It’s time for baseball asMLB The Show 24has officially released, signifying the unofficial start of the Major League Baseball season every year. Developer San Diego Studios waited until closer to release to reveal the big updates coming to this year’s game, as it’s once again available on both current generation and previous generation platforms. While many believe this to be an issue as other sports titles have begun to separate the versions, the team has managed to include noticeable visual upgrades that help with the feel of each game. More importantly, San Diego Studio has struck gold on its docu-series within MLB The Show 24 called Storylines, which features two separate experiences.
Review: MLB The Show 23
While not a lot has changed in terms of ways to play MLB The Show 23, the experience on the field is much improved.
Storylines, The Gamechanger
Last year, San Diego Studio introduced Storylines to the series with a narrative on the Negro Leagues of baseball. This interactive docu-series plays out like WWE 2K’s Showcase Mode where there is video that tells a story and a portion of the game to play to progress the story.MLB The Show 24brings back a deeper dive into the Negro League with Season 2, which focuses on new players including an iconic female player of the era. The big change with this and the second Storyline is the pacing and the presentation. The gameplay pacing isn’t taxing and focuses on progressing the mode with Diamond Dynasty unlocks available. This is another great historical teaching tool that’s executed perfectly leaving players wanting more. The goals to progress the story doesn’t take the fun out of it, albeit some progression is still tied to getting lucky. Some of these are simply getting a hit or an RBI.
The same design carries over to the Derek Jeter Storyline as players progress through the beginning of his career in the 1990s. The only caveat is that there are more stories that will be released at another time, but there are a ton of chapters available to play leading up to the turn of the century. Jeter is interviewed in cutscenes on a subway as this is the presentation theme of the mode. The historical videos and contrast are fantastic with the ability to complete side missions. These side missions actually involve other New York Yankees, so the ability to pitch and field are a few different options rather than just hitting. Multiple Diamond Dynasty cards can be unlocked along the way. The only thing that’s disheartening is the lack of opposing real life players, albeit some are there. Moreso the lack of some older stadiums as it isn’t as encompassing to play in Milwaukee’s new ballpark when it is 1995. Outside of that, this mode has been done right and opens the door for San Diego Studio in the future to do more Storylines.
Two of the staple modes for the MLB The Show series return with a meaningful addition that help change up both modes. In Road to the Show, female characters can now be created and have their own narrative that includes cutscenes from the MLB Network. Both male and females can be customized and the game does allow for a facial scan via an app. The team added the MLB Draft Combine this year, but ultimately this is the same core that has been in the game in the past. There are a few scout feedback options after each stage, but ultimately players will take batting practice and fielding practice, establish their perks and play three exhibition games to determine draft position.
Decisions made during dialogue exchange can provide boosts to certain stats throughout the campaign. It brings a new feel to the mode early on as the Combine is held in an actual stadium rather than a minor league field, but the overall mode works roughly the same albeit with some upfront changes. The team did add a change to defense with random Impact moments, which require completing quick time events to pull off the play. While there is more narrative to selecting a female character to play with and the option to export the created character to Diamond Dynasty has been removed, the overall experience of this mode remains unchanged.
The same can be said for Franchise Mode outside of the addition of Custom Game Entry. The series has had something akin to this aspect in recent years, but it goes more in-depth this year allowing for more control. Players can jump in at only key highlight moments or dictate how often the opportunity pops up to jump into a game. The game also lays out how many games will actually be played throughout the season based on what setting is selected. There was a bit of waiting, however, if looking to participate in less games. This does mean the season goes by quicker, but one won’t be managing the day-to-day activities as much. The mode still hearkens for an option to play fewer games in a season, which the series has never had.
Franchise Mode is still as deep as it gets with varying options to play with, but again is ultimately the same experience. March to October also returns as a better option outside of the main mode, but the addition of Custom Game Entry arguably makes this mode moot now. Online Franchise is still not available, but Custom Leagues are available for play online. Those looking for major changes within Franchise Mode will be disappointed.
