As the years have progressed, MLB: The Show has become the only ‘go to’ baseball game to have year in and year out. Unlike other sports franchises, the good folks at SCE Studio San Diego have been striving to make their product better, even taking some odd chances. Last year’s MLB 14 showed considerable thought and improvement in more refined modes and a definite upgrade in visuals. San Diego Studio seemed to pull back from the gimmicks and concentrate on what mattered most to the fans, which meant a more simplified experience.
Well, San Diego has taken what they’ve done with MLB 14, incorporated it into 15 and have upped the ante in a lot of the categories, including throwing in a role-playing game element. No, seriously, they did that.
Let’s talk, baseball fans.
The gameplay is broken into several different modes. Here’s what you should expect:
MLB 15 – Road to The Show: By far my favorite of the bunch. While there hasn’t been a lot of structural change in the overall gameplay of Road to The Show, it still contains a strong amount of fun to be had. Joe Random (my guy from MLB 14) was ported over with ease, including stats and everything, and adapted to the new gameplay elements that come along with MLB 15. Road to The Show seems to move a bit faster from league game to league game, which helps to breakdown the monotony a bit when load times begin. Actual gameplay improvements in the game include easier cutoff commands (hit L1 to throw it to the cutoff person — would have loved to have that last year), base stealing movements (R1 to move a bit out, L1 to retract) and directional hitting methods.
With that said, I still dislike the fielding indicators in the game. When a ball is hit in the air, and possibly over your head, the viewpoint shifts from third person to ground-going-up perspective. If you mistime the ball or you have a ball that flies over your head, it’s almost impossible to correct your positioning. Of course, once you miss it or you get out of position for the catch, you lose field points (highly unfair). I had this gripe with last year’s game and I can safely say this hasn’t been improved. That’s incredibly disappointing. It makes fielding situations frustrating and unenjoyable, so please improve that SDS.
That complaint aside, the biggest improvement this year, and the one that made me smile a bit because it was so ‘out of the box thinking’, was the addition of gaining items to improve your stats. As you progress down the road with your career, you are awarded items for your success. For example, somewhere along the way I earned a four-leaf clover. The clover upped my hitting stats once I equipped it (by +2). The items category that San Diego added this year was brilliant. The fact that it covers a numerous amount of player attributes (hitting, fielding, etc.) makes it fun and diverse. It also gives players good motivation to keep going down the road to gain more items and obtain more of an edge.
Anyway, Road to The Show is still my favorite mode in the bunch, so you won’t be disappointed with its offerings.
Franchise Mode — While I’m not a huge fan of this mode, I do respect where it is being taken. First, you can import your franchise from MLB 14 (yay, you won’t have to start over). Player progression is a key focus with this mode, something that spills over in Road to The Show as well. Running a franchise and developing talent seems to have been a bit more streamlined, but it’s more under the hood than on the outside. Again, I can respect that, but this isn’t my cup of tea. Franchise mode will certainly appeal to a lot of MLB The Show fans out there, though. I’m sure some of you will get a lot of mileage out of it, both online and offline.
Diamond Dynasty — I dabbled in this type of mode with other sports games over the last year and it is certainly a cool way to play the game. Winning player cards in other modes of the game (like Road to The Show) and then putting them to use against other online players, as well as the computer, makes this mode fun and interesting. The inclusion of legends from baseball past makes this even better. Definitely not my favorite mode to jump into, but it’s fun to get together a gaggle of players and go head-to-head with them. It’s like playing a game of Magic the Gathering, but with baseball players that can’t throw fireballs.
Community Challenges and Mini Modes are the remaining modes for MLB 15. Community Challenges is a cool concept that allows you to play challenges built by the MLB The Show community. It’s like LittleBigPlanet meets baseball. Mini Modes are your typical items that you’ve seen before in the past (Home Run Derby, Postseason, Challenge of the Week, etc.). Good additions, but certainly not the main reason you want to play this game.
Much like last year’s MLB, San Diego makes it all simple and fun. There’s not a lot of unnecessary clutter in the modes. Everything seems to bring something fun to the table for a variety of gamers and that’s commendable. Is it a huge leap from last year’s title in terms of gameplay? Probably not, but you can tell San Diego has gone back and improved on what they think the MLB The Show community wanted improved. Now, if they can improve the load time of the game and correct that fielding arrow it would be super-duper.
“Write that down.” – Van Wilder
Anyway, another huge improvement, and probably the most noticeable of the bunch is the visuals. Graphically, MLB 15: The Show is one of the prettiest titles I’ve seen in the MLB series. Last year had some great improvements (duh) since the series jumped to the PlayStation 4, but you could see some obvious imperfections in the shadows, lighting, shading and the anti-aliasing the game struggled with at times. This year, the shadows, lighting and shading have been considerably cleaned up and nearly perfected. The lighting and shadows in particular have been smoothed out and been adjusted to bring out some gorgeous visuals. For example, when the camera changes to an on-base viewpoint (meaning it’s behind the runner staring at the batter), the lighting from the stadium casts down the appropriate light fall onto the field from the player. The shadow of the player is split into multiples and adjusts as the lighting adjusts. The lighting also adjusts well on the player himself, so it falls where it needs to fall appropriately.
The anti-aliasing has improved, though there are still some signs of imperfection when you’re looking at the netting behind the plate and far out in the distance where the outfield wall is outlined. It certainly isn’t anything close to bad as MLB 14 had, but it’s noticeable.
Another major improvement of last year’s title is player animation, which is upped, and player interaction with each other and their own teammates. Seeing that sort of stuff helps to add a bit more believability to the entire package, which should make fans grateful. Sliding, diving for balls and general movement has also improved. While the frame rate does vary (eye test says no way it’s 60fps, probably around 25-30fps), the game still is gorgeous to watch.
Wrapping up presentation, the environments are alive and kicking with an active crowd. The crowd moves like a crowd would at a stadium (getting up, moving around, etc.) and there is even stadium vendors that toss items out to fans. Maybe MLB 14 had that last year, but it certainly wasn’t as noticeable. Reactions for foul balls are still incredibly fun to watch, as is the general crowd reaction to on-field action. The stadiums look a bit more together and crisper, as does the background behind them (no real empty space to make you wonder what stadium you’re in).
So, is this game worth the price of admission? It depends on what you’re looking for here. The improvements in the visuals might be enough to warrant the move, as is the fact you can port over your MLB 14 material. Having Joe Random come over from last year’s performance in MLB 14: The Show saved me some hassle when reviewing this one. In my opinion there is enough here to warrant at least a nice hard look at the title. I think the upgrades and improvements with the gameplay are nicely done, and needed, as well as the improvements in the Franchise and Diamond Dynasty modes, and should warrant a considered purchase.
Having said that, as of tonight I’ve had issues getting the online portion of the game to function correctly (it was fine this past week, just so you have some gauge on it). I know there have been reports of shaky online play and connectivity, but I’m sure that will be worked out. This is the first time that I’ve had issues, so that’s saying something. Plus, the season just started tonight with the Cardinals and Cubs, so I’m sure there are some updates coming, which might explain the shakiness. Anyway, it hasn’t been a big deal on our end here at Digitalchumps, so I doubt this will be an ongoing issue.
Onto the summary!