MLB Game Double-Header

Baseball season doesn't start until April 6th -- unless you happen to own a video game console. Two competing MLB titles arrived this week in a brazen attempt to steal your downtime: Sony's MLB 09: The Show (Playstation 3, PSP and PS2), and 2K's Major League Baseball 2K9 (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3).

And like the Dodgers and Giants, these two have history. As recently as 2004, the 2K games toed the cutting edge with a great mix of arcade and simulation gameplay. But that was five years ago. Since then, Sony's The Show series has ascended like the Boston Red Sox, whipping past the 2K games by combining easy on-field play, great presentation and the deepest career and franchise modes in the business. Will 2K9 get out of its slump and reclaim its place atop the standings? Or is it more likely that the Cubs will finally win a pennant?

Only one way to find out. Batter up!

At The Plate

2K9: Subscribing to the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" plan, 2K9 continues last year's tactic of using the analog sticks for batting and pitching. They've streamlined it a bit, but the pitching mechanic is still a little too simple, reducing the fine art of throwing a curve ball to an unsatisfying analog stick twirl. Meanwhile, every pitch seems to fly with the same velocity. Batting is also oversimplified to emphasize swatting at balls with every other swing rather than really picking your spots.

The Show: There's something almost comforting about old-school, button-based pitching. That and hitting are both timed almost to perfection, though pitching accuracy is still difficult to read and master. Even better, Sony has found a way to present a wide array of statistical data to pitchers and hitters without cluttering the screen. 2K offers all the same info, but you'll have to wade through loads of ugly stat boxes to get it. The downside is that batting here also seems too simple -- there just isn't the complexity at the plate as in the rest of the game.

Edge: The Show

Score: The Show: 1, 2K9: 0

In The Field

2K9: Last year you'd see players seemingly skating across the field, and that's been fixed to a large degree. But fielder animations are still rough and don't transition well. Collision problems may always persist in baseball games -- the on-the-fly calculations to keep players on track must be intense -- but here they're almost laughable. And while the analog pitching and hitting is clever, making plays in the field is all based on the same mechanics that have been in play forever, as if the fielding part of the game is an afterthought. It shouldn’t be.

The Show: Sony allows you to use the Fielder's Eye, which puts the camera in the fielder's P.O.V and maps the face buttons appropriately to bases, which makes the process of throwing from center to third a lot easier. (This comes into play most often when playing your character in Road to the Show.) And there's a great new set of controls for base-runners, allowing quick movements to increase or tighten leadoff distance and using analog controls for quick steals. There's some collision trouble in the field, but the animations are top-notch, making for incredibly realistic play.

Edge: The Show

Score: The Show: 2, 2K9: 0

Moneyball

2K9: There's nothing wrong with focusing on the on-field play. While the politics, scheming and business of the game is a major lure for many fans, an arcade take is just fine. And if 2K's on-field game were more dominant, we'd be more able to overlook the fact that while it puts in a decent effort, the game's Franchise mode lacks ambition. You've also got Home Run Derby and typical Season modes, but something more dramatic would have helped.

The Show: There isn't much in sports gaming, much less baseball video games, to compete with Sony's Road to the Show mode. There's an intricately detailed player creation system, after which you'll play through the life of a player as he's drafted, thrown into tough situations, traded, injured and either forgotten or heralded as a star. That's enough for a five-star rating right there; tack on the similarly detailed Franchise, Season and Exhibition modes and it's no-contest.

Edge: The Show

Score: The Show: 3, 2K9: 0

Tasty Concessions

2K9: Visually, 2K9 appears to be stuck between console generations. The stadiums are accurate but washed out, player models fail to convince, and a well-intentioned effort to add depth of field just looks cheap and hastily done. The presentation is lacking, too; the interface seems haphazard, and there's no excuse for cheap, jagged logos and icons (check out those baserunner icons while you're pitching.) The audio commentary streams well, at least, and 2K is promising live rosters that update in real-time with trades.

The Show: From the menus to the broadcast emulation to the sumptuous player models, this is one gorgeous game. Sony added some deformation to the base paths, but the diamond's dirt and grass both still look too flat -- it's the one visual flaw. The audio commentary doesn't stream as well as 2K's, either, and is often dull. And it's not for everyone, but the most viciously competitive players will love being able to record their own crowd chants and taunts.

Edge: The Show

Final Score: The Show: 4, 2K9: 0

A shut-out?! Yep. Chalk up a grand slam for Sony, while 2K struggles to just get on base. Better luck next year.

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