Faultless TV-style presentation
Immediate game-wide accessibility
Outstanding pitching engine
Daily roster updates
Almost too much to do
The new scouting system rules
but requires some homework
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Most sports games build their highest highs around the act of scoring points. In FIFA, there’s no better feeling than walloping one in the top corner from 30 yards. In Madden, a touchdown heave from the 50-yard line peaks all other achievements. And there are few moments anywhere in gami🐲ng as fulfilling as a go-ahead three-pointer late in an NBA 2K match. Yet MLB The Show dares🐟 to be different. Here, thanks to an incredibly nuanced pitching engine, it’s protecting your score that provides the greatest satisfaction.
Before throwing the ball, a batter’s hot and cold zones are illustrated by red and blue squares within the strike zone. A g💛love symbol shows where your catcher recommends aiming the ball, and by using a fac💖e or shoulder button you select the pitch type from your player’s repertoire. Then a golf-game-style meter dictates what happens next – sort of. Press first to pull your man’s arm back, press again to dictate power, press a third and final time to decide accuracy and release the ball.
I say ‘sort of’ because countless other elements still come into play, even if your meter skills are impeccable. If your player is tired or low on confidence (ratings for both are denoted onscreen), the pitch won’t necessarily end up where you intended. If the opposition has players on base, the meter moves faster to recreate the sense of pressure felt by your pitcher. And attributes come into play every time, too: even elite pounders like Clayton 💞Kershﷺaw will give up the occasional homer to a Mike Trout or Bryce Harper. It means that no matter your skill, you never know quite what’s going to occur in any at-bat, and so every strikeout feels like a monumental feat – much like in real life.
For those already schooled in Sony’s signature baseball series, none of this is news. Pitching mechanics have been delicately iterated over the years, but lapsed fans will enjoy an immediate sense of familiarity if this is their debut PS4 dalliance. The same is true of batting: other than the addition of a new ‘fisheye’ camera (in theory to e💃nable you to better read ball trajectory, but I swiftly returned to the ‘wide’ perspective), much is as was. There♚’s still the same relentless sense of fury when you stupidly strike out with two men on base, offset by the thrilling rush of a home run which just carries over the wall – and a flailing fielder’s outstretched glove. Go fetch it, Ellsbury!
Much like FIFA on Xbox, MLB The Show 16 contains baseball legends in their prime who can be added to your roster. Except here, they’re not limited to the Ultimate Team-like Diamond Dynasty. When starting a franchise there’s an option to a🍬dd all classic players to the free agent pool, enabling you to – for instance – restore Cal Ripken Jr to the Baltimore Orioles he amassed 2,632 appearances for, or see how Red Sox legend Ted Williams fares alongside cu💛rrent favourite David Ortiz. Outstanding.
I'm GamesRadar's sports editor, and obsessed with NFL, WWE, MLB, AEW, and occasionally things that don't have a three-letter acronym – such as Chvrches, Bill Bryson, and Streets Of Rage 4. (All the Streets Of Rage games, actually.) Even aft𒀰er three decades I still have a soft spot for Euro Boss on the Amstrad CPC 464+.
