1/5 Stars

The start of the MLB season means two things: praying for the health of New York Mets’ players and the release of “MLB The Show.” The only positive step the 2018 version took from last year is the stability of the servers. Last year, online game modes were virtually unplayable until July. This year, the servers are fine, but the game itself is unplayable.

San Diego Studios revamped Road to the Show this year. It took out the old system of earning training points and made character progression based on what players do in the game. For example, as a hitter, every time a player gets a base hit, their contact rating increases. It is a straight-forward formula. However, it is seriously flawed. With the game on the line, one can literally crush a ball to the deepest part of the yard just to have a fielder make an incredible play on them. The result? Losing batting clutch because they failed to get a hit. Last year would have yielded positive results for the same at bat. Another problem with the mode is the introduction of archetypes into the game. While the concept of making a specialized player enhances the mode, the execution fell short. It basically boils down to having a great hitter or a great fielder. The problem is the great hitters are also above-average fielders, and fielding is much easier to improve than hitting. There is almost no reason to pick anything besides hitter-heavy archetypes.

Fielding is the biggest problem with this game. San Diego Studios built a lot of hype for that aspect of the game during its promotional season. They said in numerous YouTube videos that fielding is going to matter, and there are certain fielding animations that only great fielders can get. They were right in one instance: elite shortstops make elite plays. Another thing elite shortstops do is randomly boot routine balls. Outfielders will randomly miss balls hit right to them, and infielders will get hit by choppers instead of using their glove. Horrible fielders make spectacular plays just as consistently as they have in the past, something the studio said would no longer happen. A quick search through Twitter and Reddit can yield an endless loop of comical errors and unnatural plays that will leave viewers speechless. 

While the training points are gone from road to the show, San Diego Studios made sure to keep the extra cash flow open in Diamond Dynasty. It added immortal players to the game, and during the off-season, live streams emphasized players cannot buy them. A week after the game came out, someone already unlocked the immortal Vladimir Guerrero card. This entails buying/collecting every single live series player in the game, a feat that is impossible without spending over $1,000 in microtransactions at this point in the season.

The perfect summary for this game is the crowd. San Diego Studios is big on aesthetics.   This year, it wanted to program crowds leaving early during blowouts. The result? A patch within a week of release preventing crowds from leaving every game early regardless of score.

“MLB The Show 18” is the most egregious case of false advertisement in gaming since “No Man’s Sky.” Do not waste your money on this dumpster fire. Unless you are a fan of paying $60 to be an unofficial beta tester for the first three months you own a game, this is not the game for you. If you are really craving a good baseball game, get yourself a copy of “MVP Baseball 2005” for PlayStation 2.

Image from PlayStation Australia via YouTube.com