Major League Baseball 2K7 (PlayStation 2, 2007)

I had high hopes for this franchise, figuring the competition it had with "The Show" would drive it's creators to make a pretty good game. Wow, was I wrong.

I haven't bought a game since MVP 2005. Not to say I haven't rented them, then returned them before they were due. Ever since MVP 2005 came out for the PS2 that is the benchmark from which all other baseball games are judged, in my eyes, and so far none have come close to the smooth, consistent gameplay offered by that game.

So I went against my own rule by buying this game before I got to try it, but since I got it for $15 new I said why not. It was about time to have updated rosters without having to edit them myself, after all. So I opened the game and popped it into the PS2.

The batting controls were strange to me at first, but I was intrigued by using the right stick to bat. After some trial-and-error I got the hang of it and it wasn't too hard. In fact, I thought it added a dimension of realism to the game as you had to follow the ball from the second the pitcher wound up. However, batting had its fair share of quirks. There would be times when I took what the game told me was a "perfect step" then a "perfect swing" on a waist-high changeup and foul it off into the stands. Also, there was one (1) inning in which I was robbed of a home run by a climbing Carl Crawford - TWICE! I haven't yelled at the TV so hard in my life.

The pitching was intriguing as you could put more "effort" into pitches when you had to rear back for the K. However, I found myself putting full effort onto almost every pitch (because if I didn't I would get hammered), kind of defeating the purpose of having the feature.

While batting and pitching were more or less fruitful, the fielding system was HORRENDOUS. Bad, terrible, and horrible are not strong enough adjectives to describe the fielding in this game. Let's start with line drives; I found that if I started to sprint off-angle to where the ball was going to land, directing the fielder to turn was nearly impossible, leading to a lot of frustration when I have plenty of time to catch it yet it still falls in for a hit. Then fly balls ... there were times when I brought my fielder into position to catch them and he would not turn to face the ball, instead checking out the patterns on the wall and letting the ball bounce in for hits. This would happen at least once per game. Frustrating at best.

That's not all about the fielding system, either. There is no power meter or any way to control how hurried the fielder is to throw the ball. This left it up to the game to decide, the last thing I would want at this point. I would catch the ball trailing away from first base, press circle to throw and the shortstop would react like he had all the time in the world to throw and in turn the runner would be safe! Also there were plays at the plate where my fielder would get the ball, and I would press and hold X - only for nothing to happen!

And then there were more glitches. The game would constantly freeze in between batters; the fielders would throw the ball but it would appear to remain stuck in the air; the announcers were slower than molasses and constantly flipped out about nothing; I would find baserunners trying to attempt a double on grounders; the list goes on and on and on.

Overall I don't think that this work from such a quality production team deserves a decent rating. At least they only charge $30 for the game, ands it's less on ebay.