MLB 09 The Show

Game modes and options are bountiful too, including the very welcome split of franchise and season modes; we appreciate the ability to simply play a full 162-game slate without a ton of overhead. The best single-player sports campaign ever invented, Road To The Show, makes another triumphant return. Some may complain that it’s virtually the same as last season, and that’s pretty accurate. Other than a few tweaks, there’s not much that’s different this time, and if you dedicated a ton of time to it in 2008 it may not strike your fancy as much. After all, it’s a major challenge to take your rag-tag Spring Training invitee out of the minors and up to the big leagues; doing it all over again might not be so appealing.

 
 A handful of middling problems crop up now and again, including players sometimes passing through each other on the basepaths (a holdover bug from last season). We also hate baserunning in Road To The Show, which prompted us to turn it off after a half-dozen botched misadventures. In addition, our early online games had loads of lag, which hurt gameplay substantially. Hopefully these online kinks are quickly ironed out, as there’s nothing more frustrating than a choppy experience.

Any way you slice it, though, MLB 09 The Show is tight, gorgeous and virtually bursting at the seams. It’s the crown jewel of this generation’s baseball games, proving that follow-ups can indeed meet (or beat) their superstar predecessors.

Mar 6, 2009