MLB '07: The Show vs. MLB 2k7

Discussion in 'Video Games' started by wildthing202, Mar 1, 2007.

  1. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    A head to head look at both games:

    http://ps2.ign.com/articles/769/769140p1.html
    The Show
    IGN
    Last year, Sony Computer Entertainment emerged as a sports underdog with one of the best titles of the year in MLB '06: The Show. A stronger Career mode along with additions like a redefined batting system and addictive King of the Diamond mini-game went a long way to reversing years of weaker performing titles from the franchise. Of course, the pressure on SCE's part was to deliver a follow up to this impressive performance with a more robust feature set and stronger gameplay. Capitalizing on the success of the name, SCE has recently delivered MLB '07: The Show, and like its predecessor, improves on the series in just about every single way.

    Last year, the primary focus of the game was placed on batting with the redesigned Zone Control Batting system. This year, the attention turns to towards the mound, with a two part system designed solely around the pitcher. Of course, every pitcher has a set number of pitches they are good at throwing. The Pitch Command System not only places them on the controller from strongest to weakest (X being your best pitch, R1 being your weakest), it evaluates the confidence that your pitcher has in that particular ball as it leaves his hand with a meter. As you land more strikes or get players out with a particular pitch, your pitcher's faith in that pitch will grow, and it will get much stronger. For example, fastballs will have more speed and curveballs will break more over the plate.

    Pitchers will have to vary up their pitches while they're on the mound, however. Constantly relying on one specific pitch over another not only sells your opponent on what you're willing to toss, it decreases the effectiveness of your other pitches. As a result, MLB 07 adds in the other part of the pitching system, Adaptive Pitching Intelligence, which is governed by the catcher. During the game, your catcher will read the situation, batter that your facing and strength of the pitches you're throwing and give you a suggestion of what you should throw and where in (or out) of the zone you should place the ball. Players then have the opportunity to disregard that pitch and choose a separate pitch and location, or can choose to follow the suggestion and hopefully deliver a strike. It may seem like a minor adjustment, but it can add to the strategy of the game when you're trying to balance your pitches and how you're painting the strike zone.

    Then again, you'll also need to worry about whether or not the umpire thinks your pitch is a valid strike, or if you're going to unintentionally walk half the lineup. MLB '07 now features Umpire Personalities that dictates how the plate ump will call the game. You have a chance to pull down one of three different guys during any particular matchup, which will force you to adjust your playing style on the fly. Loose strike zone umps will often call strikes, even if the pitch is clearly a ball, which will force you to be on your toes. Tight strike zone umps won't be so forgiving on borderline balls, so if you try to paint the corners, you may find a lot of balls being called. Otherwise, you may run into an ump that calls it right down the middle, so a ball is a ball and a strike is a strike.

    While it's great that the game "keeps pitchers honest" with calls this way, it sucks that you have to essentially stumble into figuring out what kind of umpire you're going to have. Major league teams know which umpires are loose with their calls and which ones are sticklers for the zone, so whenever they see them step behind the plate, the pitchers know how to adjust their game. Unfortunately, you don't have any warning or information to discover this, so you can potentially go through two or three innings before you have a full sense of how the game will be called, which can potentially be dangerous to your score.

    Now, even though most of the changes have been made to the pitching side of the ball, batters do have a slight adjustment this year thanks to the new Swing Analysis system. Every now and then (especially on the higher difficulty levels like Hall of Fame) you could swear that you timed your swing just right, and somehow you managed to miss the ball entirely. Thanks to the Swing Analysis system, players can evaluate whether their timing on their swing is too early or too late to connect with the ball, if they were in a good or bad position to hit a pitch, and where it was located in the strike zone. This is an extremely valuable tool, especially when you're trying to determine why you keep going three up, three down in innings. It also helps you adjust your stroke on the ball so you can get on base more consistently.

    Once you're on base, you can take advantage of the new Baserunner targeting system, which lets you point the left analog stick in the direction of a base to select the runner. As soon as he's selected, his icon will blink on the diamond display, and you can hit a specific button to send him to that base. This effectively replaces the Classic baserunning mechanic of sending a character from, say, first to third, because you can literally highlight the first baseman and direct him to that base with one button press. It's a nice addition, but it can sometimes be a bit sticky as far as trying to parcel out directions before the pitch.

