MLB '06 The Show

Sony's yearly baseball franchise is back and chock full of new features.

With baseball season right around the corner, SCEA is pumping out its yearly version of MLB, this time in the name of The Show. It seems redundant for SCEA San Diego Studios to officially name the new version MLB '06: The Show, as last year's game was called MLB 2006. But hey, it's just a name.

Under the Take-Two MLB agreement, first-party developer SCEA San Diego Studios has access to all things MLB-licensed, so no aluminum bat, college shenanigans here.

Another New Year
As usual, a new yearly sports title brings about the loaded question, "What's new this time around?" Well, Mr. Inquisitive, I'm glad you asked. With MLB '06: The Show, we're looking at the same game from last year, with a few big additions (we'll get to those later). The basic career mode and gameplay features are fundamentally the same, sans a few minor tweaks in the game engine. The MLB series staples, including Release Point Pitching, pitch guessing, and adjustable camera angles (still no first-person view -drag), are all back, with user-controlled slides, and multibranch fielding (the ability to break out of any fielding animation) dialed is as new gameplay features.

In all honesty, The Show can be looked at as an expansion pack to last year's MLB 2006, with the following new and notable new game modes packed in. The first, Rivalry Mode, lets you track a multi-game rivalry for as long as you please. While not really anything new in the way of gameplay, per say, it is cool for keeping a running tab of wins and losses for bragging rights with a buddy.

The second and more substantial addition is King of the Diamond mode, which Sony describes as somewhat of a classic playground duel between pitcher and batter. Essentially, it is a wacky three-inning game of over-the-line, where a batter hits for two minutes, and hits are judged by strength and the position on the field where they land. For example, a ball hit into the left-center gap, even though there are no fielders, would count as a double. If there is a hypothetical runner on first, a weak grounder would get doubled up. I actually had fun with this, though it quickly gets difficult as levels advance.

Animated Accuracy
Because the game engine is basically the same, we see just about all the same hitting and fielding animations in The Show, with fielding animations near top-notch in the baseball genre. The fluidity with which fielders can step on a bag and throw, or make running throws for that matter, is surprisingly realistic and accurate.

Whether or not MLB '06: The Show warrants another yearly PS2 baseball purchase is a judgment call. Baseball fans might want to jump into all the new features, but really, this is the same basic game from last year, though a nifty online MLB news service is a nice added bonus for all those MLB fantasy fanatics.

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