All of these features and options would be moot if this title didn’t play a solid game of baseball. It certainly delivers. With a few slider tweaks at most, the action on the screen and in the scorebook closely approximates the grand old game. You can draw a walk, throw unintentional walks, and have epic pitcher/batter confrontations. Base runners take the appropriate bases, and the AI will test you both offensively and defensively. The lineups look solid, and the computer manager makes appropriate decisions the majority of the time (save when the aforementioned rosters issues are apparent), including sacrifice bunts, pitching changes, and pinch hitters.

The only questionable statistic after simulating multiple seasons was that stolen bases were definitely on the high side, resembling numbers from the 1980’s from some players and teams. Homerun totals are also a smidgen low - maybe that’s a post-steroid era adjustment? Otherwise, the baseball is solid, engrossing, and fun.

You have a few choices of schemes when controlling the action. Most of the alternate ones are older button-press style schemes, while the newer controls use the triggers and joysticks a bit more. Pitchers can use a golf game-style two-click method or just aim and press a button, a la High Heat from years gone by. Base running can be accomplished via choosing the runner and picking the base, or by using the left stick and the triggers. There are a couple of basic hitting models, with some variations based on difficulty level, that use the timing of the button press to swing as well as using the sticks to modify swing location and placement. The biggest drawback is that the hitting style you use is tied to the difficulty level, meaning you have to hit a certain way as you get better at the game. Several camera angles for each main task are available to customize the action. The controls are hardly innovative, but they suffice.

By now, the audio and video capabilities of the PS2 are well established. The Show does nothing to push the envelope, but instead delivers a consistently smooth and solid looking and sounding game of baseball. Some of the player faces are easily detectable; there are a variety of body types, and a litany of well-done animations to give the game a lifelike look. The audio play-by-play comes off without a hitch, even when bypassing cut screens, and rarely gives out inaccurate information, although it does tend to repeat itself after a few games. The atmosphere sounds realistic enough, from the crowd swelling to the umpire calls, coupled with the stadium-style soundtrack.

There are a few niggling problems and annoyances on and off the field that keep the game from being picture perfect, but by and large, MLB The Show 08 for the PS2 offers a very realistic and entertaining brand of baseball. If you can live with a few imperfections in the way computer GMs manage its teams, and with the rare statistical inaccuracy, there’s plenty of fun to be had. The Road to the Show mode is worth price of this game in itself. Baseball gamers that don’t have a PS3, and that can live with previous-generation graphics, can’t go wrong by adding it to their collection.

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