    The other tweak is to the fielding system, which implements a new meter to determine the strength of a throw from a player. The longer you hold down the button, the harder the throw is to your intended target. The problem with the fielding system is that the meter is somewhat inconsequential to the actual play, especially since certain throws are automatically determined to be light throws even when you've been holding the button for a while. Since it doesn't seem to actually affect the accuracy of the throw, even though it's supposed to, the feature seems somewhat ineffectual to the gameplay. As a quick aside though, why is almost every throw a one hopper? If I'm on first base, I don't need to hop to toss the ball back to the pitcher, yet just about every single player will do this. Yet for some reason, just about every throw involves a hop before it leaves a player's hand.

    While last year's career mode wasn't really breathed on (apart from the updated menu system and presentation), MLB '07 features a brand new take on the career mode with Road to the Show. Similar to Superstar mode from Madden, you'll create a player and solely experience the league from that position's perspective. You're not the manager of the team you're on -- the computer handles all of those details. As a result, the computer will give you either situational tasks, like swinging away during an at bat, or specific goals to accomplish, such as not getting tagged out when you're on base or driving a run home. Successfully performing these tasks will add to the number of points you can use to boost your player's stats, making him a more formidable player in the game as well as increasing his status amongst the club. Consistently fail tasks, and you'd better expect to be spending a ton of time stuck in the minors until you can prove to your skipper that you deserve another shot at The Bigs.

    This places a completely new spin on the game, and really will test your skills as you attempt to perform sac flies on demand or successfully hit for the cycle to keep your manager happy. But there's a ton of depth here, and the fact that the game fast forwards to your next at bat or defensive situation means that you'll have the opportunity to fly through games quickly. There's definitely a rush when you discover that the goal of driving a run in just happens to be during the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the club is looking for your hot bat to perform.

    However, as exciting as the Road to the Show can be, there are still a couple of problems that happen to plague the game mode. For one thing, if you happen to play one of the outfielders, it's impossible to perform a defensive adjustment. That can be especially difficult if you know that a particular hitter likes going deep, which can hurt you if you're trying to get a jump on the ball. Another issue is the disorienting camera angles. It's possible to have a play go off and be completely confused as to where the ball happens to be, which can hinder your attempts to accurately decide what you need to do. For example, if you're baserunning, you can only rotate the camera around 180 degrees along the flat plane of the basepath, which doesn't help if you're trying to spot what's going on in the outfield. It's extremely frustrating to take off from a base and not have a clue whether or not a fly ball is being caught or whether a cutoff man is ready to throw you out until you get to a different base, at which point it can be too late.

    MLB 07 also features a number of new online features. For one thing, players can join online leagues of up to 30 separate teams and establish leaderboards, playoffs and other items. A player can also choose to be the commissioner of the own league, establishing separate rules and league schedules. Of course, you may want to know who you happen to be playing against, and thanks to the Online Player Card, you have a sense of things such as whether a player likes to disconnect if he's down by multiple runs late in the game, or what difficulty rating they like to play with. This is a great measuring stick to determine if the person on the other side of the screen is a worthy challenge or not worth your time.
     
  2. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    Players can also keep on top of the latest news going on in the MLB with a Sportscast that updates the MLB ticker at the bottom of the screen with news and other details. You'll also be able to update rosters (which you'll need to do out of the box, since they are a month old), but there's also one very cool side feature that most players might not expect. Previous MLB titles have always featured a ton of various sliders that you can use to tweak your game to create the perfect settings for you. Players now have the ability to save these adjusted settings and upload them to the MLB servers, where other players can download them. If you ever felt that you could determine the best settings for the game, such as not being able to guess a pitch or eliminating the throwing meter, here's your chance to help your fellow MLB player.


    Visually, MLB 07 hasn't really received a significant facelift in graphics from last year. The stadiums will still feature a lot of generic background textures with a lot of aliasing issues and rendering passes that will crop up on camera angles. Crowd textures are a bit smoother than they were in last year's game, although every now and then they'll perform in this weird animation loop that pops them back into place after a few seconds. Fortunately, many of the players' character models have been improved significantly from last year's game. The seams on character models have been significantly reduced, their hands now actually look more realistic, and the faces of the players now look much better. While they're not going to approach those of a PS3 or 360 baseball game, the detail is probably just as good as the PS2 will be able to produce.

    The sound hasn't changed significantly either. Players will still get razzed by fans, the crowd will still roar or express disappointment based on how the home team is doing, and Vasgersian, Hudler and Campbell are still somewhat behind in their play calling. At the very least, the timing of a call has been tightened up somewhat, so that instead of being five to seven seconds behind the onscreen action, they're around 3-5 now. It's a minor adjustment, but it does help. The game also still packs the diverse musical soundtrack from previous years, with rock and rap songs filling out the selections for the game.

