FirstCuts: MLB ‘08: The Show Review

By Brian Powell
Sports don’t start and end with a referee’s whistle. FirstCuts, a blog dedicated to sports culture, will cover everything outside the lines, from games to gear.
All other sports games have basically taken a back seat to the machine that is Madden over the past few years, especially baseball. To say that MLB ‘07 was a disappointment would be a huge understatement. But the makers of the MLB ‘08: The Show seemed to have addressed most of the past issues and have given the game a shelf life that has never been seen before in a baseball game and yes, maybe even Madden itself.
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The problem with past baseball games was that the seasons are so long and drawn out that you could barely finish one. MLB ‘08’s “Road to the Show” let’s you develop a prospect and take him through the minors all the way to the majors. While this feature was available in last year’s release, it definitely makes the game much more enjoyable. It’s downright exciting when you finally get the call up and all of those boring games in the minors seem worth it.
The biggest changes in the gameplay come in the Pitcher/Batter matchup. More information about your opponent is available pre-pitch with “Pitch Analysis” and the stats are incredible. You can even see how many times a pitcher has thrown each of his pitches in the game and how many were strikes.
Once the ball is in play, base running is relatively straightforward. The fun comes on close plays. There are actually 10 different sliding techniques you can use including breaking up double plays and even running past home plate to avoid a tag -- careful with this one though.
Also, new to the game is “Progressive Batting Performance”. PBP tracks each hitter’s performance and rewards or penalizes the hitter based on how well they’re playing against their natural ability. There are icons that appear that tell you your batter’s current confidence level and if you’re performing above expectations it’ll be easier to get contact on the ball during the at-bat. In the end, it’s more of a distraction than anything else and it seems like they’re just testing out the feature since it’s only found in season mode.
“Total Control Pitching” is by far the most realistic part of the game and exploiting hitter’s weaknesses is relatively easy. Similar to “Pitch Analysis,” is the on-the-mound feature of “Batter Analysis.” You can see a batter’s tendencies and even what pitches they hit the best.
Fielding is taken to a new level with bare-handed grabs and overthrows, and there’s even a new element called the “Rob Home Run Indicator.” It’s basically a timing mechanism that consists of disappearing circles as the ball gets closer to the stands. If you time it right as the last circle disappears, you can take one away from the hitter. It’s not as easy to time as in years past, which makes the feat slightly more equal to how hard it has to be in real life and just as exciting when you pull it off.
The only real problem with the game is that pitching is much easier than hitting. All of your options are still there, and you have hot and cold zones, but if you play on any level other than Rookie, then you’re going to be struggling to get on base. As the Orioles, I played the Yankees on Expert and got a total of two hits. Now that might be true in the real majors, but it shouldn’t be that tough in the video game world.
The visuals the game puts before you are absolutely amazing and the players look like doppelgangers of their real selves. The commentary of Matt Vasgersian, Rex Hudler, and Dave Campbell is spot on and even the umpires give you attitude from time to time.
MLB ‘08 The Show, in stores now for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable, is definitely worth the money and will fill the void as you wait for this summer’s copy of Madden to be released.↵