Sony's MLB 10 The Show and 2KSports' Major League Baseball 2K10

So we're back after some extended time off and were jumping into spring.  The crack of the bat, the smell of garlic fries (well at Safeco Field at least).  It's opening week of baseball and what better time to talk about baseball games.  This week we look at 2 games.  The PS3 exclusive MLB 10 The Show and the multi-system Major League Baseball 2K10 (MLB 2K10) from 2KSports.

PLAAAAYYY BALL!




Story

No real story to either game, it's a sports game after all, but they both do have a sort of story mode.  Both games allow you to make your own player and bring them up through the ranks to fame fortune and maybe even the Hall of Fame.  That's about it.  You still have to make up your own story about him in your head as to what he does off the field.

MLB 10 The Show

MLB 2K10

Controls

While neither game has particularly hard controls, but they are a bit more complex than your average game.  Pitching and hitting is where each differed the most.  

MLB 10 The Show's pitching has you select the style of pitch, then a power bar comes up.  Hit the "X" button and a meter goes up the bar, when it gets to the power you want hit the "X" button again and it starts to come down.  Now you want to hit the "X" button again when the meter get to the "sweet spot," a mark in highlighted area of the bar.  The closer you are to the mark the more perfect the pitch is.  This doesn't even go into how to place the pitch.

MLB 2K10 on the other hand has you chose the pitch and then move the left thumbstick in a specific pattern to pitch the ball.  As you start the pattern a black circle comes up with a small yellow circle growing inside of it.  When both circles match size you want to finish the pattern.  The closer you have the circles match size when you finish the pattern the more perfect your pitch is.  Again this doesn't even go into pitch placement.

Overall in pitching I was better with MLB 2K10.  In MLB 10 The Show I gave up 6 runs in the first inning, whereas in MLB 2K10 I held them to 0 runs, up to the 10th inning.  That last statement also kind of reflects the batting.

In MLB 10 The Show it's basically push the "X" at the right time to hit the ball.  You can improve your chances by guessing what the pitch is going to be and where in the "batting zone" it will be.

In MLB 2K10 you use the right thumbstick to swing the bat. Up for a connecting hit, down then up for a power hit, and left or right for left or right defensive hit.  Again it's timing the swing for the right moment.

In this I was better at batting in MLB 10 The Show, I got quite a few base hits and even managed a home run.  In MLB 2K10 not so much.  Got a few base hits here and there, but mostly struck out.

Combine the pitching of MLB 2K10 and the batting of MLB 10 The Show and you have a perfect game for me.

MLB 10 The Show

MLB 2K10

Gameplay

It's baseball.  To explain the gameplay would pretty much mean I'd have to drag out the rule book.  Basics, hit ball, score runs, try to keep the other team from scoring.  Any more explanation needed and I'm gonna have to take you to a game.

Graphics and Sound

Over all I'd say that both games have pretty good graphics.  Most players sort of looked like their photos, though in MLB 10 The Show some players had creepy eyes.  Speaking of photos MLB 2K10 did have a slight problem here, no up to date player photos.  Ken Griffey Jr. has been back with the Mariners for almost 2 years, but they show him in his Cincinnati Reds uniform in his photo.  Sloppy guys very sloppy.  I understand the Marniers made a lot of trades in the off-season, but MLB 10 The Show was able to show all player pictures in proper uniforms, so no excuse.

Both games did have minor quirks.  MLB 10 The Show players looked like they were walking about an inch off the ground at times.  I know they wear spiked shoes, but those spikes do dig into the dirt.  The pitcher's hand in MLB 2K10 would sometimes look like it was holding a ball, even though there was no ball.

Sound-wise both games sounded good, like I was watching the game on TV.  MLB 2K10 even went the extra mile to fade to and up from black during side changes, like when they go to commercial on a real televised game.

MLB 10 The Show

MLB 2K10

Overall

Both games were fun and both games have their faults.  Like I said, take the parts of both that worked for me and put them together and it will be a perfect game.  The one biggest faults I think is a lack of a tutorial for either game.  Sure there is practice in both, but neither walks you through how to play and practice, frankly, is boring. I wanna play the game.  Causal gamers may want to think hard about getting these games as they are a little much and will you need to practice to be any good at winning against the computer, much less online.  You may want to look into renting first, see if you can get into it.  Both get 4 out of 5 because in the end I did have fun playing them and I do love baseball.  Go Mariners!

*Note, when I first posted this review I mistakingly posted the wrong score of 4 out of 10.  It is now been corrected to reflect my score method of out of 5*

Both games are rated E for Everyone.

MLB 10 The Show

MLB 2K10