    Closing Comments
    It's nice to see a sports franchise build upon the previous year's gains with some new solid game features. Whereas MLB '06 came across as a basic correction of buggy franchise play, MLB '07 actually tries to push the series and the sport further ahead particularly thanks to its Road to the Show career mode, redesigned pitching system and online options. Look no further, because The Show has gone back to back for the crown of the best baseball game around.

    8.5 Presentation
    Many of the menu overlays, from the Swing Analysis to the Pitch Control System and the Road to the Show goals match the TV presentational style from last year.
    8.5 Graphics
    Stadiums and crowds still look hideous, but the character models are definitely much sharper than they were last year.
    8.0 Sound
    Practically the same from last year, although the three man commentary team is a bit faster on the delivery this time around.
    8.5 Gameplay
    Road to the Show, new pitching systems and online modes add a lot to this year's game.
    8.5 Lasting Appeal
    training and into the pennant race.
    8.5
    Great OVERALL
    (out of 10 / not an average)
     
    #2 wildthing202, Mar 1, 2007
    Last edited: Mar 5, 2007
  3. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    MLB 2k7
    http://ps2.ign.com/articles/768/768786p1.html
    Rafael Furcal batted backward for a pitch.

    Michael Barrett forgot to tag a runner crossing home plate right in front of his face.

    Randy Johnson is still on the Yankees.

    Announcer Jon Miller is calling the wrong game.

    And worst of all, JD Drew is rated 100.

    It's a mystery why so little effort went into polishing MLB 2K7, a game that features a solid gameplay engine but is ridden with strange and inexplicable bugs. When you get past those bugs, if you ever do, you can have fun with the solid pitching and batting mechanics and the improved fielding. Unfortunately, the mistakes in 2K7 are glaring and numerous. One has to wonder why the game hits the streets in February when fans would trade in their baseball card collections for MLB 2K7 to be properly bug-tested with accurate rosters and ratings even if it came out in April. And seriously, JD Drew is rated 100?


    Posada (rated 94) loves the hit stick.
    In fact, why are there 62 players rated at 100? You don't see this on the next-generation versions of this game, but on the Xbox and PS2 guys like Troy Glaus, Garret Atkins, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui, Jermaine Dye and Ken Griffey Jr. are all maxed out. Sure they are solid players but Griffey is far from the most dangerous hitter in the game. He's lucky to get an 85 at this point in his career. There's a serious problem overrating batters here: Cliff Floyd is a 99! Shawn Green is a 98! I repeat: Shawn Green is a 98. Floyd had an abysmal season at .244 and 14 jacks, and Green often came off the bench. It's as if the guys in charged of rating players on the Xbox and PS2 overdosed on ecstasy pills before they came into work. "Man, that Carl Crawford -- he's so dreamy. And Ryan Zimmerman looks so good in red. The colors are so pretty. Let's make 'em both 100."

    Before I lose my mind on the player ratings, let me say that MLB 2K7 can be a lot of fun. The Hit Stick batting system still works well, as does the innovative pitching mechanic. Inside Edge scouting reports are make hot and cold zones look like kindergarten research. But every now and then, a bonehead mistake kills your game. Click on this video link to see an Xbox flick of Cubs catcher Barrett (rated 96!) stand on the plate with the ball in his hand, staring at fans in the right field bleachers as a runner slides in without so much as an attempt at a tag. The guy was out by not one but two miles.


    Barrett must see a hot girl in the stands. Or he's blind.
    Anyway, let's talk about what this game does right. The Inside Edge scouting reports can be purchased in franchise mode (you can get a report on two or three players in exhibition as well). The real-life statistics tell you how likely a pitcher is to, say, throw a curve on a 3-1 count and what his most likely locations will be. When pitching, a catcher will call for pitches the hitter is least likely to hit. On defense, your fielders will shift into proper position based on the batter's tendencies. The information is fantastic.

    The hitting, controlled with the right analog stick, is simply a blast. With a new batting view moved closer toward the strike zone, ala old school World Series Baseball, it's fun to work the count, guess the pitch location with the Batter's Eye, and swing away. The system works as well as any game out there, although it does take some time to get used to it if you're a button-presser, which is so 2005. And if you are a button presser, you can switch to classic hitting.

