If you know your RBIs from your ERAs, then “MLB 12: The Show” (Sony Computer Entertainment) might just be in your wheelhouse. Newcomers or casual gamers, however, may find the title a little dry. And, while parents can rest easy about this offering’s content, youngsters may be overwhelmed by its complexity.

The focus here is on simulation. The developers have done everything in their power to replicate the experience of a real Major League Baseball matchup, and in this they’ve succeeded.

The substance of the game–played for review on the PlayStation Vita–is situated within three main modes. The first is the “Normal Season” option in which the user takes on the role of a coach and attempts to guide a team to the World Series, while also participating as a batter, fielder and pitcher.

For those who yearn to join the ranks of such legendary team owners as the New York Yankees’ George Steinbrenner and the Chicago White Sox’s Charles Comiskey, there’s the “Franchise” mode. Via this option, gamers not only control play, but provide behind-the-scenes supervision of everything from the quality of the turf to the food available for purchase by the masses.

“Road to the Show” is the most inventive of the modes. It enables players to create a rookie and guide him through his career, from the minor leagues to (hopefully) major-league success. To achieve this ambitious goal, however, hours upon hours of play will be required.

Although modes like this open “MLB 12” up to a slightly wider range of enthusiasts, the majority of the game is unmistakably designed for purists.

Fans who own the PlayStation 3 version, for example, can transfer a saved game from their home console to their handheld Vita. The fact that such a feature–which, of course, requires owning two copies of the same game–is prominently showcased in the advertising for “MLB 12” demonstrates just what sort of audience the developers are targeting.

Such hardcore devotees of the national pastime will find the handheld port of the PS3 game clean, with fun gameplay, great presentation, and plenty of hours of depth at their fingertips. Trading systems have been tightened and the Vita’s touch controls have been well implemented to add a new curveball to the formula.

The good news continues on the moral plane, since nothing remotely objectionable presents itself to gamers of any age.

Those already in possession of “MLB 11,” though, may find that–for all their variety–the new features amount, in the end, to little more than a slight update. Still, even incremental improvements can be appreciated in a game of inches.

Also available on PlayStation 3.

The CNS classification is A-I–general patronage. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board rating is E–Everyone.

Shaw reviews video games for Catholic News Service.

“Inspired by historical events, this work of fiction was designed, developed, and produced by a multicultural team of various religious faiths and beliefs.”

The above line may seem an unusual introduction to a video game. Yet anyone who has played any of the predecessors of the ethically illiterate “Assassin’s Creed: Revelations” (Ubisoft) will understand exactly why the developers decided to cover their, er, backsides once again.

“Revelations” is the fourth major installment in this pseudohistorical series, and is a direct sequel to the third entry–“Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood”–which will go down in history as one of the most anti-Catholic video games ever created. A game, that is, in which every member of the church hierarchy is presented as vicious, corrupt, or downright evil, set in a world where cardinals walk around half-naked and engage in orgies, and where the pope is marked as a legitimate target for assassination–by the player.

“Revelations,” however, is much less of an attack on religion than its elder brother, perhaps because the main setting is the Islam-dominated Constantinople of 1511. The developers would not be the first media group to enjoy bashing Catholicism, but then wax respectful–or, perhaps, timid–when Muslims step up for their turn.

As played for review on the Xbox 360, this latest installment continues to focus on the adventures of modern-day Desmond Miles, who, using a machine called the “Animus,” can access memories of his freedom-fighting ancestors: Altair ibn-La’Ahad and Ezio Auditore da Firenze. By doing this, he hopes to defeat the modern successors of the ancient Knights Templar (how very Dan Brown!) who, it seems, are chasing him.

Although parts of the game takes place in Desmond’s modern-day world, or in Altair’s 12th- and 13th-century Holy Land, the majority takes place in Ezio’s Renaissance-era Constantinople, having moved forward–in more respects than one –from the medieval Italy of the previous title.

With a lessened anti-religious sentiment, tighter (if unoriginal) gameplay, and crisp new environments for the gamer to explore, it might seem that the latest entry would be a “Creed” Catholics could potentially support. Unfortunately, however, this iteration ruins itself by advancing and supporting some of the most hypocritical characters to ever (dis-)grace a video game.

