MLB 08: The Show

This really is one beautiful game; it truely is. The players and ballparks are simply gorgeous. The graphics are first rate for the most part, and game just exudes the look and feel of baseball as you see it on TV. The player mannerisms are all there, and the first time you boot this game on your PS3 you will probably think, "Finally, someone managed to get a baseball game right!!" And you'll probably feel that way right up until you actually try to do something in this game, at which point you will find out that MLB08: The Show is a much better show than it is a game.

The swing controls are klunky, and even if you dumb them down to just timing with the classic settings you are probably in for a rough ride. And then there is all the phony drama. In Road to the Show that means having your team mates start a rally just in time for you to hit into a double-play to end the inning. Get used to it friends, because that is the norm. Then there are opposing pitchers that have stratospheric ERAs who manage to seem to paint the corners just when you come up to the plate. Or how about the fact that 95% of the balls you hit in the air are outs? Or what about how all those great line drive shots to the infield gaps between second and short or second and first manage to be outs. Yes indeed, you are going to fall victim to the diving defensive play so many times that you might think this is the conventional method of making a routine put out in baseball. Yep, just dive for it...you'll catch it. I guess the game developers think it makes for more drama if you hit a hard shot to the gap and the defense makes a great diving play to silence a rally. Perhaps, but a run-of-the-mill grounder would be welcome. All of this leads to a ton of goal frustration, and it's a real disincentive to continue playing the game. I took the best team in the majors and played against the worst team six times as a player and six times as a manager and lost them all. Jeez, I should have been able to pit the Red Sox against the Marlins and walked away from the console for a while and let the game play it self for a Bosox win. It just doesn't add up when a team hitting less than .200 can regularly tag an ace for a bucketload of hits and runs or having teams with league-leading batting averages get regularly shut out by pitchers with close to double-digit ERAs.

This game is just plain BAD (Broken As Designed), and has some serious playability and play balance problems. If you're itching to throw $60 away, then take three 20s out of your wallet and put a match to them -- since that is likely to be more entertaining than this game.

I have played a few baseball games and this one is the best I have gotten my hands on...don't know what the other 08 baseball games are like. Great controls good features, good choice of play modes...lots of fun.

I have always been an avid baseball fan, and now I am finally happy playing a console baseball game. I really like the simplicity that MLB 08 The Show offers, and it's easy to start playing, even with someone who has never played before. As an avid fan, I really enjoy the "Going to the Show" feature, and having played over 100 games now, I have made it through the minors to the majors, and the gameplay is still fun. My only warning is you may get a bit tired of the same announcers saying basically the same things, but I find it doesn't bother me too much. I guess there is only so much to say anyway! All in all, this is a really fun game that looks good and play smooth too.

This game is simply amazing.
They took a solid product in MLB 07, and made the slight improvements and kept the smooth gameplay of 07. I had owned 07 on ps2 and was very satisfied with the product. I had doubts about the ps3 version after playing madden 08 on ps3 (horrible compared to the ps2 version). This game is the exact opposite. While madden became choppy and slow, this game became more smooth and maintained the same game speed.
The graphics for this game on ps3 with a 1080p tv are incredible. The stadiums are almost exact and the fans actually move. The players even have identifiable faces.
The game is simply amazing, I'll be addicted to it for some time to come, while madden will collect dust on the shelf unless the new one makes a ton of improvements.

This game franchise by sony has become the elite baseball franchise in the game industry today. It allows you to manage your team or to play road to the show where, you the "rook" are the only one you control and you take yourself from Spring Training to AA to AAA and to "The Show". And you also in both modes are able to train yourself or buy products for your team to train and improve. This game is a must buy for all baseball fans with a PS3, PS2, and/or PSP.