    On the mound, the Payoff Pitching system returns and continues to shine. To throw a curve, you have to aim up and away, allotting for the break. The amount of break is decided by how long you hold the pitch button. So if you're a curve-ball master like Barry Zito, you actually aim at a lefty's head and snap one off. It'll scare the bejeebus out of the batter and land right in the middle of the zone. You can also move your catcher's target around. If he's lining up outside and you throw in, you're likely to be charged with a wild pitch as your catcher hustles to the backstop to collect your mistake.

    Baserunning still suffers from the same awkward presentation style as MLB 2K6 and 2K5. The runner windows are situated like a square rather than a diamond, which is disorienting at first. While no game has yet to really nail handling multiple baserunners at once, 2K7 does an adequate job with advance and retreat all options as well as the old select-a-runner-and-advance-with-D-pad move. Directional slides play a role in the game, but too often it seems as if they are inconsequential. If you slide into the tag or away from the tag, we've yet to see it make a difference. Sometimes you slap a gapper to left and slide to the right side of second base, but there doesn't seem to be any advantage and we've yet to see a runner actually avoid a tag.

    Fielding has been improved as the physics system is toned way down. That means in 2K7, you can actually control your fielders. How novel. One great touch is the ability to call off your teammates. We've had some nasty collisions that can easily be avoided if you wave off an overeager shortstop. These collisions can lead to some nasty injuries in franchise mode, so hit the button often. Still, diving is not nearly as intuitive as in MVP 2005, EA's last great MLB game. Back then, if a player was in range and he dove at the right moment, he'd come up with the ball -- or at least knock it down. In 2K7, you are prompted to hit the right stick to dive. If you do it in that split second, you'll come up with the ball and make a web gem. There are too many instances, however, when you want to dive and are not prompted to. So you hit the stick anyway and your fielder dives right next to the ball but fails to register that it's actually there. It appears that the diving is still too heavily based on an animation. Instead of diving short for a ball just out of reach or really leaping for a ball, there's just one hit-or-miss dive animation.

    That said, you'll see some amazing plays in the field. Players will suck in grounders and throw runners out from their knees. Outfielders will jump the wall and pull back homers. Third-basemen will lean over the rail to collect foul balls in the stands for awesome, jump-out-of-your seat plays.

    Visually, 2K7 looks decent, with a mix of great animations (fielding) and awful animations (throwing). There's a few bugs here and there. One time batting with Rafael Furcal we noticed he was facing the catcher and actually standing backwards. After the pitch, he transported back to the correct position, but it was good for a laugh. Player models move well though, although 2K7 still suffers from rather generic player models. The faces are nowhere near as gorgeous as in the next-gen versions (or even MVP 2005). The stadiums and crowd look fairly decent, but there are no real improvement over last year's version.

    Jon Miller and Joe Morgan hit the booth with some good yet recycled commentary. This really is the best duo in baseball, but when Miller says its game seven of the series when it's really game six; when he says "He boots it!" every time an outfielder simply reaches down to pick up a ball; when he calls balls fair that are foul by 30 feet -- well, that's when you know it's time to get in there and clean up the bugs. It's a shame too, because the two have a lot of good stuff to say, especially from the color man Morgan (although much of the good stuff is from last year's game). A little bug-testing would have made these two sound a lot better. The crowd noise and stadium atmosphere is also lacking. Sometimes the crowd sounds like it's muted and you simply hear organ music and Jon Miller's voice. And this was in the World Series. There is a fair amount of crowd chatter, but we'd like to see 2K really focus on the atmosphere next season.

    Online, the stout 2K Sports options like online leagues and tournaments return. While 2K has done little to improve the online experience, it's still the best out there because of these two features alone.

    The other gamemodes include a deep franchise mode, GM Career, Home Run Derby, Manager Showdown and some forgettable modes like Tournament and Season (why not just play a franchise?).

    Closing Comments
    For no apparent reason, this game was shipped a month early. A month of polishing would have ironed out some ghastly bugs. Some are funny. Some kill the fun of the game. When you do get a bug-free game, however, the hitting and pitching are fun. Fielding and baserunning are not without their problems, but you still get a good game of baseball from 2K7. Still, the look and sound of this game are pretty much identical to MLB 2K6 and it's clear that not much effort went into the current-gen versions of 2K7. The good news is that the online options and solid franchise mode will keep you coming back for more, if you can stand more of JD Drew, rated at 100. Seriously, the guy can barely finish an inning without ending up on the injury report. Is this really happening?

