. Another crowd issue is a lack of interactivity between the ball and the area outside of the playing field. When Bengie Molina hits a home run into the first couple rows of the leftfield bleachers at AT&T, fans are jumping and diving for the ball in real life, but in MLB 09 the ball disappears as if forgotten or lost. We also saw one foul ball get stuck in the screen behind the backstop.





Game modes are pretty similar to what you saw in MLB 08; Road To The Show is still very much worth your time, and it seems almost as hard to make the big club in this mode as it would for a real-life minor leaguer. Manager mode still exists for reasons we're not really sure of -- even most Major League managers started out as players and probably still wish their bodies could withstand the rigors of playing ball, so why would an able-thumbed gamer decide to call pitches from the dugout? Franchise mode is deeper than ever with Rule 5 drafts, 40-man rosters and the ability for your inner control freak to really take over. Want to buy your team a new Spa Room, a private jet or whole new concession stands to attract fans with a wide variety of overpriced treats? Done. The problem with Franchise mode comes with the salaries. For a game that for the most part is as realistic as they come, there's no excuse for putting Barry Zito's salary at $4.6 million when it's actually four times greater in real life.





Still, the backbone of baseball, the reason why no steroid or betting scandal could ever fully destroy the game's place in the hearts of millions, is the battle between hitter and pitcher. Nothing comes easy in MLB 09: The Show, which is the way fans want it. Baseball isn't just sunshine, Cracker Jack and juiced-up behemoths cranking balls into the second deck. It's about patience, hope, suffering and triumph. It's about a game that's an everyday companion from March until the end of October. SCEA has made enough visual tweaks to keep its already-authentic representation of baseball atop the heap for another year. With a few more tweaks to the Franchise mode and an expansion to the surprisingly enjoyable new practice mode, I see no reason why this baseball series won't sit on top for the foreseeable future.

©2009-03-18, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved