Review for MLB The Show 17. Game for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 28/03/2017
Among the American sports that have most followed, baseball always deserves a prominent place, now the cornerstone of the stars and stripes collective. As every year, San Diego Studio comes out on the videogame market with the best and, at the moment, only simulation of the diamond field, MLB The Show.
Since it was known as 989 Studios, the development studio has always poured a great passion for baseball into this title, a bit like NBA 2K with the guys from Visual Concept. Also in this edition, the new chapter arrives as an exclusive of the Sony console, and once again manages to surprise for the enormous amount of content.
The cornerstone of the whole experience with MLB The Show it's definitely Road To The Show mode. For those not accustomed to this sports simulation, it is the story mode, a bit like it already happens with NBA 2K. Unlike classic stories, this mode is told as if it were a documentary, with a voiceover describing the most important actions and decisions made by our digital alter ego.
Once the virtual alter ego has been created, we will immediately be catapulted into a series of matches between emerging stars. Our goal will be to get a Draft call. The title gives us several choices: first of all we can decide whether to play only one game or whether to complete the cycle, this translates into a greater chance of getting a high call in the draft. Our performance will therefore affect the Major's choice to select us. Once an MLB team has taken an interest in us and offered us a contract, we will be sent to affiliated Minor League teams so that we can start gaining experience.
During the creation of the character, we will be able to choose which role to give to our player, whether to make him a skilled pitcher or rather a man from first base. Obviously, the choice is also reflected in the position we will cover on the pitch, bearing in mind that if our role is already occupied by big stars, it will be difficult for us to carve out a prominent position in the team in a short time. In all of this, however, we are helped by experience, which is gained by taking certain actions, such as eliminating opposing batters with a strike out (if we were pitchers), or by home runs (if we were batters). By gaining experience we will be able to increase our skills, such as greater reactivity in hitting the ball, but rather increasing the accuracy of the launch.
Throughout our career we will also find ourselves having to face dialogues, in which the answers will not always be determined, very often we will have multiple choices available. These dialogues will be very linear, there will be no slang that NBA 2K has accustomed us to, and perhaps make the experience even more realistic.
Another interesting method is the Franchise one, in which we will have to take control of a franchise and take it over the course of several seasons to conquer the World Series, paying attention to the management aspects. An interesting new feature that has been added is the Critical Situation, a sort of Madden NFL-style Play The Moments. When activated, it will allow us to play certain key moments of a game, such as the decisive last inning, as well as a bar in which all the bases are full and we have the possibility with a home run to close the result. With Quick Manage we will dedicate ourselves exclusively to the management aspects of our franchise, choosing, if we need it, to go down on the diamond.
The third and final major mode is Diamond Dynasty, a sort of baseball-style Ultimate Team. We will be busting packs in which to find increasingly rare cards including numerous legends that have made the history of this sport. The objectives and the reward system have been improved, with the possibility of obtaining more experience and more credits during the matches, so that you can find and buy more and more important players. Even the new game types added, Battle Royale and Conquest, will dramatically increase the longevity of this potentially infinite mode.
Finally the retro mode, which as the name suggests allows you to play with a 16-bit or even 8-bit graphic interface to trace the arcade of the nineties, whose game dynamics are simplified to the use of only two buttons.
Once on the pitch, the graphic majesty is immediately noticed, with the polygonal models of the players almost bordering on perfection and photorealism. The stadiums are also impeccably made. In terms of pure gameplay, the studio has tried to simplify the style of play for those less accustomed to the title, giving great scalability to the various difficulty levels.
Regarding both the launch, the serve or the passage from one base to another, we will have three different types of commands available, Basically we move from a more arcade management to a more simulative one, which makes the title usable to anyone who wants to make a few launches without having to learn the most difficult commands. The renewed physics of the ball makes the jokes even more interesting, and the beauty of the throws is probably unmatched by any sporting title. The physics of the ball itself has also been further improved, with more realistic bounces.
In graphic terms, MLB The Show manages to keep up with NBA 2K, not only as regards the purely stylistic aspects, but also and above all for the lighting effects, which very often seem to catapult you into a real game and not just a simulation. Final remarks on match presentations, now further improved thanks to the acquisition of San Diego Studio, of the MLB Network license.
MLB The Show 17 presents itself as one of the best sports titles ever. The new edition, further improved by San Diego Studio, shows the great passion that this studio has towards this sport. From exceptional graphics to improved gameplay, the video game is certainly a milestone for lovers of sports titles, even for those who do not have their reference point in baseball. We are close to perfection and San Diego Studio is once again proving it.
► MLB The Show 17 is a Sports type game developed by SIE San Diego Studio and published by Sony for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 28/03/2017
