MLB 14 The Show Review (PS3)

[RaychelSnr]

As the immortal Babe Ruth once said “Baseball is the greatest game in the world, and it deserves the best you can give it.” Over the years, the development group at SCEA San Diego has found a way to do just that. The MLB The Show franchise from SCEA San Diego has widely been recognized as one of the best sports series going, and rightfully so. This year the development team finds themselves for the second time, in a transition period. The team was faced with the task of trying to keep the ball rolling on the PS3 and Vita, and start it on the PS4. The question now is, should you bother grabbing the PS3 version, if you have a PS4 system that is eagerly awaiting the date of May 6th?


Read More - MLB 14 The Show Review (PS3)

[fearwhatnow]

I wonder why there is a deduction of 1 point in the score compared to last year's game. I understand that MLB 13 was reviewed by another person, but looking now to both reviews side-by-side seems rather weird.
MLB 13 cons: Commentary ,fielding, sense of sameness
MLB 14 cons : Commentary, online
The new version has fielding improved, QC, Dynamic Difficulty, New and better Game Menu, Crispier gfx, better sound effects, more fluid animations...
I really don't care about scores/ratings when the product has a wide acceptance for its quality/gameplay but in this case something feels out of place.

[bluengold34_OS]

Quote: Originally Posted by fearwhatnow

I wonder why there is a deduction of 1 point in the score compared to last year's game. I understand that MLB 13 was reviewed by another person, but looking now to both reviews side-by-side seems rather weird. MLB 13 cons: Commentary ,fielding, sense of sameness MLB 14 cons : Commentary, online The new version has fielding improved, QC, Dynamic Difficulty, New and better Game Menu, Crispier gfx, better sound effects, more fluid animations... I really don't care about scores/ratings when the product has a wide acceptance for its quality/gameplay but in this case something feels out of place.

The deduction came from the online portion.

[Peter_OS]

Spot on with the review.

The commentary needs a new fresh start. Getting tired of hearing the same/stale commentary.

Enjoying the quick counts feature. Although not as much as I did with All Star Baseball 2004. Imo it had the best quick counts feature of any baseball game to date.

[bigdaddykraven]

Quote: Originally Posted by Peter_OS

Spot on with the review. The commentary needs a new fresh start. Getting tired of hearing the same/stale commentary. Enjoying the quick counts feature. Although not as much as I did with All Star Baseball 2004. Imo it had the best quick counts feature of any baseball game to date.

I still think, especially for being a PS2/Xbox game, All-Star Baseball 2005 had some of the best commentary. Yeah it was a bunch of the same audio too but it was situational. For example, you have a guy on the trading block, they recognize that in the game. If teams have been trying to trade for a player they announcers talked about that. If you traded for, signed a free agent or brought up a rookie to fill a certain role (speed, leadoff, power) the game recognized that and commented on it.

I remember doing an expansion team and two seasons into the game I traded for I think Pat Burrell because I needed some power. Took a risk and traded my 3rd starter too. The game actually recognized that and in my first game after the trade discussed that when he came up to bat, even recognized that I took a risk in trading a starting pitcher too because as they said "we didn't have a lot of depth to back it up." The trade didn't work if I remember correctly lol.

Anyway, I'd always wished The Show would add in commentary that reacted to events in your world. Recognize when someone wins the MVP in 2017 as opposed to being in the year 2018 and they still refer to Miggy as "the MVP." Just more recognition about what is going on in your current world. Hopefully with the PS4 they'll be able to do more of that in the future versions of the game.

Still excited for the game but sad to hear it'll be the same old commentary.

[aguero90]

Quote: Originally Posted by bigdaddykraven

I still think, especially for being a PS2/Xbox game, All-Star Baseball 2005 had some of the best commentary. Yeah it was a bunch of the same audio too but it was situational. For example, you have a guy on the trading block, they recognize that in the game. If teams have been trying to trade for a player they announcers talked about that. If you traded for, signed a free agent or brought up a rookie to fill a certain role (speed, leadoff, power) the game recognized that and commented on it. I remember doing an expansion team and two seasons into the game I traded for I think Pat Burrell because I needed some power. Took a risk and traded my 3rd starter too. The game actually recognized that and in my first game after the trade discussed that when he came up to bat, even recognized that I took a risk in trading a starting pitcher too because as they said "we didn't have a lot of depth to back it up." The trade didn't work if I remember correctly lol. Anyway, I'd always wished The Show would add in commentary that reacted to events in your world. Recognize when someone wins the MVP in 2017 as opposed to being in the year 2018 and they still refer to Miggy as "the MVP." Just more recognition about what is going on in your current world. Hopefully with the PS4 they'll be able to do more of that in the future versions of the game. Still excited for the game but sad to hear it'll be the same old commentary.

Yeah, they were great!! Ironicly, Steve Lyons was in ASB, just like he is in the show. lol, remember in ASB when he would tell the story about the time he dropped his pants trying to get dirt out!

[KingTuT was a Cubs fan]

****Conspiracy theory**********

I know online has notoriously been pretty poor with this game, but it sounds as though this year is particularly poor. What if, and this is purely hypothetical, Sony and San Diego Studios are trying to persuade Show users to make the jump to next gen by having online franchise (one of the biggest offseason additions) be an extremely poor ps3 experience. This would obviously mean that the PS4 online experience would have to be terrific, which I'm hoping it will be. Honestly, that is probably not a bad approach.

[nemesis04]

Quote: Originally Posted by KingTuT was a Cubs fan

****Conspiracy theory********** I know online has notoriously been pretty poor with this game, but it sounds as though this year is particularly poor. What if, and this is purely hypothetical, Sony and San Diego Studios are trying to persuade Show users to make the jump to next gen by having online franchise (one of the biggest offseason additions) be an extremely poor ps3 experience. This would obviously mean that the PS4 online experience would have to be terrific, which I'm hoping it will be. Honestly, that is probably not a bad approach.

Terrible theory!