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Acting as a solid utility player over these past few seasons, Sony's MLB
08 - The Show might actually finally be ready to break into the big
leagues this year thanks to an impressive array of new features and
upgrades that make for a solidly playable and deep baseball title.
Featuring the complete lineup of all the MLB teams, players and stadiums,
the game goes a bit deeper than you'd expect and offers a comprehensive
array of minor league teams as well. This gives you plenty of options to
choose from, and makes for a deeper play experience. This ties in nicely
to the design which allows you to start a career at the lower rungs of the
pro-game and work your way up to the big leagues, or "the Show"
as the game says. You begin with a creation screen that allows you to
customize your player than begin to work in a series of smaller games,
completing player-specific tasks during each game to impress your manager
and earn new skills. As you play through this mode, you'll gradually be
promoted within the team and then the league as your character becomes
more able. During each game, you can also fast-forward to the portions
that directly affect your player, which makes things go a bit quicker.
During the Show mode, you can also purchase player enhancements to
increase your abilities, though these have to be earned with solid play.
This is an exciting mode that allows you to see the game from a completely
different perspective, immersing you in the basic techniques that help you
become a better player during the standard games. MLB 08 also allows you
to look at the other side of things and play through the game in
management mode. This is where you can control the team's finances, set
rosters and trade or develop players. This year's edition also includes
the ability to go through your team's entire acquisition and development
history with the new Roster Foundation mode, which offers you a
comprehensive overview of your activity over several seasons. This is an
impressive addition that allows you to really get inside the strategy of
the game.
 It
isn't all statistics and practicing, and once you get on the field, you'll
find that the gameplay offers an excellent recreation of the sport's
strategy and timing, with easy to use, intuitive controls. The batter
interface is quite impressive from a number of standpoints. You can call
your shots using the d-pad, which allows you to contact the ball with a
much higher percentage. Swinging at the ball requires some timing and you
have to concentrate on the pitcher's movements in order to guess where
they'll be throwing the ball. Players can also select which type of swing
they'll use, and hit with either a standard bat swing or go for a harder
power hit, which increases both the chance of hitting one out of the park
or hitting a fly ball to center field. MLB 08's interface makes this
remarkably simple and intuitive with on-screen menus that allow you to
control your movement precisely. One of the more interesting gameplay
features this time around are the analysis HUDs which show you where your
opponent's tendencies are. For example when you're on the mound, you can
use the Batter Analysis menus to see where a hitter is likely to hit and
which pitches they have difficulty with. When you're at the plate, you can
use the Pitcher Analysis system to give you an idea of the types of
pitches you're likely to see thrown and how effective that they are. MLB
08's fielding system is a mix of automatic and manual control, when the
ball is hit, the fielder generally runs towards that area of the park and
it's up to you to run the last couple of feet yourself. This makes for
very intuitive and fast-moving play that doesn't feel overly realistic or
too exaggerated, allowing for a good balance that should please casual
fans. The game's overall balance is fairly decent and most players should
be able to get the hang of things relatively quickly. Most of the teams
are fairly well-balanced, though there are some that are much easier to
beat. MLB 08 allows for plenty of flexibility when it comes time changing
lineups, putting pitchers in the bullpen and making changes to
base-running on the fly, which allows you to set up different tactics to
respond to changing situations easily.
The game offers most of the standard
single player modes you've come to expect, with single game, season and
management modes making up the main components of the game. Players can
also set a number of options such as time of day, stadium and other
variables. These don't diverge from the norm, but the game's internet
modes are impressive. MLB 08's online modes are extensive and well
rounded, and enhance the single player experience tremendously. For
example, players can set up leagues or tournaments against other online
players and compete in full season's worth of games, play one-on-one with
a friend in single matches and use their user-created players in the
online show mode, which adds tremendous depth to the online experience. We
experienced a few minor problems logging in to the game's servers, and
there were occasions when a game was cut off prematurely, which made for
an occasionally frustrating experience. However, the added features such
as in-game radio broadcasts, downloadable roster updates and
newspaper-style league updates are impressive and help add polish, depth
and authenticity to MLB 08's online component. These modes in total make
for a deep and engaging experience that should keep hardcore players
occupied for quite some time.
 MLB
08's production values are also excellent with authentic stadium renders
giving players a real sense of the personality of each park. Many of the
major leaguers have also been digitized effectively, allowing you to tell
the difference between Derek Jeter and Jason Veritek at a glance, with
each players facial expressions, body type and posture realistically
rendered in the game. The character animations are also impressive, and
the players move and react to each situation realistically as well.
There's also an extensive in-game commentary in play as well and the pair
of voices used help to bring some flavor to each game with some flair and
humor as well. Overall, the game looks fairly decent by PS3 standards and
these slick production values help to make you feel like you're watching a
real game on television. There are some problems, with the somewhat
confusing pitcher gauge interface not working as well in practice as you'd
think it would, but MLB 08's positives definitely outweigh these
comparatively minor issues, making for an enjoyable, authentic baseball
experience that offers enough new features, upgrades and refinements to
make it worth picking up.
-
Michael Palisano
Grade: B+
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