Led by Matt Vasgersian, the three-man commentary remains spectacular all around. There are some new lines, although some of their dialogue is becoming dated and repetitive. Presentation has always been a highlight in The Show, and it remains key to the experience here as well.
Minor changes, such as the addition of the 40-man roster, will excite true die-hards, although casual fans probably didn’t even realize they were missing. The Franchise keeps everything else, including the ability to manage the team financials, expand the facilities within the stadium, and set up advertising campaigns.
The Road to the Show, in which you control a single player through his entire career, is always addictive. Some minor added features enhance this mode like new training, but it’s a meager step. Load times can be a concern though as the mandatory small install doesn’t seem to help. Online play had some minor lag during the review process, but did hold up without causing too much of an interruption.
It’s hard to know where else The Show can go this generation. It’s already providing the deepest sports gaming experience available (yes, across all sports), and the features are loaded. Short of revamping the control system which isn’t needed, these incremental improvements may be the only way to continually pump out a yearly product at this point. Then again, if they all play like this, who cares?
MLB 09 The Show is rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB. This game can also be found on: PS2, PSP.
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