Meet the New Boss....same as the Old Boss.
This review will concern only those who have been playing The Show series over the years, and are wondering if this last version (for the PS3) is "worth it."
I've been playing this game ever since it's inception many years ago, and up to and including this year (somewhat regrettably) I've just bought the new game version, sight unseen- as I am a hard-core baseball fan, and every year enjoy the experience of controlling one team through an entire season of play, Spring Training through the playoffs. I am rarely interested in the various available game modes other than the franchise mode (ie: Road To The Show, homerun derby, etc), and so this review will concentrate only on that- and more importantly, whether or not this year's game has improved in any of the ways that it NEEDED to (refer to any of my reviews of this game for the last 2-3 years for what that means, though it should be a tip-off that my complaints have been much the same for several years now).
It...
MLB 14: The Show Shines As Expected Offline, But Is Worse Than Ever Online
Following MLB 13: The Show, which I felt to be the best sports game of 2013,SCEA has focused on areas of strength while also attempting to address the issue of length of games. Unfortunately the Achilles' Heel of the series has reappeared harming the product arguably even more than in the past.
The PS4 version, which is now just three weeks away, will be essentially the same exact game with the exception of advanced visuals and some other technical improvements so as a whole impressions from the PS3 will carry through to there.
POSITIVES
Gameplay and Authenticity
Every year these two areas top the merit list and that remains the case here. There are some lapses - meter fielding should be changed from immediately, they did not implement rules changes like the reviews/challenges, and the commentary desperately needs to be redone - but otherwise it's an exceptionally realistic experience to play. The new Dynamic Difficulty is worth considering and...
Online Play is BROKEN; DO NOT BUY
MLB: The Show has been my favorite game for years. In fact, it was a major deciding point in why I originally purchased the PS3 over the Xbox 360. It generally hasn't changed a whole lot from year to year but I got enough enjoyment out of each edition that I'd usually buy the latest edition near the beginning of each baseball season. While I'm sure people enjoy different aspects and modes of this game, my favorite has always been the online play. Something about the challenge and satisfaction of beating a real live opponent is massively preferable over any type of offline play for me. In fact, I basically ignore the other modes.
Fast forward to this season. I picked up the '14 version on Amazon and was looking forward to being able to use the latest rosters and checking out the supposed much improved and completely reworked online play. Unfortunately, all the touting by the developers of these "improvements" where complete hogwash. I have never seen a game perform...
No comments:
Post a Comment