MLB 10: The Show PSP Review

With spring training wrapping up it’s time to dust off your PSP and begin your Road to the Show.  While MLB 10: The Show 10 for the PS3 is nothing short of a stellar baseball game which made great improvements over last years title, I unfortunately can’t say the same about it’s portable version.

For a few seasons now MLB: The Show has been a regular game in my PSP case.  It’s Road to The Show mode is addicting and when you’re on the go the game can make the hours fly by.  While the game is still enjoyable, this years version is exactly the same as last seasons game with a few presentation changes and some tweaks.  Similar to the console version the development team went with a dark color scheme for the presentation graphics.  As I said with the console version the dark colors are a bit drab and don’t offer the same pop as years past.  On-top of that some of the font choices for the mobile versions don’t work well and can be hard to read.

As far as the games graphics go, they are just middle of the road.  Obviously they can’t be anywhere near the console version but they also haven’t improved any over last year.  Many times I found the ball difficult to track when on the ground.  Animations have seen some tweaks and seemed a run smoothly for the most part, though I did run into times when the player would field a ground ball and lock up, causing the batter to reach the base in time,  other times I was able to make great ground pick-ups and turn them into quick tosses to the bag.
Unfortunately the crowds are still real bad out of focus flat cut outs.  It would have been nice to see some sort of graphics improvement over last years game.

The gameplay has remained the same, so it is very easy for fans of the series to pick-up and go.  Every mode you’ve enjoyed is still in the game, and RTS and season modes will suck up a ton of your time.  Sound remains solid and the announcing is again pretty much the same with some small tweaks.

Overall MLB 10: The Show for the PSP is still an enjoyable game.  I can spend hours playing Road to the Show mode and I have tons of fun doing it.  But the truth is the game is exactly the same as 09, just with updated team rosters.  If you are a few seasons behind then you might want to check this out, plus you can get it as a download from the Playstation Store.  If you have 09 and can deal with playing off a UMD then just pop that in for your baseball fix.