PlayStation’s San Diego Studio’s long-running series MLB The Show has been a stellar franchise amongst Western and Japanese audiences alike. However, the series has not quite managed to have a sizeable foothold in the Asian market besides Japan. As for me, this was my second MLB title after having played through a little of MLB The Show ’19 which was available through the PS Plus subscription back in the day. So unlike other reviews, there would be no year-on-end comparisons here. This review is entirely about how it feels like to play MLB The Show ’22 from a newcomer’s perspective.
Familiarizing With The Basics
Despite belonging to a region where playing Baseball is an alien concept, MLB The Show is pretty easy to pick up. Thanks to its comprehensive tutorial/practice mode and its elaborate control schemes of hitting, pitching, running, and fielding which has its own dedicated control schemes when it comes to catching and throwing. There are over six types of control schemes for each of these modes that can be categorized into three types- default, classic, and auto. The auto mode involves auto base-running and fielding which is quite good for newcomers but wouldn’t really recommend going for it.
When it comes to being a hitter, there are majorly three types of controls to choose from – directional, zone, and pure-analog. While directional is the easiest place, to begin with, it is largely recommended to stick with zone-hitting as it offers more control allowing to switch zones aside from the timing that is involved. Lastly, there’s pure analog which is by far the toughest to get used to.
As a Pitcher, you can choose from the meter, classic, pulse, and pin-point pitching modes. While meter and pin-point seemed enticing at first, in the end, I chose to stick with pulse-pitching. As for fielding, I found it pretty easy to do the catches and throws at the default control schemes despite having the option of automating both.
As you get better at the game, the dynamic difficulty will ensure that you don’t get over your head. In the short term, it may seem inconsequential but in the long term, you would be bagging home runs, strikeouts, and catches like the veterans of the series.
March to October Goes Multi-Season
MLB The Show ’22 has multiple play modes. As a rookie, here’s how you should proceed before taking on the serious stuff and online competitive modes. While most of these modes largely remain the same as the previous entries, there have been some notable improvements.
Daily Missions and Rewards: Custom games are by far the best place to start. They’re quick, relatively easy, and let you try over and over again until you complete the task. MLB The Show 22 has intergraded daily Moments from MLB ’21 into the Featured Programs, meaning that users can do one of those every day now to gain extra XP. There are also a number of Moments Missions, in which users can take control of various Faces of the Franchise cards and complete in-game tasks.
Road to the Show: Most players will probably end up here at some point. This mode lets you create your own ballplayer and chart their career path. Like last year, players create a two-way player (he can hit and pitch), which lets you test out both sides of the game in depth. Games are only three innings long so it’s easy to work your way through the season relatively quickly, earning Program XP, completing missions, and upgrading your players as you go.
March to October: This truncated Franchise mode lets you play through a full season with your favorite club in a matter of hours. It’s a great way to get in some classic Franchise gameplay without having to devote tons of time. Plus, you’ll earn currency for Diamond Dynasty while you play. This time it also features multiple seasons instead of a single one which is by far the biggest highlight of this iteration.
Diamond Dynasty: The competitive, online side of things. Yes, the mode might make you want to spend real money on packs to keep up, but you don’t need to. The mode has tons of different ways to play. From Daily Moments to Conquest to Battle Royale there is so much to do. Give them all a try and see which one suits you and then start building out your dream team.
On the downside of Diamond Dynasty, if you really want to build your star-studded team by spending in-game currency called Stubs, you are looking at some serious ball-park figure. A single card can as many as 10,000 Stubs and buying the collection costs up to 70,000 Stubs. That amount is no joke and needs you to spend some serious real-life money. Also, the online matchmaking is not so smooth despite cross-play being accessible to all three major console platforms.
Stars and The Show
Like its cover star Shohei Otani, this time MLB is downright fantastic when it comes to the Ballplayers, their facial animation, and movements. At times it’s so surreal that it feels like watching an actual baseball game. In terms of visual quality and animation especially during cutscenes, San Diego Studio has yet again knocked it out of the park. Amongst all sports games today in the market, MLB ’22 is easily the industry-leading title in the terms of visual cosmetics. This statement holds up even on the last generation consoles. Aside from a few hiccups during cutscenes, the game manages to deliver a smooth 60 fps experience even on the base PS4.
In MLB’s star-studded show, everyone bears their own rating based on their infield performance. Besides, the usual hitter and pitcher ratings, MLB ’22 even takes notice of the player’s fielding skills. Ballplayers who tend to have a golden glove will have a higher odds of landing a catch or doing precision throws. And when you throw in the realistic in-game physics into that equation, things get even more interesting. That feeling of hitting a ball cannot be topped and a home run is a rare occasion, also a sight to behold.
Real Talk
MLB The Show ’22 puts up a stellar display of the baseball spirit, thanks to its more realistic than ever in-game visuals and player animations. The in-game physics ensures that every time you hit the ball, it’s a rare and rewarding sight to behold. Despite its fair share of nuances in microtransactions and online matching, there’s enough content to keep you hooked for at least three months time. As for newcomers, the payoff might not be that significant in the short term, but in the long run, it is an easy recommendation.
MLB The Show ’22 was released on multiple platforms like PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on April 1, 2022.
FINAL RATING: RECOMMENDED
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