Show 13 Initial Impressions - rudyjuly2's Blog

rudyjuly2's Blog

Show 13 Initial Impressions

Posted on April 4, 2013 at 05:47 PM.

(5)

I had been playing Tomb Raider but am not finished. My brother lent me his Show 13 and I played around 3.5 games last night and this morning (two full games and then two 6 inning games). Initially I was expecting a bigger change between MLB 12 and 13 based on other people�s impressions. It looked and felt very similar.

Overview
The graphics looked the same to me although the colours might be more vibrant. I did see a couple cases of slight slowdown on some throws from the outfield but no big deal. I do like the new score bug/display and the fonts have changed on some things but this looks and feels like the Show. The commentary seems worse. I was expecting more with the addition of Steve Lyons. Instead he rarely speaks as we don�t get a lot of colour commentary and when we do it is very clear the commentary was not recorded together. Karros doesn�t appear to have many new lines either. They need to overhaul this with a true booth � much like Madden did with Nantz and Simms and how 2K does it. I need more organ music too. The sounds of the ballpark are always great to hear and 2K does a better job here.

The game is more offensively friendly and more balanced on default All-Star than MLB 12 and back to the way it used to be. After plugging in my old sliders but leaving my batting sliders at default instead of juiced up the game actually felt quite similar to MLB 12. Nobody scored more than 4 runs in any game I played. I wish in exhibition games the cpu randomly chose a starter rather than the ace every time but I was too lazy to get my other controller out to change it lol.

I will note the specific things that feel different to me.

Hitting
The timing window has changed. I hit about 3-5 balls per game where on inside pitches I was able to pull the ball despite feeling as though I swung too late. I know those same balls would have gone the opposite way in MLB 12. It doesn�t always feel realistic but it�s not too bad and I still prefer it this way. Too many hits in video game baseball end up to the opposite field for users and that�s always bothered me. This helps remedy that. I would love to see live spray charts for every batter in the game � maybe for the PS4. With this improvement and the pitch speed being slowed down a little (maybe 2 clicks overall) I have my pitch speed set at 1 instead of 0! Even I can handle this now!

The ball physics is a subtle improvement as is hit variety. Again, many of the improvements take a while to see. On some hits down the line (easier with pull timing) you see the ball curve a little more I think. But the biggest addition I thought were on two balls I saw hit over the shortstop�s head. They were hard liners but over his glove and with a sinking action that let them drop in easily before the outfielder. I don�t think those happened in MLB 12 � at least not very often as they were usually speared by the SS or carried to the outfielder�s glove. Finally on my fourth game I saw my first soft flare that landed over the 1B�s head. I was beginning to wonder if I would see them or not. I did see one foul tip strike three as well � that was nice.

I still think the game is a little too extra base hit heavy and not enough singles. Sliders may be able to fix this. One slightly annoying thing I noticed were the exaggerated batting stances of some players. I�m not an expert on these but it seemed like some guys moved too much � Alex Avila and Austin Jackson as an example. They didn�t move around that much last year but not a big issue.

Pitching
As for pitching I saw my batter get hit on the foot. Don�t remember that before. Generally speaking there are a lot more wild pitches this year � way too much imo. A starting pitching staff averages less than one total wild pitch per 5 starts in MLB. Justin Verlander threw two wild pitches in 33 starts last year. Three pitchers made 30+ starts and only had one WP. Tim Lincecum was the worst pitcher in the league last year with 17 wild pitches in 33 starts which is every other game. I see 1-3 wild pitches per game for both me and the cpu. Changeups and breaking pitches tend to �get away� from the pitcher far too often. While it does force you to be careful with what and where you throw a certain pitch in specific situations it occurs too much. I should say I am using analog pitching.

I do notice the cpu on default all-star seems to have slightly less plate discipline. A straight pitch, like a four seamer or normal changeup, wouldn�t get a cpu batter to chase off the plate last year (they would high or low but still over the plate) but I got some guys with that this year. I threw an outside straight-change that a batter went fishing for. Typically in the Show a cpu hitter will chase with two strikes but I�m not sure if the true hackers in the game chase enough on early counts. I don�t care if the guys with good eyes lay off the tough pitches but I want to see more free swingers swing freely. Generally speaking the cpu does work my pitcher as I�ve seen high pitch counts but they also seem to swing more and I notice they swing through more pitches as well. I�ve seen more Ks. It�s a more dynamic relationship than last year from what I can tell.

