(Score: 90/100, Sony PlayStation 3)
"It's like deja vu all over again," said Yankee great Yogi Berra.
Baseball fans might say the same thing after spending a few hours with "MLB 11 The Show."
The last couple of years, Sony’s Major League Baseball sim no-hit the competition, but this year’s game doesn’t do much more than add a new control scheme, co-op mode and 3D visuals.
The new controls take a bit of getting used to, particularly when pitching. In the past, a pitch’s location was determined by placing the cursor somewhere in the strike zone and pressing a button. Then, the player had to time three more button presses; once to ramp up the power meter, again to stop at the meter’s apex, and a third time to release the ball as the meter plunged back down past the pitcher’s “sweet spot.” Do all three properly and, if your pitcher had competent stats, he’d hurl a sweet pitch.
Sony must have decided that was too easy.
Now, to properly bewilder batsmen, the player has to pull down on the right analog stick to the middle of a bar, then immediately push back up, just like kicking a field goal in an old Madden football game.
The height of the pitch is determined by how close the player gets to the aforementioned bar. Go below the bar and the pitch will be lower than intended.
More problematic is the east-west location of the pitch, which is determined by the upswing of the analog stick. Pulling the stick slightly to the right will result in an outside pitch to a right-handed batter, for example.
In short, analog controls are less accurate than the old system; it’s much more difficult to routinely nail the corners of the plate, especially with breaking pitches.
Batting is easier. Instead of pressing a single button, the batter pulls down on the stick as the pitcher winds up and presses up on the stick to swing and make contact. To bunt, just press up on the stick without pulling back.
Sony’s new Motion controller can only be used in Home Run Derby mode, where it works well. Alas, Motion controllers can’t be used by opposing players.
Co-op mode allows two players to take turn with batters, or to control different defensive players, on the same team. Co-op mode works against the CPU or online against other players.
Road to the Show mode, where a player take control of a rookie and tries to sharpen his skills enough to make it to the Major Leagues, has been tweaked too. Skill points seem a bit easier to come by and neophyte pitchers no longer get hammered as badly. Much-needed variety has been added to training mini-games.
Franchise mode is deep and excellent, but unchanged from 2010.
For those without a baseball sim, MLB 11 The Show is a must-buy. It’s as good as baseball games get, and that’s really good. But, those who own last year’s game will be left wanting more.
