Baseball is not popular where I’m from. My country has only 45 official clubs, and some are even more focused on the softball variant. I remember playing and enjoying the sport as a one-off during P.E. class. Beyond those few games and watching movies featuring baseball, I have little to no experience with the sport. MLB The Show 23 looked like the perfect fit to get the sport out of my blind sport.
Ease into it
MLB The Show 23 does a good job of easing me into the game. I did look up a short youtube video to get to know the basic rules before attempting this review. Although I was a bit more educated the tutorials added a lot more clarity to the information I got previously. Some sports game franchises already assume you know how to play and tuck the tutorials away somewhere lost in a menu. While throwing somebody in the deep end is a valid tactic to get people up to speed fast, a nice tutorial like MLB The Show 23 offers felt much more optimal. Although I struggled a bit with the lingo, I felt like I was getting more knowledgeable along the way. Some tutorials only pop up when needed so as to not overwhelm the player. This approach was great for a newbie like me. Fans of the franchise can opt out of these tutorials and just start playing immediately. The gameplay hasn’t changed much so those who don’t feel the need to freshen up on the game mechanics can just jump right in.
Gameplay styles
Another neat thing I discovered was the different gameplay styles to choose from. You could see pitching and batting as a sort of mini-game based on timing. There are multiple ways to program these functions and MLB The Show 23 gives you options. Casual play styles mostly make use of a simple timed press of a button to perform your action. Those looking for a more genuine game experience can choose more simulation-style gameplay where more variables are added to make you earn that homerun. You are free to pick one of the many options and you can even mix and match between pitching, batting and fielding. The only exception is when going into online play. Here you are forced to use competitive gameplay styles to make it fair. I started on the casual styles to get a feel of the game but could transfer over to simulation styles quite fast. The competitive styles were a bit too “variable” to my current grasp of the game.
Storylines
The big addition this year is the storylines. These focus on important events in the history of the sport and mix videos with (short) gameplay challenges. The first storyline added to MLB The Show 23 is the Negro Leagues focussing on the history of baseball during segregation times and applauding the often unsung heroes of the game. In essence, you play an interactive retrospective hyping up the long and often interesting road baseball took to get to where it is now. I know hardcore players only want to focus on the game and the gameplay features and will often just skip these modes. I on the other hand love these “history lessons” and applaud the inclusion in MLB The Show 23. The challenges presented during these helped me get the hang of certain aspects of the gameplay as an added bonus.
Diamond Dynasty limited cards
Another change can be found in the way Diamond Dynasty is played. For those not familiar, Diamond Dynasty is where you actually collect baseball cards to fill out your ultimate squad. This fan-favourite mode has been tweaked and features core set cards and newly introduced “seasonal cards”. These last types of cards can only be used for a limited time along the “everlasting” core set cards. This has the potential to get some interesting teams together over the different seasons. I’m a big Ultimate Team mode player in Fifa and I would love this kind of tweak. This leaves much more space for new players to jump in when they please without running into god squads because you started too late in the game’s cycle.
More emphasis on stats
Another thing MLB The Show 23 added is a bigger emphasis on the actual stats of the player. I’m just paraphrasing what I read on the official website because I have no actual frame of reference. Players tend to act more realistically. Animations run slower when a player tries to catch a ball if his stats are low. The different batting/pitching stats give more leeway for certain throws/swings and give more chance of error on others. Again… I have no frame of reference but I felt the success rate changed based on the actual player which can only be applauded. This will sit well with those looking for more realism.
Conclusion
MLB The Show 23 looks great and plays nice. It won’t replace my Fifa 23 addiction anytime soon but it kept me entertained nonetheless. I found the storylines in particular fun to play and very informative (especially as a complete newbie). And having Metallica and Thin Lizzy on the soundtrack is always a bonus for me.
8/10
Tested on PlayStation 5
