This is the best baseball game since MVP 2005
Road to the Show 2.0 is an extremely rewarding experience to play your way through a professional career. It's very satisfying to knock that go ahead homer late in the game or drive in the runs with a clutch at bat. My only knock on RTTS is they really need to add the Class A ballclubs. That, and the pitches the pitchers have are a bit ridiculous for AA pitchers. I've never seen so many guys with knuckleballs, knuckle curves, forkballs and palmballs. A lot of the pitchers have five pitches as well. At this level, the maximum number of pitches a guy would have is probably around four with some of the rare prospects having command of five pitches already (or a veteran). Class A would only add to the realism of this game -- especially if they had the Rookie League, Class A Short-Season, Class A and Class A Advanced.
Adding all the levels of the minors would lead to a more realistic simulation of running a franchise in Franchise Mode. The addition of transactions like players having options, Rule 5 player draft, a midseason rookie draft, Super 2 status, etc. just make a baseball fanatic drool on their joystick.
Another realistic part of RTTS that I like is a player having hot and cold streaks (also in Franchise mode). Once you get mired in an awful slump, you really do start pressing and swinging at the first pitch more than you would want in an effort to break out of the slump. It seems like you experience what it's like to go through a terrible slump -- but that's not entirely true, of course.
The gameplay is fantastic. It's a constant mind game between the hitter and pitcher. Pitchers adapt to your strengths and weaknesses accordingly. I was playing a game in RTTS and a pitcher struck me out on three curveballs away. He made me look bad on the first one and continued to go there. Hitting takes time and practice but it's a blast once you figure out what you're doing and fully understand it.
Baserunning is fine. It can be a bit frustrating in RTTS, but I really enjoy the new running system in that mode when I'm stealing a base. It's nice that you can lean as well. There's a bit of a glitch where if you hold the left analog stick back toward the base then your player will automatically slide back exactly when the pitcher starts his pickoff move. You will dive back sometimes even if the pitcher hasn't started his motion. I wouldn't mind seeing that fixed. There's a certain sense of anxiety when you're on first and there's a lefty on the mound. Especially one that has a good move -- I've been picked off several times by a snap throw from a lefty. Really makes you feel stupid because you know you were napping.
Fielding is relatively straightforward. There's nothing fancy or difficult and that's exactly the way it should be. There's no turbo which I love. A player gets to the ball based on his own speed. A few minor issues with fielding: the nonchalant effort a fielder makes in the OF right before you pick up a ball almost always leads to extra bases for guys running from first to third. There are some instances where a runner should have never been able to advance to third on a single to center. Infielders manage to miss a grounder that goes right under their glove because of one animation and no name shortstops make Derek Jeter-like plays. These are minor compared to the grand scheme of things but they should be looked at. The feature where your OF can line up behind the fly ball and start your crow hop motion is just one of the many reasons I love this game and what makes it so realistic.
A few minor issues keep this game from being perfect but I'm not asking for a perfect game. This game is perfect for me. It gives me my baseball fix everyday aside from watching the Braves play. If you're a baseball fan and you own a PS3 (or if you bought a PS3 solely for this game like me) then there's absolutely no reason that you shouldn't own this game or won't like it.