It must be tough for developers to make a new sports game that differentiates itself from the competition on the market. Sony has tried this with MLB 06: The Show, and in a few ways, they've succeeded, but The Show is only slightly better than other baseball games on the market.

'The Show,' for all you laymen out there, is the top level of baseball, the Major Leagues. You know you've made it when you're in the MLB. This name is fitting enough, since the most robust mode of the game, career, focuses on a single player created by you making it through spring training, the minor leagues, and eventually the Show itself. There's nothing really here that hasn't been seen before. You play some games to raise his stats, and play some more games, rinse and repeat.

Of course, as with many sports games nowadays, there are multiple modes to select from: In franchise mode, as a manager, you get control of nearly every facet of your team. You can do everything from trading players, to buying new facilities for your guys, to refurbishing the home stadium. There's quite a lot to do in this, and if you're so inclined, you can play some baseball (or sit back and take the manager's approach to it, deciding what strategies should be used, and let the computer-controlled players try their all for you.) There's the standard season mode, in which you try to get your chosen team the Pennant, the Home Run Derby, in which you can try for some home-runs while competing with your friends, and the more inventive king of the field, a surreal batting game with targets, points, flashing lights, and rising difficulties. These last two, while nice little diversions, don't really add anything to the game and are nothing more than that: just some minute diversions. Then there's the rivalry mode, in which you and another player can track a rivalry between two teams, playing games between them over and over again, until one attains a pre-determined amount of points. Additionally, you can take your game online, to test your mettle against those who think themselves masters of the diamond, and see how well you do. But, if you just want to dive right into the game, there's quick-start mode, in which you choose your teams, and immediately start the game.

What The Show seems to suffer from is a lack of communication between the developers and the players. The player is assumed to know a lot of things about how the newer baseball games work, and are given little direction on what are important elements of the game. I, not having too much experience with baseball games in general, had no idea what the hot zones of a batter meant, nor what many of the options scattered through the game did for me (this is especially true in franchise mode). The strikingly inadequate manual didn't help at all either, merely listing a few tips and long lists of button combinations. There is a small system in the game provided for giving you tips on how to play, but it's just not enough to explain everything about the game.

What's I really liked about The Show is how you can take a varied approach to how you play. If you like to sit back on the sidelines and just play a game every now and then, you can just fast-forward through games, going through a few games in the season just to speed things up. On the other hand, if you're a true baseball aficionado, you can play every single game of the season, keep track of all your players' stats, trade players, manage your team to the lowest level, and make sure everything is just to your liking. Just prepare to look at a lot of numbers.

The appearance of the game is satisfactory, adding small details like the dirt on a player's shirt to make the game seem that much more realistic. However, this feeling of realism tends to wash away when you see the faces of the players, whose blank stares and generic appearance peek out from under the hats. Likewise, the stadiums appear fairly bland, and though varied in appearance and detail, tend to lack any strength or "realness". However, the animations are numerous and varied, and it's great to see your players dive for the ball, roll, get to their knees, and throw to the baseman, all in one smooth motion.

But I can't go further without mentioning the commentary, an invaluable asset to any sports game. The Show's commentary, though perhaps a little dry, is very well performed by experts, and offers up thousands of lines that will fit the game perfectly at whatever point it's at. You'll hear the commentators mention how your pitcher likes to fall back on curveballs when the going gets tough, the current hitting streak of the batter, the lack of any real action in the previous couple of innings, and pretty much something to match any situation. In a game that's not quite as action-filled as baseball, a good commentary is required to fill in the quiet gaps, and it's clear The Show does this perfectly.

Overall, the game is a little above average. It provides a varied approach to the game of baseball with a suitable presentation in the graphics department and a fantastic approach in the audio department. Other than one or two key issues, however, there is not a whole lot that isn't expected in any standard baseball game nowadays. Fans of baseball, whether electronic or not, should give the game a shot, since, though it can't quite reach the all-star level, MLB 06: The Show is still a robust game that is entertaining to play.