There are only a few things I'm sure of in this world, and one of them is that every spring MLB: The Show is going to release as one of the best sports video games of the year. There is a certain comfort to it all. The game doesn't change much, new features don't even have to be used (which really should be a staple in all sports games), and the game isn't going to have a single bug in it that is going to ruin my experience.

But when does this comfort become apathy? Baseball, more so than almost any other sport, thrives on tradition. The Show, in return, seems to do the same. Reliably consistent, the series makes additions that don't really change anything, but rather enhance the experience. As other games evolve and devolve by taking chances, The Show seems so comfortable in its own skin that it seems uncomfortable with the idea of leaving it behind. Often times, this works in its favor. Other times, it makes me wonder when and if we'll ever see MLB: The Show take another big leap forward.

Pros:

- The cat and mouse game between hitters and pitchers is still nerve-wrackingly fantastic. Being down 0-2 in a count is akin to watching a prized possession slip from your fingers while getting ahead in a count is more like having a firm grasp on a handful of money.

- The game looks great, for the most part. The shadows are gorgeous and account for one of the few missing elements to The Show's terrific ambiance. Stadiums look better than ever, with hardly any pixelation to be found.

- Speaking of that, the fans look great and behave more normally. If you look closely enough, you can actually see them having conversations with one another as the game takes place.

- Directional hitting is awesome, but it's going to be really hard to master - as it should be. This is one change that should give veterans of the series a change of pace.

- We have a real cut-off system, and it works great. SCEA is the king of introducing something for the first time and having it work properly.

- The game works at a quick pace without getting rid of any of baseball's little nuances. Being able to finish a game in thirty minutes while still being able to watch players begrudgingly shake their head at bad calls is a thing of beauty.

- Perhaps my favorite little gameplay addition: there are quite a few new swing animations and they all look great. Again, I don't know how SCEA does it but it's as if the swings had been there for five years. They're perfectly implemented.

Cons:

- Despite "enhanced player A.I.", players still play too passively in the field. Softly hit ground balls to second base should be backed up on, especially if you have a speedy runner on his way to first base.

- Outside of the replay mode, grass and dirt still looks too copy and pasted on. It is nice to see it deteriorate over the course of the game, but it still looks too bland to really make a difference. Grass looks to have correct patterns, however, so that's a plus.

- The ball rebounds off of pitchers way too frequently. This has been an issue for some time now, and I'm not sure there's a great way to fix it other than to add some animations of pitchers dodging out of the way. Even though its frustrating to get hits taken away, it still works both ways and can be funny in its own wonky way.

- Occasional frame drops during pitches. Hopefully this will be fixed sooner rather than later, as it has a definite impact on timing.

- Too much dead space in the audio. Not necessarily just commentary, but crowd noise and stadium music play too infrequently. For instance, you can laser a ball toward the corner, but if its a foul ball, the fans will often make little to no noise. Given that the player can't tell whether or not its a hit, the fans certainly should not be able to either.

Check back on Thursday for more impressions related to game modes, presentation, and online play in MLB: The Show 2015!