Uniquely, MLB: The Show '15 seems to grow on you as you play it. The benefit of having such a strong, consistent core is that players are less likely to find bugs that may not seem like a huge deal at first, but begin to grate on you after the ninth or tenth game.

Fortunately, The Show doesn't have this problem. Little details that occasionally pop up keep things feeling like every game is its own entity. For instance, I won a late game challenge against the CPU that secured the winning run. Where else can you experience that kind of weird variable in a game? I was elated and couldn't wait for my next rare experience. The series is famous for "the little things" for a reason: they change the experience in a much bigger way.

After spending time with various game modes in MLB: The Show '15, here are some brief impressions on both Franchise and Road to the Show:

Franchise

- The new menus are nice, once you get used to them. Everything feels much more integrated, and it's nice being able to scroll threw various interesting bits of news and statistics with the press of a button.

- Trade logic is much improved, so breath easy. There were a few great examples in a simulated example that I came across, such as the well-known "bust" of a prospect in Jackie Bradley Jr. for AJ Ellis. The Dodger's young outfielder Joc Pederson had just tore his ACL and the Red Sox were in desperate need of another option at catcher. These were the kinds of deals I saw most frequently, with only one or two mega-deals going down during the course of a season.

- Speaking of trades, the trade finder is nice to finally have, but still falls a tad short of where it needs to be. Frequently, there can only be one or two trade options found for even the best players. I would imagine this is strictly because of the new, tighter budgets and enhanced trade logic that doesn't really allow for skewed trade offers.

- The draft and scouting is still a lot of fun. There seems to be less "gems" and less "busts" which is fine by me. The draft has a much more even progression with only a few surprises in there. Hopefully this doesn't diminish the importance of scouting, however.

- There's still no WAR stat. Perhaps the most used statistic in modern baseball isn't even in the game, and there's nothing I can think of to justify why that's the case.

- Through only a couple of seasons, it still seems like 30-team control might be necessary to get a proper pool of talent in free agency. With the tightened budgets, this is a bit surprising. It could be a result of players still taking way under their actual value (for instance, Wieters took a 3/30 deal fresh off of a .295/.329/.811 year).

- All in all, I'm really impressed with the mode, so far. The radio show is really well implemented, and even though I can't properly judge it because I've only been able to simulate through most of the games, I can imagine that it will help the mode's ability to immerse players in their franchise.

Road to the Show

- As usual, Road to the Show is simple, elegant and fun. It is, however, much better in small chunks because it has a tendency of falling into a rut if played for too long.

- There still isn't a factor that is going to pull a whole lot of people into a multi-season Road to the Show.

- There aren't a ton of additions, but messing around with the authenticated equipment is going to be a huge plus for equipment junkies. If anything, it's a good reason to keep plugging along.

- The audio is so, so good. Hearing the crunch of dirt beneath player's feet and the ball whizzing by you for a called strike are enough for any kind of former baseball player to get nostalgic.

Gameplay & Presentation:

- After playing a dozen or so more games, I think I'm ready to change my tune on the grass and fielding A.I. Neither are quite where they should be, but after plugging in MLB: The Show '14 there is a noticeable upgrade to both.

- The score bug is superb.

- Commentary is still boring, despite Matt Vasgersian's best efforts. There are just too many repeated lines and not enough strong color commentary to make it work. It still very much feels like all of the announcer's are doing the voice overs in separate booths, at separate times.

- Player models are fine, but there are far too few of them.

- Stadium sounds are too generic, and often placed at weird spots. Having a waling guitar riff in the second inning of a scoreless game just seems out of place.

Stay tuned for the official Operation Sports review of MLB: The Show '15, coming soon!