Diamond Dynasty And Other Modes
For those interested in the card-based mode, Diamond Dynasty still remains the most enjoyable card mode in sports games. The experience, much like the others, is largely unchanged outside of scrapping the import of created players. There are new legends and players, but no real changes to game modes. Most players are throwaway cards that can be bundled into possible roster spots, which goes back to getting the Deluxe Edition and having those extra packs a waste of money. Plenty here is attainable without spending a dime, but most opponents will have similar high level cards to play against. It is worth noting the logo searches are unbearably slow to sort through.
Players also have the option to play Moments either in Diamond Dynasty or outside of it. The other major modes that have been seen in the past will return including Retro Ball, Home Run Derby, Weekly Challenges and traditional Online Ranked games. Introducing something like an Extreme Challenge Mode seen in old baseball games would be nice or something similar to this just to shake things up. Outside of the Storylines and the few additions to the two main modes, everything else is left untouched inMLB The Show 24.
Crossing The Streams
MLB The Show 24 is still cross-generation which means the visual progression continues to lack. The team states there are a good number of animations that have been added and faces have been rescanned, and there’s a noticeable difference. Facial animations are realistic in this year’s title and this does an excellent job of showing emotion and helping to add to a great atmosphere. Assets are still lacking that possibly go back years and while lighting seems to have gotten an improvement, there’s much more potential here if the game were developed for current-generation hardware while leaving the previous generation in place. Gameplay is extremely fluid, although issues and other legacy bugs occur. There was an excellent collision that occurred that felt great on the DualSense controller, and team has done a good job of optimizing gameplay for use with this controller.
It has been multiple years with this bug, but for some reason it shows the previous player when a new player comes up to bat, so viewing the attributes for that player requires a pitch. This may just be feedback for the previous batter, but it’s more important to see who is up next. The pitch meter also seems to chug when someone is on base as opposed to no one being on, which is strange. Crowd animations are lively and the entire game is super fluid on current generation consoles. The presentation and menus received an uplift, but most still want to see an actual television broadcast option such as the MLB Network return. Player bodies lack in detail and variation, as does any type of skin detail and long hair, albeit the physics work a bit too well with those with long hair.
Replicating Atmosphere With Audio
The sound of a television broadcast remains excellent with crowd chatter and noise. The bat sounds, especially old wooden bats, are satisfying in their own right. The smallest detail one would hear in a broadcast is represented here, although the commentary leaves much to be desired. These two sound like a regional broadcast and it would be nice to have more options. Watch a game in the playoffs, especially on Fox, and those commentary teams add so much more electricity to the broadcast in recent years. The combine does have a different announcer, but it’s mostly dialogue one would expect from watching practice. The soundtrack offers a wide variety of music ranging from ZZ Top to modern-day hip hop.
What Has Changed With The Gameplay
There’s still a satisfying element to playing great baseball withMLB The Show 24. There are still many ways to hit, pitch and field, but nothing new has been introduced. The quick time events in Road to the Show are the only major change, but there’s a way to play that fits everyone. Hitting seems to be more focused on pure baseball as a good bit of line drive base hits seem more prevalent this year with a reduction in home runs, but this could just be early playing. This year does offer the updated rules with the pitch clock and runner at second in extra innings. The pitch clock will be beneficial in online games. As for online play, this remains inconsistent and at best, still has a delay in fielding. It’s far from perfect and one will need to adjust to how this plays.
Closing Comments:
San Diego Studio focused on a few primary additions forMLB The Show 24. Adding two Storylines and the way this was produced and the pacing of the gameplay opens the door for the future. These docu-series without taxing gameplay that provide rewards will keep players occupied early, on top of learning about baseball history that includes one of the greatest dynasties of all time. Other changes to Road to the Show and Franchise are noticeable at the surface level, but the experience of both remains unchanged. The same goes into the other modes that are here. The game still feels dated, but the addition of more animations and the emotion that’s felt from individual player’s faces animations help with upping the experience of each game played.
