Video Games

MLB The Show 23 Review

It’s a story as old as sports: For established stars off year, and people start to wonder if this could be the beginning of a long slide into mediocrity. After a somewhat lackluster year in 2022, MLB The Show 23 is the controversial game with a long list of upgrades, gameplay revamps and an incredible new mode that redefines the sport. It’s back to claim the crown as the king of simulation baseball with no room left. It’s a genre you can do.

The most significant addition to MLB The Show 23 is the Negro League mode, an exclusive single-player story focused on the legends of the league that ran alongside the MLB from 1920 to 1948. To the groundbreaking Jackie Robinson. Each one is lovingly introduced by Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro League Baseball Museum, and comes complete with missions that recreate exciting moments in their careers. One mission begins with Rube talking about his Foster’s devastating “Fade Away”. This pitch, known today as Screw His Ball, dropped me into a game where he needed to record two strikeouts on that pitch alone. His team of two announcers, Boog Sciambi and Chris Singleton, are back and provided some interesting insight into Foster and his fadeaway success.

This mode is an amazing achievement. The video package that accompanies the players is poignant, funny, well-made, and brilliantly lays out what makes them giants in the history of the sport. Kendrick speaks with tremendous passion and charisma. increase. I could watch him describe the weather and I was enamored, but when he tells legendary stories, like Satchel Paige in a match while he beats his side I was nervous, like I had an entire field of players sitting around him…in my seat. It also meant I was blown away as I controlled Paige myself and my teammates knelt around me without a care in the world and sat down for each hitter I faced.

Negro Leagues Mode is an amazing achievement.


It’s a loving tribute to the Negro leagues that didn’t need Be as specific as possible. It would have been easy and safe to just add some old uniforms and some legends to Diamond Dynasty. Instead, developer Sony San Diego has carefully recreated last year’s uniforms, equipment, and crowds.

The story of the Negro League focuses on winning for its players, but that doesn’t mean it avoids the prejudices of the time and why the league existed in the first place. It formed long before the civil rights movement, and even the players featured in these stories who faced racism and discrimination drew audiences, filled the stands with people of all colors, and created a huge racial divide. It’s an important account beyond baseball, and credit to the developers for including it. Even as a lifelong baseball and history lover, most of what I saw and heard was new to me. Stories are joyful, powerful, and often end with periods of quiet contemplation.

new facets of diamonds

Combining a collection of baseball cards with numerous single-player and online multiplayer modes, Diamond Dynasty has received many smart changes. The basic idea is the same. Complete challenges or use stubs to unlock cards and use them to build your team. Cards range from today’s players to baseball’s past legends, World Baseball stars of his Classics, and Negro his league’s featured players. For those who enjoy the grind in a compelling rather than coercive way, it’s perfect for scratching the live service itch.

This year saw the introduction of sets and seasons that worked as effectively as the show’s Battle Pass, but it’s a bit of a mixed blessing. defines the beginning and end of a , each accompanied by a series of cards. Season 1 has set 1 and Season 2 has set 2. The significance of this is that certain modes, such as Ranked Competitive, are locked to specific sets based on the current season, giving each strategy a bit of a unique flavor.

A number of tweaks reinvigorate the already fantastic Diamond Dynasty Mode.


I like the general idea because it injects a little more variety each season, but it also means that the cards in each set will eventually become obsolete, requiring many rosters to be rebuilt over time. Highly rated cards are available from day one, but planned obsolescence is a tough pill to swallow. increase. This allows him to keep his one player active from any set and helps remove the sting. As well, there are some cards from different “core” sets that are common to any season. It’s hard to predict how that will play out in his year-long Diamond Dynasty, but in the short term high-end he definitely sucked some of the joy out of unlocking players.

A few other small changes help refresh Diamond Dynasty. Ranked co-op matches, where you and a friend can combine your squads against another fusion team, now have the same reward tree as ranked solos, so they’re more valuable. There is also a new captain card that can give bonuses to the entire team in situations. For example, Captain Series Bryce He Harper gets a bigger boost when you add an All-Star Series player to your team. Some interesting and unique team builds make for a fun incentive to pursue cards for reasons other than the highest overall rating, and new team his affinity his program makes it easy to win cards for your favorite team can. Each of these tweaks are incremental changes in their own right, but together they reinvigorate awesome modes that otherwise might have been in danger of becoming obsolete.

closing the roster

The show has a deep roster of modes after nearly two decades of iterations, and all of them seem to have received at least a few updates for the better. It puts you in a career where a great player is on his way to the big leagues. We’ve added an easy-to-use face scan feature and a long-needed user interface overhaul. Cool new cutscenes have been added, including an all-new introductory sequence, and slowly building attributes is as engaging as ever. The challenges offered at key moments in the game are extremely rewarding when completed.

The show will eventually be updated to reflect the current MLB rulebook, with a major impact on Franchise mode in particular. There are new rules that dictate defensive shifts, allowing two-way players to be both designated hitters and pitchers in the same game, fixing a glaring problem that affected stars like Shohei Ohtani in last year’s edition. it was done. The Scout and Draft system has been greatly improved. With a scouting feature focused on finding pitchers, positioning his players, and talent, we found it much easier to scout with strategy in mind. Front As someone who enjoys the nuances of his office, discovering the hidden gems in the International League was thrilling, but even the less interested can automate the process.

The new animation pushes everything to match what you see on TV.


Custom practice now allows you to specify the pitch and location to display. Having trouble with sinkers down in the zone? Cue them up and start hacking until they’ve calmed down. This is a significant improvement and a more effective skill building tool. I found myself doing regular batting practice as a warm-up at the start of play, and it felt like it really helped me regain my timing.

Another year of development on the current generation of consoles continues to pay its graphic dividend as well. It’s easy to get lost in the spectacle thanks to the gorgeous, lifelike recreation of the stadium, including the exterior. His team-specific VFX package introduces a more personal touch to the game, and a new batch of animations, such as the Mariners’ signature victory dance, brings it closer and closer to what you’ll see on TV.

Baseball is as much about sound as it is about sight, and The Show has smartly reimagined much of the audio for this year’s release. Whether it’s the subtle reverberation of a stadium following the sound of a bat, or the thud of a glove catching a speeding line as he drives, the explosive power of baseball played in the major leagues is an integral part of the sport’s nature and here. is beautifully reproduced. A much deeper pool of recorded dialogue by the commentator crew is also readily apparent. This is now in its second year, but thankfully the instances of the same lines being repeated are getting tired and decreasing.

Playing on the field has been great for years, but there are also some smart improvements worth mentioning. There are various control options for phases. Simple options such as one-button hitting are great for letting everyone play, while zone he chooses more complex options such as hitting to reward players who want to achieve higher skill caps. give.

Single button throws for fielders are back, but the addition of moving targets to button precision throws adds a challenging new wrinkle. Now a long toss from the outfield or a difficult pass from the infield moves the precise zone of the throw. It’s a small tweak that adds an amazing amount of challenge and the games I played against other humans resulted in as many false throws as in his actual MLB games . All too often in the last few years, every defender felt like an All-Star, so this change is a welcome realism.

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