    6.0 Presentation
    Rosters need an update and the player ratings are awful. The lack of improvement from 2K6 overshadows a nice broadcast presentation.
    7.0 Graphics
    A few awkward animations and generic player models overall, but 2K7 looks decent when the batters are facing the right direction.
    6.0 Sound
    The mostly recycled commentary would be great if it wasn't plagued by bugs. Good sound effects but the crowd and stadiums could be a bit more rowdy.
    7.0 Gameplay
    It's so fun to play but still bug-ridden. Nice hitting and pitching systems, but the baserunning interface and clunky fielding mechanics need addressing.
    8.0 Lasting Appeal
    When you get past the bugs and update the rosters, the feature-rich 2K7 featuring online leagues and tourneys can keep your attention.
    7.0
    Decent OVERALL
    (out of 10 / not an average)
     
  4. FrankTheTank

    FrankTheTank New Member

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    [​IMG]
    MLB The Show 07 Cover: 10/10

    [​IMG]
    MLB 2K7 Cover: 0/10
     
  5. ViLmAfAn5128

    ViLmAfAn5128 Banned

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    Yankee haters make me giggle
     
  6. plasticsloth

    plasticsloth Well-Known Member

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    i hate 2k and love the show. I own a PS3 and i have to wait till APRIL!!!!!!! for the show. It makes me cry...
     
  7. Learn To Swim

    Learn To Swim 2008 Nightowltom "Best Non-Jets Poster" Award Winn

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    Geez, I was leaning toward 2K7, but those bugs and the player ratings killed that quickly.
     
  8. Pride

    Pride New Member

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    Those r the ps2 reviews. The 360 version is a pretty solid game. I would give Mlb 2k7 around an 8.25.
     
  9. GreyhoundJet

    GreyhoundJet Active Member

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    Ken Griffey Jr. and Cliff Floyd being ranked 100 just made me want to buy The Show.
     
  10. S-I-X

    S-I-X Member

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    i'm waiting for ps3's version of the show
     
  11. Pennythetowelboy

    Pennythetowelboy New Member

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    i wish MVP baseball was still around. Nothing beat that game. I havent played a MLB video game since they stoped making MVP.
     
  12. wildthing202

    wildthing202 Active Member

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    I know you can send your memory card to a guy and he puts the updated rosters on MVP '05. I think you can find them online too.
     
  13. ButtleMan

    ButtleMan New Member

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    MVP is still around. They just made it an NCAA game.
    It is a better game than MLB2K07.
     
  14. Pride

    Pride New Member

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    yea but its college, with no names unless you manually do it yourself
     
  15. Drew

    Drew Active Member

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    I have 2k7. Mainly because the Show is only on Playstation and I needed my baseball fix. I haven't played it much seeing as how I only got it today, but it seems like a pretty well made game. Not the best, but it's fun. Great visuals, smooth controls, only 2 things bug me.

    1. WILD PITCHES. They seem to occur when runners are on base ALL the time. it's pissing me off.

    2. Baserunning. I don't like the stop system (right trigger).

    All in all, I just have to get use to it. If you have a 360 and are looking for a baseball game, you're stuck with 2k7, but it's a decent buy.

    EDIT: Oh, and another thing... I was playing against my friend and did a few things that should've resulted in achievements... Home run robbery, 3 HR with a player, and struck out the side but didn't get them. What's the deal? Is it because I did it against a 2nd player?
     
    #15 Drew, Mar 8, 2007
    Last edited: Mar 8, 2007
  16. Pride

    Pride New Member

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    It has to be vs the cpu , you cant tinker w/ the sliders and it has to be pro or higher difficulty
     
  17. Drew

    Drew Active Member

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    What about in season mode? I hit 3 HR's with Giambi on pro and still didn't get the achievement. It's kinda annoying.
     
  18. Pride

    Pride New Member

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    I think you can do them in season mode. What maybe a problem is if you turned cold/hot teams on. If its on, the sliders for the cpu change w/ the play of your team and the cpu. This makes the difficulty custom and prevents some of the achievements
     
  19. GreyhoundJet

    GreyhoundJet Active Member

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    MLB:The Show for PS2 is absolutely horrible. It has the makings of a good game but it lags when you hit the ball. Every time somene hits the ball on either team the game slows down until it lands. I have read a little about it online and it only seems to happen for like half the people.
     
  20. Drew

    Drew Active Member

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    Yeah. I did that. Damn.
     

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