It’s springtime in the Northern part of the world, and for sports fans in America, that means that the basketball season is winding down and the baseball season is beginning to get into swing. Baseball is one of those sports that anyone in the world can watch and understand what is going on. It is the perfect sport to watch while doing other things. MLB The Show 18 is the newest entry into the Sony published baseball simulator, consistently the best baseball game on the market. Is 2018’s entry a continuation of this domination, or will it choke in the last inning of the World Series?
Gameplay: Solid and Smooth as Butter
Sports games are notorious for just being a copy and paste of the previous year, with some slight graphical upgrades. It’s difficult to add more features to a game based on a sport that doesn’t really change from year to year. To the outside eye, the game of baseball this year is the same as it was ten years ago (maybe with fewer juiced up players). If you’ve played one baseball game recently, chances are good that you’ll feel right at home with MLB The Show 18.
Moment to moment gameplay is normal baseball. Two teams, 9 innings, both teams getting a chance on offense and defense per inning. There are several control styles for each gameplay mode pitching, hitting, or fielding. This allows players to play the game how they feel comfortable. There are modes that have more “actions” to make a play allowing for more interactive gameplay; or there are control schemes that allow for simple controls, making the game feel almost like a strategy game at times.
MLB The Show 18, really nails the feeling of being a Major League baseball player.
Sound: Knowing the Audience
It seems to be tradition that sports games contain licensed soundtracks. Sometimes, this can work out well for a game. However, what most players hope for is for it to be inoffensive. The soundtrack for MLB The Show 18 is a great mix of mostly country and alternative rock. It’s just the kind of music that most baseball fans will find right at home with. There were no bad tracks and mostly they seemed to stay out of the way. I don’t think that any of the songs stuck with me, for good or bad.
The in-game sounds are phenomenal, capturing the feel of being in a ballpark on game day. The crack of bats on balls, the crowd cheering for each home run, the umpire screaming each ball or strike, are all lovingly rendered here. Gone are the strange transitions from older games where everything seemed to be queued up in a playlist. The flow of a baseball game sounds like just that – a flow instead of a CD of baseball sounds.
Online: Unable to Connect
I was unable to connect to the servers for MLB The Show 18, due to playing before release date. At the time of publishing, servers should be up and running for the players that received access a week early.
From what I was able to gather, though, there will be an online dynasty mode. Players can compete with friends to see who the better general manager is. This is in addition to the obvious single game online modes.
I couldn’t see any definite sign of microtransactions. However, there was an online mode called “The Show Store” that worried me a bit. If you’re sensitive to that, maybe wait a couple of days after launch to see what that mode really is. This is just irresponsible speculation based on past experience, so take it with a grain of salt. Sony isn’t really known for slapping any weird microtransactions in their games, so you should be safe.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Overall, I enjoyed my time with MLB The Show 18. It’s as close to living the dream of being on the field during a Major League game as I’ve seen. Is it going to be a hit with non-baseball fans? Probably not, simulators have a history of only being for hard core fans of a sport. For those hardcore fans, though, MLB The Show 18 is going to be a hard act to follow.
Review Summary
Overall, I enjoyed my time with MLB The Show 18. It is as close to living the dream of being on the field during a Major League game as I’ve seen. Is it going to be a hit with non-baseball fans? Probably not, simulators have a history of only being for hard core fans of a sport. For those hardcore fans, though, MLB The Show 18 is going to be a hard act to follow in the future.
