Superior to all its superlative predecessors, MLB 11 stretches the limits of the sports gaming genre.
It is a testament to MLB 11: The Show's authenticity-and also a cautionary warning for more casual players-that the game faithfully recreates this difficulty. If you want to be any good at this game, or have a fun and realistic experience, you will need to practice for many hours. Though the learning curve is not as steep as actually hitting a major-league pitcher's fastball, it is daunting nonetheless. Your first 10, 20 or even 30 games may feel like an exercise in masochism as you flail helplessly, strike out 12 times a game, and eke out at most one or two runs. When you finally start mastering the controls, however, it feels incredible, particularly if you utilize the brand-new analog control system in this year's edition.
Analog controls are the biggest edition, and in general they do a remarkable job simulating actual baseball motions. To hit, you pull the right stick back to time the hitter's leg lift, and then move it forward to swing. To pitch, you rock the stick down (to simulate your leg kick) and then push upward to try to hit a target (simulating hitting the right release point). For hitting and pitching, these controls are absolutely perfect. Where they do falter somewhat is with throwing as a defender, where you are supposed to quickly flick the stick toward the base you're targeting. It's an interesting thought, but I found the system quite finicky, and I'd recommend just switching to the old button control scheme for fielding. (You have the option of turning any combination of control schemes on or off for various activities, so if you like analog pitching but prefer button hitting and fielding, you can do that.)
Besides analog control, little has changed in the on-field action, which is a good thing. MLB 11 does a spectacular job rendering the rhythm of a real baseball game, and every element has been honed in such a way that one can readily discern the developers' passion for the sport. Pitching is a battle of wills, and every lesson learned on a baseball diamond is applicable here: first-pitch strikes are crucial, spotting your fastball down-and-away is the best way to get hitters out, varying pitch selection is a must, and mistakes in the middle of the plate get absolutely crushed. The only slight flaw is that it may be a little too easy to control pitching, so a human player will give up fewer walks than a simulation. Hitting is similarly polished, and you really have to devote 100 percent of your concentration to just get a hit. Hitting suffers from the opposite problem from pitching-unless you practice pitch recognition like a mad man, it's likely that you'll walk less frequently than a simulation. Finally, defense feels slightly better this year, because fielding rating matters more. If you invest in a team of crack outfielders-Torii Hunter, Jay Bruce, etc.-you'll see the benefits. If you sign Manny Ramirez as a free agent because you only care about hitting, you'll be cursing his presence in left when you're pitching.
In terms of game modes, just about anything you could want will be in this game. Single-game exhibitions are the quick way to play, and you also have fun little challenge types like Home Run Derby. The meat of MLB 11, however, is definitely in its deep season and franchise options. Franchise mode sets the standard for the genre, with all the complicated aspects of MLB, including the Rule 5 draft, arbitration, etc. If you draft well and hire the right coaches, you can develop the right combination of pieces over the course of several years, finally leading your team to the World Series. (Unless you choose the easy way out with the Yankees or Red Sox, in which case you can win it easily in your first season.)
Road to the Show, where you control one player over the course of his career, is just as fun and probably more accessible, since it's easier to master one sub-set of the game's skills (e.g., pitching) than attempting to learn them all. This mode is largely unchanged from last year, though they did add a small wrinkle on the front end. Now, you can choose an initial emphasis for your player. For instance, as a pitcher, you can opt between stamina and power, control and strikeout ability, and the use of one dominant pitch versus a mixed arsenal. This small change allows players to adapt their RTTS prospect to better suit their style. Personally, I always play as starting pitchers in RTTS, and it is extremely rewarding to slowly develop a player from AA relief pitcher into major-league ace. The mode's only noticeable flaw, which also existed in previous titles, is egregiously long save and load times, which are particularly annoying since the game auto-saves after every game you play. This seems like sloppy programming to me-can't pre-loading or saving be done in the background rather than disrupting the flow of the game?
Minor issues aside, I believe MLB 11 is the finest sports game on the market today. But because it is so good, it reveals some of the inherent limits in the genre, and the inability to ever fully capture the reality of professional sports while allowing a game to remain a game-that is, something fun and accessible. It is not only the difficulty that presents this issue, but also the structure of a baseball season. To play a "real" season and accumulate realistic statistics, you'll have to play 162 games, each lasting almost an hour. Compared to Madden, for instance, where a season is 16 games long, but the games last roughly the same length, you could make it through 10 seasons of Madden's franchise mode in the time it would take to complete one season of The Show's. Also, the on-field action can never be fully realistic since you are always in control. To see what I mean, consider a trait like plate discipline. If you take the Cardinals, you can accumulate as many walks with Rafael Furcal as with Albert Pujols, once you learn how to take a walk.
I'm not faulting the developers for these issues, since in many ways they are insuperable. If anything, it's a compliment to MLB 11 that the game reaches so close to the horizon of realism that the only issues I can harp on are ones that are endemic to sports gaming itself, and are impossible to solve.
UPDATE (1/24/12): I have reduced my rating after playing franchise mode more in depth and discovering several serious flaws that crop up after around 5 years of simming.
First, free agency seems to break down around Year Five. Superstars (e.g., Ryan Zimmerman) hit free agency but are signed to one-year deals for $10-12M. This is horrifically unrealistic and disrupts the balance of the game. Even if you play as a small-market team, you can compete for a guy like Joey Votto, in his prime, by offering a short-term contract ($32M/2 years). This would never happen in real life.
Second, the draft and farm development fail to produce new superstars. There are few players with "A" potential, and even those who fulfill it tend not to perform like superstars. In 7 years of simming, I haven't seen a single ace-type pitcher emerge from the minor leagues. (In particular, none of the created players have outstanding strikeout ratings, which means that the 9K/9 No. 1 starter is a dying breed by 2020.) This is also unrealistic, as young players come into the league every year who develop into superstar-type players.
These flaws really cripple franchise mode and are significant enough that I've knocked off a rating point from my earlier review (8.0 instead of 9.0).