A average effort
Gameplay
Gameplay is similar to any other baseball game. You can try out the swing stick, which mimics a real batting motion using the left analog stick. If you are like me you go back to the old hit with A and move with the left stick the direction you want to hit it. You also have the batters eye, which if you use can let you see where the next pitch is going to be, depending on whether your eye is on that region. The eye grows and decreases depending on what you do in the box and your current cold/hot streak. Pitching relies on a system in which you hold down the pitch selection for effort, then try to get the cursor just right to put it in the spot. With Payoff Pitching, when you are in a clutch situation or with 2 strikes on a batter you can positon the catcher on the strike zone. If you get it inside the box shown, your pitch you threw becomes more dangerous, while missing causes you to lose effectiveness.
The batting and pitching interfaces work well, but until you get used to the batting system you will have many pop-ups.
The Good:
The Graphics are some of the best i've seen in a game, and being one of the first games that isn't just a port over of the XBox, it does very well. You can see the facial expressions and facial details of all your favorite players well, and for the first time really be able to say "yeah that's him" when looking at a player, as he actually looks like his real-life counterpart.
The stadiums are well detailed, and the fans are all there, everyone moves and there are all the things that make it look like a real crowd.
Inside Edge returns, which gives you a detailed scouting report on the other team if you pay for the report. Batters when pitched against it gives you positions which to put your pitches and what pitch to use. Batting it gives you the pitchers probablity of pitching a certain pitch and 3 zones in which the pitcher might throw the pitch in.
The Bad:
The fielding can be a little wacky at times, your outfield will sometimes take a indirect route at the ball or sometimes not go for the ball until too late. It's nice to see collisions between players and walls, but sometimes a slight push causes them to fall over immediately.
Baserunning is station to station if you don't fix some tabs on the difficulty section. The outfielders have Howitzer arms, and even for fast guys a double is usually a single. I was able to take a fast groundball toward my RF and throw out the runner heading to first too many times.
Pitchers get fatigued way to fast as well.
Players aren't really rated well, as guys that are currently dominating the league are low rated to the point where they can't be used.
Game modes/Value
You get everything you would expect from a baseball game here, Franchise, exhibition etc. GM mode puts you in the position of a GM where your job is usually to make the team better and try to make a profit as well. You will have goals such as don't spend X amount of dollars, or this player is making too much money for his abilities, get rid of him. The WBC is here also, but some names are changed due to issues with the unions.
Sound
Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, ESPN's normal Sunday Night Baseball crew, call all the shots for the game. They do a good job of talking about the action, but don't really have much of the chemistry they have if you were to watch them in a telecast. The sounds of the stadium are all there, and you can hear from the sound of the bat hitting the ball whether you got all of it or not.
Final Thoughts
This game was a solid game, but had it's flaws. However, if you are looking for a XBox 360 baseball game, it's the only one and if you look past the flaws it's a fun baseball game, but possibly not as good as the one EA might have been able to bring out.