After the disappointment that was last years MLB 2K6 on the Xbox 360 I knew that 2K Sports and developer Kush Games would come back hard this year for MLB 2K7 to make up for it. And boy they did. This game has been pretty much built from the ground up this year. An obviously new graphics engine,better playability,new physics and new control features all headline what is new this year. Anyone who might have lost some faith in this series due to last year needs to come back and take a look at 2K7.

At first glance you will notice that the visuals in this game are gorgeous. The player models are as close as you are going to get to real life right now. They look just about identical to their real life counterparts showing facial hair,blemishes,glasses,etc. The player models this year also sport the cloth physics that we have come to know and love from the NBA 2K series on the 360. Uniforms will bend and wrinkle with the movement of the players and the sleeves will flap in the breeze on a windy day. This is only the beginning to the massive level of detail in this game. The developer obviously wanted every tiny detail in the game such as……… Ball boys will field foul balls,the umpiring crew varies from game to game and are announced in the beginning of the game,players will wear sunglasses on bright days,pitchers will wear coats while they are on base on cold games,the list goes on. This is truly a baseball simulation.

Control wise MLB 2K7 is perfect. To bat you can either use the classic one button configuration or use the swingstick which we saw in last years game. Pitching also gives you some options to tinker around with,I personally prefer the zone pitchng format,but there are three to choose from,so make sure to stop by the settings menu and shop around all the different control options that are available to you. Forget about the days when Xbox 360 sports games were short on game modes,this one has it all including franchise,season,HR derby,and the must have Xbox Live multiplayer mode. Gamers are definitely getting their moneys worth when they pick up 2K7. The presentation is also top notch featuring excellent camera views of the action,the batter entrance cam is one of my favorites when it zooms up so close to show off the detail in the players faces. Well done graphical stat overlays,auto replays and cutaways to the crowd and bullpen round off the TV style presentation quite well.

The sound of the game is impressive such as the aforementioned commentary,but also the environmental sounds such as the crack of the bats,vendors and sometimes comical remarks of people in the crowd make this game a joy to be heard in 5.1 or even just two speaker stereo. Looking back at last years game it makes it hard to believe how well this title turned out. You might notice a few and I mean very few reused animations from 2K6 but they are nowhere near to being overused and that is all I could notice so far from last years game.

The title does not have many faults but I am going to name the most noticeable one here. The game suffers slightly from slowdown during cut scenes,the overall frame rate is solid which unfortunately makes the slowdown more noticeable.This isn’t in all cut scenes but it is in at least half of them. And really that is about it in terms of noticeable flaws. Overall the game is the best I have seen in a long time for this series. The graphics are breathtaking,the level of detail is astonishing,the frame rate is solid and the atmosphere will make you start thinking you are really at the ball park. It is time to rejoice Xbox 360 sports fans,your first truly great baseball sim has arrived!