MLB The Show 16 Has Officially Arrived, Post Your Impressions Here

[tnixen]

Ok after playing the game now since since Tuesday I feel I make some comments on what I like and don't like about the gameplay!

What I like?

The fielding control has improved greatly from 15. Everything about the fielding feels so smooth like butter! Like for example in 15 I would over run fly balls in the outfield a lot of times. It was sometimes hard to get the outfielder under the ball. In 16 this has been fixed so when controlling your outfielders its so much easier to get him under the ball to make the catch. Also throws from the outfielders are finally almost always on line to the infielders. No more do the outfielders pull the infielders off the bag because of a wide throw. Outfielders arms are much more more accurate now in 16. Also the first basemen always seems to finally cover the bag now unlike in 15 where he would sometimes be way off the bag on a play at first.. Again I just can not say enough how smooth 16 feels when fielding

Ball physics have once again been greatly improved in 16. I am seeing so many more hit types including my favorite more realistic infield high choppers. Hitting also feels more smooth in 16 and when you make contact it just feels awesome. Also pitchers do still get hit with the ball but it seems to happen much less now "I think". Pitching feels about the same as 15 but that's not a bad thing because I thought it was already good.

So many wonderful new fielding animations have been added to 16. It makes the game look so much more life like and realistic. Also a lot of older animations were removed which also helps the fielding look and feel new and fresh. Also the first basemen does not start heading to the outfield any more after catching the ball for a 3rd out he now heads towards the dug out.

What I don't like and can still be improved?

I feel there are still to many broken bats per game. Also like in 15 I am still seeing those little pop ups that hardly get off the ground around home plate where the catcher gets up so quickly and catches the ball. And also the little choppers in front of home plate where again the catcher gets up so quick and fields the ball and can sometimes even tag the batter before he gets out of the batters box. Also I still see hits to the wall with players like Ryan Howard and other slow speed guys that can not even think about trying for a double because they would be thrown out easily. Not sure what the issue here is but perhaps the big guy Ryan Howard types are too slow in the game compared to real life?

As far as gameplay goes that pretty much covers it for me. 16 is overall so much improved compared to 15 its simply a joy to play. Hopefully Sony can figure out a way to fix those few remaining issues with the gameplay for 17.

If anyone is thinking about sticking with 15 over 16 you will really be missing out on the smoothness of how 16 feels and plays.

Some other things!

The lighting once again has improved greatly. The 3 new presentations are very nice and definitely make the game look closer to a real life TV broadcast then in any Previous MLB The Show games before. However there is still a lot of room for improvement in this area. But definitely the best yet!! All the stadiums looks better then ever thanks to PBR. However I think the grass and dirt could use some PBR treatment. Also home plate now gets dirt on it which is a nice addition however it stays dirty the whole game which is not good. The umpire needs to wipe the plate off when it gets to dirty though out the game. Also player models basically still look the same as in 15 but they did remove the sweat from the hats. But the players numbers on their backs are still to low. The Audio has also improved in all areas. The stadium atmosphere seems better then in 15. Its hard to put my finger on what exactly is improved but it just sounds a little more life like in 16. Although I still think it could be improved even more. Also the commentary definitely has improvements in areas compared to 15. But its FAR FAR from where it needs to be!!!!!! Also the sounds when hitting the ball is way better in 16 too.

I do have some small complaints personally like my favorite stadium Citizens Bank Park still has quite a few things wrong. And also for whatever reason the Phillies catchers is now once again wearing the wrong color helmet when catching in there home alternate jerseys. This was fixed in 15 after it being wrong for so many years and it now its wrong again in 16 bummer

One word that comes to mind when describing MLB The Show 16 is "Field of Dreams" ok that's 3 words. 16 is overall the best baseball video game ever!

As always looking forward to seeing what SONY brings next year to this amazing game of baseball!

[dubcity]

Quote: Originally Posted by Flaxseed Oil

Has anyone noticed if the grass color gets deeper and greener during the summer than in the spring? The colors really do look rather washed out compared to last year.

Last year the green popped more, but it was still that garish astro-turf green. And if they redo player models next year, you can be sure the grass won't be touched. Maybe MLB 18? It sucks because that grass takes up like 80% of the screen when the ball is in play. And some stadiums have grass in the backdrop that looks so good by comparison.

[Eman5805]

Quote: Originally Posted by econoodle

u turned it off and its still working?

I turned it off, but when a ball was hit directly at me, some "Press R1 to catch" deal came up. I don't even think I pressed the right button.

[the_future420]

Just picked up the game last night and played through the install game and then one other one, Cubs v. Angels.

My first impressions were good. Everything seemed smooth to me, didn't notice the framerate problems that others have so I feel like I dodged a bullet there. I was playing on dynamic difficulty and put up 22 runs and 26 hits in the install game, but only managed 2 runs in 10 innings on 8 hits in the game with the Cubs v. Angels. Hopefully thats a sign of gameplay variation to come becasue my difficulty didn't change much between the two games.

Biggest issue for me so far is that even with pitch speed maxed out, pitches still seem too slow for me. Even slower than years past (last played MLB14, skipped 15). I was constantly out in front of stuff in the 2nd game I played, I pulled at least 10 pitches that I guessed location and pitch type for. Maybe its becasue I play in broadcast view for everything (even hitting) but I feel like I have to delay myself from swinging when I think I should. maybe this will become less of an issue as the dynamic difficulty ramps up.

I drew 4 walks in my 2nd game, and I typically dont have the best plate discipline. Something about hitting this year feels more organic though and I like it. I was able to lay off quite a bit of junk and get the CPU up at 110+ pitches by the 5th which is something I could hardly ever do in previous games. I had at least 3 10+ pitch ABs that I can think of, the pitcher/hitter dynamics seems to be good this year.

Thoroughly disappointed in hairstyles for CAPs, specifically black hairstyles. This has been a continuing theme in sports games for far too long. Theres no afro, no dreadlocks, and only a couple of terrible short haircuts. Really takes a chunk of my enthusiasm for RTTS away when I can't even get close to having my player look like me.

I also had some problems with my settings saving, they didnt' seem to save after the install game, but maybe thats because the full game wasn't loaded so I will look at that further this evening when I'm able to play more. Overall, the on-field gameplay feels much better than it did to me in MLB14. Looking forward to getting SOTS all set up and really diving in this weekend

[Mike Lowe]

Diamond Dynasty or any other online mode is utterly unplayable. I've been trying to connect with an opponent all morning and getting error after error.

Brutal.

[kac]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mike Lowe

Diamond Dynasty or any other online mode is utterly unplayable. I've been trying to connect with an opponent all morning and getting error after error. Brutal.

I played a dd game online and it was very laggy and not very fun trying to play. Game stuttered the whole time.

Sent from my LGMS631 using Tapatalk

[citybythebay85]

Still notice that runners don't even touch first base when they are thrown out. This has been going on for at least a couple years. They step over the bag, unless it's a bang-bang play. I'm pretty sure I learned in little league to always step on the bag in case they drop it...

[Beatles]

Quote: Originally Posted by citybythebay85

Still notice that runners don't even touch first base when they are thrown out. This has been going on for at least a couple years. They step over the bag, unless it's a bang-bang play. I'm pretty sure I learned in little league to always step on the bag in case they drop it...

I've noticed this too and I just thought the players didn't want to bother since they are clearly out but honestly, it's such a small gripe when there are frame rate issues and other bigger bugs to take take of.