Amazon.com: MLB '09: Playstation 3: Video Games

78 Reviews

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

Average Customer Review

3.8 out of 5 stars (78 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They made it perfect, March 3, 2009

By	Robert Pace "Hugs and Curses." (Smithtown, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

Here we are, another long winter over and another amazing spring to begin, and what better way to ring in the best time of year than with MLB 09 The Show.

Sony has done it, they have taken an amazing franchise and made it perfect. I could tell you about the perfect graphics and amazing sounds, but this game has literally everything. They have batters that react like their real-life counterparts and pitchers that are accurate down to the grip of the ball. Each player is rendered with extreme precision, and with the ability to manually add their actual walk up music and HR celebration music, nothing is more life-like.

They team at Sony has added well over 400 animations to an already extraordinary library of ones that existed previously. I could probably play 100 games and still see something new. From speaking to one of the developers, there are now over 100 animation simply for the first baseman catching a throw to first. That's just unreal. Also, as you play the game the infield wears down, if you dive for a ball on the back of the infield in the third inning, that large swipe of dirt will still be there the rest of the game, this is amazing. Score a runner from second base, and you'll see the footprints in the dirt until they get covered by even more footprints.

The crowd is intenase this year, it's dynamic. If there's a blow out, they might leave early. Also, you'll see Yankee fans in Fenway and vice-versa, as that's how it really is. Sony has made this as close to reality as possible. Also, the fans dress for the weather. I was playing an early April game in Chicago, and the announcers stated it was 43 degrees. Everyone in the crowd had hats, sweaters and jackets on. For a game in late May, it was t-shirts and shorts.

The lighting is another VAST improvement this season. The game actually has lighting that transitions throughout the game. It doesn't just go from light to dark, it follows a real nights subtle changes. Also, the lighting will hit players at certain angles that mimic a real sun, so the shadows will make a difference this year.

Add to all this, online leagues and Road to the Show 3.0, and yes you have a perfect baseball game.

Thank you Sony.

Comment Comments (3) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable/frustrating. Take your pick., May 12, 2009

By	reuber1 "reuber1" (IA) - See all my reviews

Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars

MLB 09 The Show is without a doubt the most polished and detailed baseball game available, possibly of all time. When you look at the screen shots, you'll find it hard to not be in awe. The attention to detail is simply stunning, from the stadiums to the player details, to the spot on announcing, to the excellent surround sound support. Definitely the most painstaking baseball effort on any video gaming platform, and an admirable showcase of the Playstation 3's power. Unfortunately, I'm typing this just moments after shattering a $60 Dualshock 3 controller by fast balling it against a wall out of maddening frustration. The cause? A short fuse plus a 10 game hitless streak in Road to the Show mode, while on Veteran difficulty (the second lowest) and getting knocked down to AA Minor Leagues...

As you can see, my biggest beef with the game is what most other people have cited in other reviews...the difficulty. The game is ridiculously hard. Now, I know some of you reading this are rolling your eyes. Yes, I know baseball is hard. Yes, I know that I'm not supposed to win every game. Yes, I know that at best getting a hit 3 out of every 10 at bats is being a "good" hitter. Wherever I go, whether it be message boards looking for strategy or the reviews of this game, for every one person saying this game is too hard, someone will jump into hyperbole mode and insist that we're only looking for a baseball game where you put up huge numbers and are hitting everything out of the park. I'm not. I'm well aware that this was going to be a difficult approximation of the real thing. At the same time, however, variable difficulty levels and adjustments of the in-game sliders should allow for a more customized experience, REGARDLESS of overall ability; even after tweaking sliders to set pitching speed to the lowest and to get favorable hits and power to max for myself, I'm still faring little better. Far be it for me to be a little annoyed when I'm not enjoying my $60 purchase.

Some examples of the difficulty and frustration come into play during Road to the Show mode, the mode where you create a player and control only that player through his league career. Alone this mode could be its own game. And the quick nature of it, by skipping moments not critical to your player (say, a chopper to third while you are the right fielder), you can breeze through a game in 15 minutes (even less if you're pinch hitting or subbing for the starter). However, career advancement rests on achieving Goals that are assigned to you. More often than not, this means reaching certain stat levels for your player. To raise your stats and attributes, you need to perform well in each game and for each play you do well in, you receive points...but on the flipside, you can lose these points as well by blowing a play or a specific goal (such as "drive the run in"). This is where RttS becomes a nightmare; you will find VERY often situations where you perform great on non-critical plays, only to lose the points from those by blowing a few (or even just one) critical moments later on. Now if it didn't seem like such blind luck on what plays you blow and the ones you make, I wouldn't mind...however, I can't count how many Solid Contacts + Perfectly Timed (based on criteria the game assigns) hits I have had that were put out or grounded out and cost me 10 points, negating something good I did earlier. Frustrating, and happens constantly. Hitting into a double play when a "drive the run" in goal is on the line with 1 out is the last thing I did. Cost me quite a few points, that did. This makes improving your player, if you are horrible, a very long and tedious process, whereas better players will improve their stats quicker. Rewarding good performance makes sense, but these kinds of back and forths can literally see you gaining ZERO points for very prolonged periods of time...and you need at least 40 points to assign them to any stats.

