When
a ball club puts together a championship season, it generally tries to keep the
roster pretty much intact. Sure, there may be a little tinkering done to fill in
any gaps or shortcomings, but for the most part you don’t want to mess with
success. That’s the case with MLB 07: The Show. MLB 07 looks a whole lot like
MLB 06, mainly because MLB 06 was a winner. There are a few minor changes here
and there that help enhance the experience, but you’ve basically got the same
team as last year here.
If you missed out on MLB 06, I’ll start out with a recap of the game. For the
full box score, check out last
year’s MLB 06 review. MLB 07 lets you enjoy the Major League experience from
a single game through running a franchise through an entire MLB season. Other
modes include Road to the Show and King of the Diamond. Road to the Show is a
very enjoyable mode in which you create a player and then guide that player
through spring training as you try to make your club, through developmental time
in the minors, all the way to a starting spot on a big league club. King of the
Diamond is an arcade mode in which you select a pitcher and a batter and then
face off against your opponent’s pitcher and batter. The innings are timed and a
pitch timer forces the pitcher to make a pitch or face serving up a meatball to
the batter. The field is laid out almost like a pinball machine, with traps,
bonus targets, spinners, and the like, which gives this mode a fast-paced,
arcade-like feel.
In MLB 07, pitching requires you to select the pitch type, specify a target
location around the plate, and then use a moving meter to determine the strength
and accuracy of your throw. It’s a nice and elegant pitch system that works
well, but 07 added a few new tricks to the bag. The first addition is a pretty
good one – your catcher will suggest pitches to you. In the big leagues, one of
a catcher’s most important duties is to learn the strengths and weaknesses of
the opposing batters and call the pitches accordingly. Just like in the big
leagues, it is your choice as the pitcher to either take your catcher’s advice
or call your own pitch. Another new feature is pitch confidence. If a particular
pitch has been working well, then your pitcher’s confidence in that pitch will
increase and it will be even more effective. On the other hand, if an opposing
batter just went yard with your favorite pitch, expect the pitcher’s confidence
in that pitch to dip and batters to jump on it like sharks on blood.
Hitting remains an exercise in timing in which you can control the direction
of your swing with the analog nub for greater accuracy. The game still lets you
try to guess the pitch type. Get it right and you’ll benefit from more pop in
your swing. Guess wrong and good luck keeping yourself from whiffing at air.
Base running has been improved for the better in 07, using a much more intuitive
scheme in which the four face buttons correspond to the bases on a diamond.
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