MLB 2K6 was akin to having your favorite baseball team finishing their season in last place. Fortunately, as any true fan knows, we can always fall back on the old adage, “Well, there's always next year.” That next year is now upon us and arrives in the form of MLB 2K7, a game that hopes to make you forget what came before. So what is the scouting report? Is MLB 2K7 going to finish better in the standings or is it yet one more year of residing in the cellar?

The Front Office

Before I cover gameplay and graphics, let me get right to the interface. While significantly better than NBA 2K7 (and that isn't saying much), MLB 2K7 still has a boatload of inconsistency problems that I found annoying. Button layouts for one screen are different on the next, and the deeper you go in to the menus, the more inconsistent it becomes. Soon enough you'll be pressing buttons at random and making some amazing discoveries, learning features and display options that aren't covered in the manual. Then again, nothing is covered in the manual. In fact, the manual is useless when it comes to the interface and only deals with actual gameplay and multiplayer features.

2K Sports appears to have an issue with manuals. The instructions for NBA 2K7 were equally sparse and horribly formated and MLB 2K7 is no different, with some pages that are nothing more than a single-spaced paragraph of galactic proportions. This is all so frustrating because MLB 2K7 is bursting with great ideas and features that have zero explanation to be found. Nowhere in the manual will you find any information about playing as a GM or what Team Meetings are all about. Nothing. So you're stuck experimenting with options and features with no concrete idea as to what you're really doing. It may strike you as odd that throughout the course of a game you'll receive mysterious “tokens” for succeeding at a wide-variety of tasks, like retiring seven straight opponents, and yet have no clue as to what those tokens are for. It's only after digging deep into the interface that you realize tokens can be spent on unlockable cheats, though how you unlock those cheats remains a mystery.

Allow me to make this proclamation: The manual for MLB 2K7 is the worst aspect of this game, and one that could have easily been avoided. I just have wonder how many players out there won't enjoy the full potential of this game simply out of unintentional ignorance. Well, there's always next year.

Batting Practice

MLB 2K7 offers the usual options, including Season mode, Franchise, Quick Play and Home Run Derby. You'll also find GM mode, which is similar to Franchise, but this particular option tasks you with certain goals that need to be met, like staying within a certain budget or signing players based on attributes. As the season progresses, your GM rating may rise or fall. If it falls too far, then don't be surprised if you get your walking papers. Fortunately, you can be hired by others teams so all is not lost if you get the axe.

GM mode is the best option for those players who want to get the most out of MLB 2K7. It offers most of the options you find in Franchise mode, with the addition of a few key features like the ability to monitor the progress of your career and even solicit job offers from competing teams. Whether you play GM or Franchise, you'll find no shortage of options, including the ability to purchase Inside Edge scouting reports in a wide-variety of categories, including all pitchers of a particular team, all hitters, only star players, etc. These reports are quite handy when the game actually starts, as you'll glean some critical information about pitching location, pitch types and the various sweet-spots of opposing players. GM and Franchise also allow you to hire and fire members of your coaching staff, seek out trades, negotiate player contracts, scout the Free Agency list, call up players from the minor leagues and even set your ticket pricing. All in all, I enjoyed the various options on offer and found them all to work quite well, despite having no written instructions as to what everything actually does. Sure, the Front Office options may not be as robust as Baseball Mogul or some of the other stat-based baseball sims, but it still offers a fairly deep experience for those who want it.