Also, failing to meet certain goals at a time period usually prevents you from advancing to AAA or the Majors. I missed one measely goal my last run through, which alone amazed me...that goal? Draw 3 walks. Because I didn't draw three walks, I got reprimanded by my makebelieve coach via e-mail. Although this mode can be entertaining, moments like this make me feel like I'm back at work or in school again. Nevermind that I actually DID manage to have a .300 batting average, which alone amazed me and hasn't happened since in a 3 game series, but the fact that I didn't coerce 3 walks got me a reprimand.

During regular games, exhibitions, quick games, or season games, as you control the whole team in a more traditional setting, there isn't quite as much to grate your nerves. However, the biggest gripe is trying to figure out which fielder you are controlling if the batter on the opposing team makes contact...I've repeatedly been stuck controlling a completely different character (and thus, running in the opposite direction that I should) than I thought I was. This has cost me several games alone. This is a minor quibble, but the same "Solid Contact + Perfect Timing" issues show their face here, which leads me to another point...

I didn't play baseball in high school or college. I have an understanding of the rules, but do not know all of the nuances of the game, and the strategy behind all situations; I'm a casual fan, if you will. For example, I have no idea what pitches I should swing at and shouldn't...I would think pitches in the strike zone would be sufficient enough to aim for, but as I said before, solid contact with perfect timing in goal oriented situations will still result in a pop fly or even a ground out, costing me points in progress and counting against me in the long run. I hear the announcers elude to a "good pitch to hit" and vice versa, but this is never explained to a baseball dunce like myself. Some sort of built in tutorial or "Baseball 101" mode would go a long way in educating casual fans such as myself into becoming much more hardcore fans and appreciate the game (virtual and the real thing) more; not to mention limit the frustration of why I screwed up when I did, or what I could have done instead. Being berated by the one sarcastic announcer does not do this, and actually discourages me from wanting to play further. Honestly, including something like this only makes sense...nurture your potential audience, developers! So far, all I can tell is this game caters to hardcore baseball fans only. Do something for those of us who are putting an effort in but still are kind of clueless about everything! I feel like my "strategy guide" for this game is a random website entry on baseball strategy.

As I mentioned above, not to let the difficulty overshadow what is good in the game, the graphics are simply stunning, probably the best I've ever seen in a video game. The attention to detail is fantastic. And when the game is not owning you at every conceivable moment, it is a blast! The inclusion of batting practice in this year's game is a blessing, and the baserunning mode is a blast, though it is odd that there is nothing for pitching or fielding training options.

As for a few minor quibbles, which may get cleared up on a patch, I repeatedly hear the announcers screw up certain situation calls, for example by stating that the bases are empty with one away for my at bat, yet I am third in the lineup and there are 2 outs displayed on screen. Also, after a first pitch my HUD almost always disappears and will not reappear until after a few pauses/unpauses; this is actually very annoying. Also, there is a lot of inconsistency in which swings I can review with the L3 button (which tells you how good your positioning was, as well as timing).

I can respect diehard baseball fans who want a challenge...you definitely have it here. And no, I won't give up on this yet, though I will take a break after my recent "incident". But I'm at the point where I can't tell if I really am addicted to this game, despite it's unforgiving difficulty, or if I'm forcing myself to not regret my $60 purchase. Though one could argue that the difficulty that is here makes the good moments that much more rewarding, I can't help but think it isn't really all that worth the frustration in the long run...I mean, MLB players are making good salaries, so even if they suck it up every now and then, they're getting a good pay day in the end, and these are guys who are paid to practice, and who have practiced since they were in high school (or thereabouts). My only reward is what enjoyment I get out of the game, which unfortunately has been very limited; if I need to practice as much as a Major Leaguer to enjoy this game, I might as well buy a real bat and hit the batting cages. I'm playing a video game, not attending tryouts.

Comment Comments (14) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect baseball game.., March 10, 2009

By	Dayton C - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

First of all, my review is not gonna tell you why this game is perfect because of how great the stadiums look, or how lifelike Manny Ramirez's dreads look. I love graphics as much as the next guy, but that is not what I am looking for in a baseball game. I am an obsessive Baseball fan and the only thing I am looking for is realism...and this game has done baseball perfectly.

You hear that a lot in reviews of this game don't you? Perfect. How many times have most of the reviewers of anything said something like that?

The only baseball game I have continued to play since like 1999 has been High Heat Baseball for PC. I have seriously continued to update the rosters year after year for the 2003 edition, keeping it current. Well, this game not only made me finally put that game away, but single-handedly made me buy a PS3.

That is saying a lot! Console Baseball games have continued to get it wrong, time after time, after sad disc throwing time for me. I can not say enough for how amazing this game is. The batter/pitcher battle, the most important part of baseball, is excellent. High pitch counts, countless foul balls, CPU actually throwing balls, strike outs looking, amazing.

The trajectory of batted balls is great too, lots of balls up the middle, and looping fly balls, like real baseball. Lots of little things too with feeling, balls are bobbled but plays are still made... adding more of a human feeling to the game. One of the other cool features on the game, is that on the higher up difficulty modes.. you are to use actual catcher signs to call pitches, 1 for fastball, 2 usually for curve etc.. and your catcher even calls what side of the plate its going too.

This game is perfect, 10 out of 10, 5 out of 5, whatever the ratings are. This game looks equally good when compared to how atrocious that Major league Baseball game is. Go BUY NOW.