The most realistic baseball game ever? Yes!
This game has all the elements that a great baseball game should have--realistic stat outputs for example. In most sports video games it is a lot of fun to score at will and beat up on the computer or a friend, but for baseball games it is not. It's not much fun when you hit a HR every other at-bat; it gets rather boring. The hitting in the game is primarily based on timing and the location of the pitch, of course. I find the hitting to be a little bit difficult this year, but I think that is a good thing. The key to being a successful hitter in this game is to have patience and wait on that one good pitch to swing at. That just adds to the realism of the game. Most good hitters in baseball are patient; so for you to be a good hitter in this game, you must be patient.
The graphics are by far the best I have seen for any sports game. The players and ballparks are cutting-edge and look like they should. I am an Orioles fan (no need for your sympathy), and every time I play at Camden Yards in the game I become speechless. This goes for pretty much any baseball venue in the game. It is unbelievable as to how much the players look like their human counterparts.
Probably the biggest reason why this game is so much fun is the Road to the Show mode. For anyone who is new to the game--RTTS is a game mode where you create your own baseball player and try to make your way up through the minors to majors. The customization has a lot of variety. You basically have the ability to change anything on your player's face to make him look however you want him to. You also choose things such as your batting stance, pitching windup, walk-up music, and so on. You can also record you own voice, granted that you have the proper device to do so, and use that recording as fan cheer or banter during games that you play. After you finish all of your personalization, you can either choose what team you want to play for, or you can enter the draft and let the computer pick for you. You start off by receiving an invite to Spring Training. You can choose to sim the whole spring, or you can play through if you want. You will notice that at the end of each game you will receive training points. These points are used to increase your attributes such as contact hitting, power hitting, speed, fielding, etc... If you choose to be a pitcher, then you can use those points to increase your stamina, the effectiveness of your pitches, and so on. Your manager will give you goals to reach every few weeks. These goals could be to increase a certain attribute, or to improve certain stats. RTTS is a very involved game mode, but the satisfaction you get from playing well and making it to the majors is immense.
There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the best sports games ever. I am very pleased with this game. Even if baseball is not your favorite sport, you would still appreciate the game's realism and display. I highly recommend picking this game up, especially if you are a big sports fan like I am.