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This year's game is a field of dreams.
By Mike Mitchell
MLB The Show 16 carries the torch for the long-running Sony series, and continues to raise the bar in nearly every aspect. Building on the already-strong foundation of MLB 15: The Show, the overall aesthetics, franchise mode, road to the show mode, and especially Diamond Dynasty mode all received meaningful additions that make this year’s game better than it’s ever been.
When dealing with simulation games, the way real-life people and places look in the virtual world can make or break the level of immersion and believability. Here, the new lighting effects make a noticeable improvement in how the field itself and different materials on it look. For example, different types of metals are noticeably brighter, while the new matte helmets are more dull. It’s an attention to detail that stands out.
But while ballparks look better than ever, it’s the way the players move that jumps off the screen the most. A large amount of animations from years past have been redone, and are so fluidly stitched together that passersby might mistake it for the real thing. Specifically, the way pitchers transition from their pitching animation into fielding is smooth and natural looking.
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The real prize of this new edition is the Road to the Show career-simulation mode.
Of course, incremental graphical improvements are expected year to year. The real prize of this new edition is the Road to the Show career-simulation mode, which makes its triumphant return with a few clever new features that start at the very beginning. This year you begin your career with an authentic-feeling scout day, where your performance in hitting and fielding drills results in an official scouting report. Once you get drafted and start leveling up your player, consumable and passive perks become available, and those open up interesting new ways to feel like your player has super powers, even if you’re not a star MLB player.
Consumable perks can only be used once per game, but can be activated at any time. Having a “flyball hitter” perk, which forces fly balls if contact is made, really came in handy when I needed a sacrifice fly to win the game. I was able to do exactly what needed to be done, in a simple and straightforward way. Having that kind of control (which the batting system doesn’t typically offer) once per game opens up more strategies. Other perks include things like eliminating foul balls for the at bat, and forcing the next pitch to be right down the middle.
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Perks are great because they artificially create great baseball moments.
Passive perks, on the other hand, come into play automatically depending on the situation. For example, if you find yourself at bat with the bases loaded, you can fast-forward to a 3-0 count, forcing the pitcher to throw strikes. You can also make the umpire use a hitter-friendly strike zone, or have the altitude be similar to that of Coors Field, which makes home runs easier. Perks are great because they give you the option to make meaningful situations lean in your favor and artificially create great baseball moments, but still force you to actually make the play yourself.
There is a cost to using perks, however, and that makes using them a difficult decision. Each perk, depending on how powerful it is, removes time from the brand-new ShowTime meter. ShowTime allows you to slow down time in critical moments, helping you to either make a clutch play, or make a complete fool of yourself as you miss anyway. Although it can take some getting used to, it can really come in handy when you’re batting and want to get a better read on the pitch, when you’re on defense and need a faster reaction, or when you’re attempting to steal a base and want to perfectly time your jump.
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Is all of this cheating? Yes, a little. But it’s also fun.
At first glance, ShowTime might feel a bit too “gamey” for a baseball sim, but since ShowTime is only available in Road to the Show, the new feature artificially creates and enhances big moments for your player. Is all of this cheating? Yes, a little. But it’s also fun, and the AI doesn’t care if you’re not playing fair. The best part about perks and ShowTIme is that they’re optional: you can completely ignore those features if they’re not your thing.
The addictiveness and quickness of each Road to the Show game encourages you to play multiple games in a row, especially because this year, an entire series can be played without ever going back to the menu as long as you’re playing against the same opponent and in the same ballpark. Even if you want to upgrade your player, the training screen is available without needing to load a new page. The valuable time that used to be spent staring at loading screens in MLB 15 The Show was spent actually playing MLB The Show 16.
Likewise, The Show 16’s franchise mode is deeper, and consequently, better than ever. Individual players are now ruled by a morale system which alters their overall rating based on a number of realistic factors. The astonishing amount of information that’s now available consistently made me feel like I was making informed decisions when making trades and lineup changes. For example, the way a player feels about his team role can range from happy when batting cleanup, to angry if he’s downgraded to eighth in the lineup. When a player is angry his overall rating takes a hit, making my managerial decisions even more thoughtful and complex. Other factors affect player morale as well, such as contracts, team performance, and distance from birthplace. The same bits of emotional information becomes especially useful during contract negotiations.
Even if the aforementioned changes weren’t enough to lure me down the rabbit hole, the ridiculous level of stat tracking certainly gave me a nudge. Every statistic you can think of, from batting average against lefties to wins above replacement, is recorded.
While other modes have been meaningfully, yet mildly adjusted and expanded, the virtual card-collecting mode, Diamond Dynasty, has been vastly improved upon. Most of the features that were previously featured are still available: collecting cards to fill out your roster, creating a logo and uniform from scratch, and using a created player to round out your team.
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You’re only allowed to lose twice before your team is disbanded.
On top of that are two new modes. The first – and best – is Battle Royale, The Show’s take on Madden’s Draft Champions mode in which you start by drafting a temporary team and try to win as many intensely contested online head-to-head matches as possible. Drafts go for 25 rounds, each of which allows you to pick one of the randomly selected players available. The catch, to ensure a competitive balance, is that you’re only allowed to select a predetermined amount of players from each rating level. This forced me to stop and make critical decisions about who I wanted to select in each of the higher ranked rounds. To make games quick and easy, each one is only three innings long. But to keep baseball strategy intact, pitchers will tire much more quickly to compensate for the condensed time. Increasingly valuable rewards, in the form of new cards you get to keep, are earned by winning. You’re only allowed to lose twice before your team is disbanded, and in order to join in the first place you’re required to buy-in using in-game currency. These factors led me to become incredibly invested in my teams, despite the fact that they’re temporary, and that makes Battle Royale the best way to play MLB The Show 16.
Conquest mode builds a turn-based strategy game in which you wager the size of your fanbase on the outcome of a single-player game to determine the difficulty, and isn’t as successful. Conquest is just a bit too convoluted, and ended up feeling like a bunch of unnecessary steps I had to make between games. It failed to steal much of my time away from the other fantastic modes.
The Verdict
Simply put, MLB The Show 16 is the best baseball game available on any current-gen console. It looks, plays, and feels amazing, offering many ways to play the great American pastime. Franchise and Road to the Show modes have made incremental but impressive improvements, while Diamond Dynasty offers entirely new ways to play. Not every mode works, but it’s encouraging to see such a radical new mix of gameplay.
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