(continued from previous page) ...will allow you to play throughout a single or multiple seasons as the owner of a team. You’ll control your trades, call-ups, etc. and bring your team to the October classic. Manager Mode allows you to manage the game from the sidelines like last year's installment. Of course, the Road to the Show mode is the real heart and soul of the game.

Road to the Show is definitely what sets this game apart from any baseball game created before it. The concept behind it is simple; create a player and bring him up through the minors in order to eventually lead him into the Hall of Fame. It sounds like a difficult task, and lo and behold, it is.

Road to the Show starts you off by giving you the ability to customize and create your player for the mode. This customization is deeper than anything we’ve seen in a baseball game before. If you put enough time and energy into it, you could undoubtedly put yourself into the game. The system is seriously that deep. You’ll be given full control over every facial feature from eyebrow depth to cheek bones, to even to the wrinkles on your forehead. We were blown away by the plethora of options given in this mode.

Once you’re done picking your position, height, weight and setting your attributes, you’ll be forced to pick the MLB team you’d like to try out for in Spring Training. Once chosen, the game will send you to the RTTS main menu. This menu is easily navigable and is pretty self-explanatory. From here, you’ll be free to check out how you’re progressing and how scouts view your progressions, as well as the ability to train your player and talk to your manager if you feel you’re not getting enough playing time.

You’ll play your entire Spring Training with the MLB team you choose and at the end of it they’ll offer you a contract depending on how you performed. If your effort and production was solid, you could earn a AAA starter spot, but most likely you’ll start off on the AA bench.

During games, you’ll be given situational tasks and goals to accomplish. Last year there was a huge outcry for more realistic opportunities as most of these consisted of unreal tasks like “Hit a homerun at an exact point.” When you have a small pint-sized hitter at the plate who you’ve grown into the next Ichiro, you’re not exactly looking to swing for the fences. The developers obviously took this into consideration by creating an entirely new system that will offer up more realistic scenarios.

On top of the in-game tasks, you’ll be given prolonged tasks that can span as long as six full series of games. If you plan on succeeding and moving up through the ranks, you're going to want to complete as many of these tasks as you can. However long it takes you to get into the big leagues will be up to you and will depend heavily on the aforementioned tasks at hand.

One of the cooler features added to the franchise and RTTS modes is the ability to check your roster’s history. This feature will allow you to see how each current player found their way onto your roster. It’ll let you know if you had traded for the player, signed him, or even drafted him. It’s a nice little addition for those hardcore simulation players out there.

Taking The Show online has been a rocky experience thus far. Some games will play just fine, while other lag-riddled ones will have obvious timing issues. Apparently SCEA is working on a patch to fix this, so we’ll see in due time. Until then, the online portion of the game is hit or miss. Fortunately, even with this issue, the game offers a ton to do online. You’ll are able to create or join leagues, queue yourself up for the next available game, utilize an in-game buddy list and join different lobbies in order to play ball. Once they get the server issues patched up, this game will undoubtedly offer up an amazing online experience.

Last year’s ... (continued on next page)