Developer: SCE San Diego Studios
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform: PS3
MLB 13 The Show – Review
MLB 13 – The Show is back. The best sports game from the past 4 years is aiming at new heights with this new yearly title. Do you want to be a batter, a pitcher or a field player?
Story:
MLB 13 – The show features many game modes, among them a few new ones too. There isn’t really a story to a sports game like this so here we’ll give you a quick glimpse of what the different modes are.
First of there is the Play Now-mode. Here you can start a quick game with friends in an exhibition game, play online rated or exhibition matches or play online co-op games vs. a CPU.
Next up there is the The Show Live feature. Here you can play all the games of the current season. You even get the latest updates from today’s games and lineups.
In the Road To The Show-mode you get to create your own player and move up from the lower ranks with only the sky as your limit. Online leaderboards are offered for this game-mode.
Were you never really the guy who wanted to do the dirty work, but wanted to lead your own team? Well in both Franchise- and Leagues-mode you can be the manager of your own team. In Franchise you can manage as many teams as you want to, going from 1 to even all 30 of them. The remaining teams are being controlled by a CPU. It’s pretty much the usual career mode in any sports game. Leagues is almost the same as Franchise, yet this mode lets you prove your managing skills when competing against 29 other online players. Next up is the Diamond Dynasty mode. The player gets to customize and train his own team and compete online versus other players or against a CPU. It’s basically a combination of Leagues and Road To The Show.
At last there are a few mini games in which you can compete in order to be the best by conquering the online scoreboards, just like many other game modes in MLB 13 – The Show. Most of the game modes are also playable with the PlayStation-Move Motion controllers or offer you a Co-Op so that you can play with a friend.
Graphics:
The graphics are splendid. You could call them nearly as good as the real thing on TV. So real, that a lot of people might also think that they are watching their favorite sport when taking a glance at your TV, but in fact it’s just a simulation game on your ps3. You can also create your own player with so many options to just change his face until the very last detail which makes custom players all the more come to life and you might feel a little bit like a god pushing his creation in order to become a baseball legend.
Sound:
Just like the graphics, the sound is of a more than decent quality. Fun songs from many famous artists are to be heard: Blink 182, ZZ Top, the Rolling Stones, etc. Apart from some nice music you can also hear the audience cheer and cry for every action. The commentators’ lines might get a little repetitive after a while and are not always that accurately to what really happens on the field, but without them the game would lose a certain level of its realistic feel.
Gameplay:
The game developers stated that they’ve listed reported bugs and things that the previous edition lacked and fixed it in this year’s MLB 13 – The show. The most notable improvement is the hitting-system. It’s been adjusted so that one would hit the ball easier and more frequently than last year’s edition. It takes a little while to get a hold of the controls when you’re trying to figure everything out yourself. In order to help you there is a small bar at the bottom of the screen where the game gives you a few tips. When you want to master the controls completely you can however either take a look at the game controls over by the options on the main menu or use the in-game strategy guide. The strategy guide explains which button to push for each position (pitcher, hitter, field player) and is quite elaborate.
Apart from the controls, the time of one game, just like a real baseball match, takes at least nine innings. This might seem a little lengthy, making it a little boring after a while for some people. Luckily you can skip through certain parts or if you don’t mind, watch the entire nine innings when playing solo. When playing with a friend on the other hand, you have to watch through the whole game.
Conclusion:
MLB 13 –The Show is a great game, not to say one of the best sports games, that simulates baseball perfectly. The graphics and sound really give you the feeling of standing amidst the stadium, ready to become a home-run-hitting-star or a strikeout-loser. You get a way more intense experience than just watching America’s favorite ballgame on TV, although the people around you might not even notice the difference due to the high quality of this simulation game.
MLB 13 The Show - Review,
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