A few weeks ago I made a post about Super Mega Baseball 3. I called that game a great arcade baseball simulation, and a solid competitor to MLB The Show. That's true. But sometimes you want to play a real simulation with real players and teams, and for that The Show just can't be beat.

I wasn't going to buy The Show this year - I haven't purchased it since 2020. But then I played the new version at a friend's house this weekend and baseball season is getting into full swing, and I had $60 worth of PSN credit, so it ended up only costing me $15 out of pocket. Why not?

The Show remains as great as ever. It's stuffed with content, and while the Ultimate Team-like Diamond Dynasty mode is the clear star of the show, it's not as predatory as some other game's CCG modes and is packed full of single player content, so much so that the multiplayer portion almost seems an afterthought. Collecting cards and doing bite-sized moments is addictive, and they've put out some great cards early on this year to try and make cards viable year-round.

The big addition this year is the Negro Leagues mode. You can play key moments from the careers of several Negro Leagues players and earn rewards in Diamond Dynasty. I haven't messed with it much but it's a cool addition.

Franchise mode remains mostly unchanged, but they have overhauled the scouting system to make it much more in-depth. I've played with this a bit and it's a definite improvement over the previous rather barebones system.

I haven't yet played the single player Road to the Show career mode, but I hear that it's mostly unchanged. That's fine with me, as that mode's pretty solid. You can play as a two-way player now, which is cool.

MLB The Show remains the best simulation on the market for people who want to play baseball with real MLB teams. It's quite a bit more difficult and complicated than Super Mega Baseball, but also contains a level of polish and wealth of content that puts it head and shoulders above it, albeit with a much higher price. It's a game I'll probably be playing on and off throughout the baseball season, and fits into my Timewaster category nicely.

Verdict: Timewaster

Part of the Game Library Project