Characters ramble inanely, and in haughty tones, about fighting for “freedom” and on behalf of “the people.” Yet one of the first missions involves the player using Ezio’s persona to pickpocket passersby. And humble soldiers–drawn, presumably, from the ranks of the unfortunate and the oppressed–have their throats ripped out by trained killers on a regular basis.

Although dispatching opposition forces is an all-too-common element of gaming, it is (thankfully) rare to find the player being encouraged to slay his or her adversaries in such an unprovoked, indiscriminate and bloodthirsty way, and to have death portrayed with such obvious relish.

That this sequential slaughter should be tricked out as a sort of ethical quest, complete with the hit men offering forms of absolution to their victims as the latter expire, will only make it more repugnant to gamers of faith.

Although it’s by no means as blasphemous as its predecessor, the heedless approval of butchery that underlies “Revelations,” and the slow-motion death sequences by which such mayhem is accompanied, make this one statement of faith to which no believer will want to subscribe.

Also available on Playstation 3 and Microsoft Windows.

The game contains sacrilegious incidents, frequent, excessively gory violence, some mild sexuality, a few uses of profanity, and occasional crude and crass language. The CNS classification is O–morally offensive. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board rating is M–Mature.

Shaw reviews video games for Catholic News Service.

One day back in 1981, so the story goes, real estate developer Mario Segale barged into the Seattle-area warehouse he was renting to a cash-strapped company called Nintendo of America and angrily demand his overdue rent.

He could scarcely have imagined, as he did so, that he was spontaneously providing the inspiration for the company’s future mascot, the long-lived–and highly profitable–main character in one of the most iconic video game series in history.

Segale’s namesake, the diminutive Italian plumber by now familiar to gamers around the world, has appeared in hundreds of widely varied outings over the subsequent three decades. But his bread and butter, so to speak, has remained the platform genre, where he continually seeks to rescue his beloved Princess Peach from the clutches of his lizard nemesis, Bowser.

In his quest, the plucky protagonist must battle through the Mushroom Kingdom, navigating ledges and pipes and combating a varied host of enemies including turtles, spiky hedgehogs and the infamously pudgy figures known as Goombas to reach his royal companion.

“Super Mario 3D Land” (Nintendo), designed for the 3DS format, manages to keep pace with the high expectations the series has long raised. It’s a polished installment that–while taking no leaps into radical territory–supplies exactly what can reasonably be asked of it, and supplies it well.

The most noticeable upgrade is the skillful integration of the 3DS’ 3-D capabilities into the gameplay. While certain other titles treat this new dimensionality as a mere gimmick, the developers of “3D Land” have incorporated it subtly so that it enhances, rather than chokes, the traditional platforming format.

Thus, although most of this entry can be played with the 3-D switched off, the experience will feel much more immersive, and the graphics appear more impressive, with the mode left on.

Taking to heart the proverb “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” the game’s developers have crafted this newest iteration to improve on what their franchise always has done well–with intuitive controls, stunning environments, and thoroughly addictive action.

There’s very little of a moral or spiritual nature to be found–or assessed–here, yet there is nothing really objectionable either. Apart from some light cartoonish combat, “Super Mario 3D Land” is an entirely family-friendly, wholesome adventure that parents can feel comfortable purchasing for the kids.

“3D Land” is also suitable for most from a technical perspective. Much later bonus levels are undeniably challenging, and only the veteran gamer will emerge victorious. But the majority of the gameplay is characterized by a gentle learning curve with which youngsters (and perhaps less experienced adult gamers as well) will likely be comfortable.

The game contains mild cartoon violence. The CNS classification is A-I–general patronage. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board rating is E–Everyone.

Shaw reviews games for Catholic News Service.

The announcement of the impending release of “Grand Theft Auto V” was probably enough to send shivers down the spine of many a parent with video game-playing children.

So enormous, so pervasive, so infamous is the franchise that for many people the phrase “grand theft auto” now primarily calls to mind the video game series, not the real-life crime from which it takes its title.

