The Show Giveth And The Show Taketh Away

Baseball fans, rejoice! After last year’s disappointment that was MLB The Show 20, featuring Chicago Cubs SS Javier Báez on the cover, The Show 21 has upgraded its player cover and overall gameplay. 

With that said, the major win for San Diego Studios is that they produced a better quality game than the previous one. On the downside, this game is a beta version for next year’s edition. Additionally, the features recycled each year with minor improvements have yet to live up to a retail value that varies between $59.99 and $99.99.

Two key features that immediately made this version better than last year’s edition are cross-platform multiplayer and stadium creator. This is the first The Show game released on next-generation (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S) hardware, which may have caused the server performance issues that have plagued the game since its release. Although server stability has significantly improved from its initial release, the new stadium creator feature has yet to become more user-friendly.

Stadium creator was all the hype when it was teased in the initial trailer in late March. But now that the game is available, it is simply too difficult to interact with, therefore not worth the hours of time and frustration it takes to place a few pre-created objects. Additionally, the users-created stadium must fit within specific parameters or it can’t be used in online modes. For example, if I make a stadium that is 500 feet to dead center with a two-foot-tall wall, I can’t use it. But this user can create a ballpark without lights and still use their field. It just seems like the stadium creator feature limits the user’s creativity to some extent. And it certainly contradicts reporter Jeff Passan’s statement in a recent trailer, “Your stadium, your rules.”

As expected, these two new, game-changing features are practically in a beta phase, which next year’s edition will hopefully perfect. However, the most significant improvement has been on the gameplay front. It took several iterations, but the hitting and pitching mechanics may finally be decent. As is the case in real life, locating pitches and squaring up a baseball are still the most difficult things to do in sports. Accurately enough, the game emulates these difficulties while still providing the user confidence to hit, as long as they lay off curveballs in the dirt. Lastly, the new pinpoint pitching controls have separated the good players from the truly elite. 

Speaking of the truly elite, users don’t need to spend physical money to buy the elite players in the game. Through the new reward programs, even the worst users can earn the top players if they put the time into the game instead of the money. Personally, I have never felt the need to spend money, especially when the current edition of the game will become obsolete in a year.

Thankfully, the game’s key components have improved, but several aspects have either remained the same or taken a step backward. To start, let’s discuss the price of the game. It is $59.99 for the standard edition, and users could pre-order other options that grant them early access, among other early rewards. But do those perks add up to an additional $40 in value? In my opinion, no. Not to mention the broadcasters. I love the new podcast added to Road To The Show, but the in-game announcers have only slightly modified their phrases over the last three editions. I get it. The priority is the gameplay, not the broadcasters — which I am sure almost every player eventually tunes out anyway. The home run calls have barely changed either; only the way to earn them has altered.

The worst change to the game was the removal of the ‘restart moment’ option. This option was added in MLB The Show 20 to restart a game moment if they feel it is unachievable. For example, a recent moment was tallying six hits and three extra-base hits in a three-game span with Shohei Ohtani. If I go 0-8 in my first two games, there is no point for me to play the third game. Previously I could restart mid-way through, but now I have to further waste my time by tediously restarting the moment. 

San Diego Studios gets at least 1 million downloads annually, and that number will only increase due to its multi-platform release. All I am saying is millions of downloads at such a high price — not including in-game stub purchases — generate a significant amount of money, some of which could go toward recording new broadcast phrases. This would save me the burden of having to listen to Mark DeRosa tell me how awful my swing is for the hundredth time.

Overall, this game has outperformed its previous edition in several ways. However, it has yet to be perfected. 

Rating: 8/10

Cover photo courtesy of Roger Steinman/AP Photo