|
|
|
|
|
Mar 06 2006
MLB 2006: The Show Review
PSP Game Review | Sports
| Read reviews & Check out new games
|
READ
|
DISCUSS
 Joytron PSP Sli...
 Pelican for Son...
 PSP IVO Sound M...
 DiGi iNVaDeRS
| Go on! You know you want it
| Summary: Excellent Baseball game with a few minor flaws
92
For a portable port of a console title the graphics are excellent. They are very similar to those of last year’s title with a little more detail added. All of the players use their unique batting stances. Also added this year is a few more animations on defense. Players will make running catches and then roll on the ground as they lean down to make the grab. Also included are more defensive diving grabs. I’ve had a couple of occasions where I’ve been able to lay out making an inning saving grab on the run deep in the outfield.
This year’s game also includes more of a broadcast style presentation with 3 guys in the booth to give the play-by-play and the other comments such as remarks about a hot player’s hitting streak. Instant replays are back but this year but they are presented from several different angles. Sometimes on a homerun swing you’ll see it from the pitcher’s perspective, the batter’s, or an overhead view of the ball traveling into the stands. You can customize the frequency of the replays in the options menu and if you don’t want to watch them you can skip past by hitting the “X” button. This year they’ve also added additional animations as players approach the batters box to take their swings. Like the replays if you want to hurry things along you can hit the “X” button to skip straight to the at-bat.
The sound effects are very similar to the previous title. You hear the crack of the batter when you swing and make contact with the ball, the “thud” as a pitch lands in the catcher’s mitt, and the usual assortment of ballpark sounds such as the organ music are present. This year when playing at home a unique style of music is played while each batter approaches the plate. Much like in real life the way individual batters have different “intro music” played over the stadium PA system to accompany them.
Thus far I have only played one exhibition game with my favorite team (The Cubs) and I have started a game in Career Mode. This year’s game play is excellent. The controls are very similar to last year’s game with a few minor tweaks. The pitching system still uses the “curve” meter system. You select your pitch type, use the analog stick to set the location, press X to start the meter, press X again to set the pitch speed, then press it one more time for accuracy. (If you don’t like this pitching style you can set the option to “classic”, I haven’t tried this yet so I can’t offer a description on how well it works). Batting is very similar to last years game but with a few improvements. In this year’s title you can press X to take a regular swing or press [] to take a “power” swing. The power swing gives the batter a little extra boost that could mean the difference between a deep pop out and a homerun. The disadvantage is if you’re not very accurate (getting the location and timing of the swing right on) you will end up hitting the ball higher rather than farther (mile high pop outs in the infield or shallow outfield). Also new this year in batting is the ability to “pre-set” the type of hit before you swing. If you hit the shoulder “R” button and press the analog stick in a direction you can influence what where the ball will go if you make contact. For example if you have a runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs and you want to hit a sacrifice fly you can press are and up on the analog stick. This year’s edition of the game still included the “guess the pitch” feature giving you a boost in your swing if you correctly guess the type and location of the pitch before the ball is thrown.
There is much more depth in gameplay this year. Last year’s game in my opinion was just a quick n’ dirty “no frills” port of the console version thrown together to have the game available for launch. This year’s title offers many different gameplay modes. This year’s modes include on-line, career, season, King of the Diamond, and Homerun Derby. Homerun Derby is pretty much self-explanitory. You select your favorite major league players to participate and you see who can hit the most home runs in a tournament style bracket. I am currently playing the career mode and I love it. This mode allows you to create a player and follow his career from rookie to retirement. Once you create your player he will participate in spring training with the ball club you chose. After spring training if you perform well enough you will receive contract offers from the different team(s) interested in you. Next you begin play in the minors and hone your skills. As you play games you accumulate “hours” that you can use to train and improve various aspects of your game. There is a meter that keeps track of your progress and shows how happy the minor league manager is with your performance. If you play well enough you can request more playing time or after so many games you can request a call-up to “The Show” and play for the major league ball club. So far I have played ½ the season in the minors and about 10 games in the majors after my call-up. One feature included in career mode is the ability to “fast forward” to your created player’s next appearance. You simply select “SIM TO NEXT APPEARANCE” to simulate the schedule to the date your created player next plays. They’ve even included an in-game feature to fast forward the game to your player’s next at bat. I have not played the on-line mode yet. The only missing modes are a regular create a player and franchise mode. This is disappointing but a minor flaw in an otherwise stellar game.
I really love the new career mode. I assume this will act as a franchise mode carrying the player through multiple seasons and continuing to add up his career stats but I haven’t gotten past the first one yet. There are some minor flaws that take away from the gameplay a bit they aren’t anything too severe. The first and most annoying to me is the frequency of wild pitches and pass balls. When you’re pitching you have to be very careful with your breaking pitches. For some reason the game really likes to force wild pitches. This can be annoying late in a very close game when the computer allows a base runner to advance from first to third on two straight wild pitches. I’ve also noticed that every once in awhile the defense will just “allow” a ball to get past them turning a routine out or single into something much more. I understand when a player makes an occasional error fielding a ball but in this case the player will just sit there and watch as the ball goes by him. A bug that I noticed from last year’s game seems to have been kept for this year’s edition. Sometimes when a ball is hit it will bounce and roll all the way to the wall in center field. It will stop there and it’s as if an invisible barrier protects it. The outfielders will sit there in the running animation but for some reason are unable to get to the ball and pick it up. This means an easy inside-the-park homerun. I’ve had this happen in the computer’s favor once and in my favor once. I don’t know if it just has something to do with the ballpark I’m playing in (Wrigley Field) but I’ve seen it happen a couple times. Overall I give MLB 06’ The Show an A-. I chose to purchase the PSP version of the game over the console because I enjoy being able to play on the go. I haven’t played the console version of this game yet but from the research I’ve done it sounds like Sony has included almost all of the same features in the portable version. The load times in this game are on the average side. They are far from short but compared to other games I have played on the PSP they’re definitely not the longest. The worst occur prior to the start of a game. I haven’t officially timed the pre-game loading but I would estimate it to be about 30 – 40 seconds.
REVIEW IT
PRODUCT INFO
| |
Comments
nice review. although i wish you wouldnt compare it to the one before it so much...cause some of us haven't played the last one.
+
i have and they both are great
+
Well I just bought it yesterday and right when i walk out of Game Stop i open it and started playing. I couldn't get my hands off of it so i really like it. It looks nice but the loading is a bit long but it was worth it.
+
Biggest "Minor Flaw" is the load times, 2 minutes to load up a game? EH, back to gamestop with you.
+
register / login
|
PSP411 | Top
PSP411.com is not an official site affiliated with Sony in any way.
Content and graphics Copyright 2004-2008 PSP411.com
All rights reserved. | Contact | RSS
|
4