Fielding
I refuse to use the ugly *** new throwing meter and I haven�t noticed any new fielding animations from MLB 12 except for one instance where my outfielder goofed up picking a ball down the line and it got past him. Outfielders do appear a bit slower this year. Some balls fell in the deep gaps that I felt would be tracked down last year. One legacy issue that has always bugged me is that first basemen are too quick. You can always beat the runner to the bag and never have to toss it to the pitcher. It would be nice to see that fixed eventually.

Overall
I like the new timing window and slower pitch speed. The ball physics and hit variety have improved a bit. The pitching I�m not sure about. I like the more dynamic at bats but am concerned over all the wild pitches. Maybe that can be cured by raising consistency. The commentary and presentation is status quo or maybe a bit worse. Overall I think it�s a nice upgrade but for someone who doesn�t care about the franchise improvements (I play season only), RTTS or MLB Live I don�t know if it�s worth a $60 upgrade. Going to play more tonight and then decide if I will finally buy it.

Comments

# 1 DJ @ Apr 4

Rudy, you can change the CPU pitchers in Exhibition with just one controller, same with the lineups. When you are in the pitcher selection screen, move the controller to the left or right to select the CPU side and then you can choose which pitcher you want to face.

# 2 rudyjuly2 @ Apr 4

Thanks Dan. I need to face some #3 or #5 guys to see if I can generate a bit more offense on All-Star.

# 3 rudyjuly2 @ Apr 5

I played another game of MLB 13 last night. Cleveland vs. Oakland. Played a full game then played a half game of the same thing on MLB 12 and I just don't see a big enough jump for me to spend $60 to upgrade. I think I'm going to stick with 12.

I did boost the cpu consistency to 10 now but have cpu pitch control at 2. Saw two wild pitches and a bean ball by the cpu last night (none for me though). I only had consistency at 7 or 8 for them until I boosted it to 10 half way through. I'll play a quick 5 inning game right now. Last chance before I give the game back to my brother!

Edit - I still think there are too many balls that get away from the pitcher on curves and changes. In roughly 5 games now I've also seen two passed balls where they were straight fastballs in the strike zone the catcher just didn't catch. One was Posey and the other Avila. That didn't seem right either.

I do think there is more soft contact in MLB 13 which I'm grateful for and I do like the fact I can slow the pitch speed down a touch more. I've seen a few animations now where hot shots at the corner have the third or first basemen almost diving/leaning out of the way and they often miss the ball. Once I saw a catch on that lean.

# 4 Radja @ Apr 7

i stuck with 12 this year myself. haven't played 13 yet. i really enjoyed 12 playing most of the games and really like my roster.

after reading the producer comments about timing window, i decided to move the timing slider to 10. then i moved my camera way up close to the plate and it really has helped me in general.

great comments. i have fought buying 13 mainly because i keep buy games with no time to play them and i just once, want to play several seasons of a baseball game.

# 5 rudyjuly2 @ Apr 10

One thing the Show doesn't emulate well (I don't think 2K does it well either and maybe no baseball game in history) are pitchers like Detroit's Al Alburquerque. (That name is also brutal to spell and takes up his entire jersey lol). He has a nasty slider and he throws it about 60% of the time. Just a two-pitch pitcher. He doesn't have great control of that slider which also dips quite a bit. He gets a lot of swings and misses out of the zone when he can keep it close to the plate. The other day against the Yankees he should have walked in a run but got a batter to swing twice at sliders that fell into the dirt, including one on a 3-2 count. I know the pitchers have a break rating but I think the cpu plate discipline should drop more than it does as that break rating goes up. I'd like to see a stronger correlation there.

Also, when is the Show going to have defensive ratings for every position? Just having primary and secondary positions is archaic. Some guys can play multiple positions well. A guy like Don Kelly can play every outfield spot well as 1B and 3B. He's good on defense everywhere but you can't have that in the Show and you can't even create a guy that can play all those positions. You automatically take a 20% hit on defense for your secondary spot and an 80% hit for playing out of position. It's not a good system. 2K's defensive position ratings are done well.