The games, often referred to simply as “GTA,” are frequently cited by social commentators, religious groups, politicians and parent advocates as symbolic of everything that’s wrong with the industry that produced them. And their impact, for good or ill, has been discussed in arenas as august as the Supreme Court of the US.

Is it premature, though, to condemn the forthcoming fifth installment of the series when so little is, as yet, known about it? Possibly.

“GTA” is undoubtedly the most controversial franchise in gaming history. For nongamers, especially parents, the 1996 release of the first “Grand Theft Auto”–accompanied, as it was, by a frenzy of intense media coverage–marked the moment when digital entertainment was transformed: Instead of a collection of such harmless distractions as those which featured Sonic, Pac-Man and Mario, the medium was now seen as a genuine threat to children’s psychological and social well-being.

Although the reaction to the original “Grand Theft Auto” is commonly described as an example of overkill and hysteria by some gaming historians, there were legitimate reasons for serious apprehension. As developed by a company now called Rockstar North, this first entry–best termed an anarchic crime simulator–placed the gamer in control of a faceless, nameless individual for whom violent criminality was the only option.

Eschewing any form of realism, moreover, the first “GTA” was free to break more taboos than would normally have been permissible–the most famous moment being the so-called “Gouranga” achievement in which the player was rewarded for running over and killing a line of Hare Krishna devotees.

The next few sequels merely developed the formula. But things changed with 2004’s “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” which was notable for the innovative character of its protagonist. Although previous installments had brought in named personalities and more detailed story lines, “San Andreas” introduced a character–CJ–who was actively trying to get away from life in the underworld. By dealing with CJ’s background as a young black man from gangland Los Angeles, moreover, the game raised important social issues concerning race, family life and the effect of environment on behavior.

Then in 2008 came “Grand Theft Auto IV,” in which the player assumed the persona of Niko Bellic, an East European immigrant to the US. Bellic’s story is that of a man who yearns to live a good life–and escape the horrors of his past–but who is ultimately dragged back into wrongdoing, fatally corrupted by the many temptations of the game’s fictional urban setting, Liberty City.

While CJ and Niko were characters with depth, the “struggling” aspect of the plots centering on them seemed to ebb quickly as they (and the player along with them) were submerged into–and overwhelmed by–a world of excessive violence, sex, foul language and general skullduggery.

That was not the case, though, with Rockstar’s next hit, “Red Dead Redemption.” This successful offering–which took gamers back to the beginnings of the 20th century and the end of the Wild West–established a new direction for the Rockstar team. Not only was the game set in a different era, it thrust players into the spurs of reformed outlaw John Marston, a man trying to buy his freedom and gain Pelagian-style self-redemption by helping the government hunt down his ex-comrades.

“Red Dead Redemption” could rightly be described as “Grand Theft Auto Grows Up” in that it abandoned what might be termed the Beavis-and-Butthead approach to violence, toned down the offensive content, and introduced positive themes relating to religion, family, morality and, of course, the meaning of redemption itself. Consequently “RDR” had a multitude of beautiful moments that could be appreciated–and lauded–by gamers of faith.

More recently, Rockstar co-developed “L.A. Noire,” a game that turned the “Grand Theft Auto” premise on its head by having the player assume the role of Cole Phelps–a 1940s Los Angeles police detective. Phelps, too, was a man trying to outrun his past and evade the quagmire of corruption that had swamped his department.

Rockstar’s developers have thus begun to explore more nuanced themes, among them the inevitably unsatisfying results of indulging in evil. It may be noteworthy, then, that the trailer for “Grand Theft Auto V” shows its main character expressing his desire to become a “good guy.”

Speculation is likely futile at this early stage–the game, after all, won’t actually be released until late 2012–and it would take a brave observer to predict that “Grand Theft Auto V” will ultimately turn out to be acceptable to Catholics or others with scripturally founded standards of morality.

But there is reason to hope that Rockstar’s designers are gearing up to introduce into their number-one franchise the thoughtful themes they have matured in their other titles. Though surprising, such a turn of events could offer the “GTA” franchise itself at least partial redemption in the eyes of faith-based gamers.

Shaw reviews video games for Catholic News Service.