THE EMPIRE
Baseball. America’s national sport. Rounders on steroids. However you look at it, chances are that you probably own or have owned something with a Major League Baseball insignia on it (looking at you, Yankees) – mine was an Toronto Bluejays baseball cap in high school. What it didn’t mean, was that I actually knew anything about the sport, beyond the basics (home run, pitching, catching out etc).
Sony Interactive Entertainment and their San Diego studio are hoping to school me a little bit with the release of MLB The Show 17 on PlayStation 4.
So, along it comes and I find myself sitting down to try and understand how the intricacies of America’s pastime function. What I’ve noticed about it is this:
– You’re able to tweak how most of the major actions in this game are carried out. You’re presented with a couple different options, and if you want to automate some of it, you can do that too. It makes the game quite easy to consume if you’re a novice to the sport. Essentially, MLB the show lets you decide how involved you want to be.
– You can create yourself a player and plot a course to one of the big league teams through a career mode and it’s a huge undertaking.
– I like batting. I’m a simple creature.
– Graphics and animations when you’ve scored a home run, or caught someone out could do with a little extra polish. High fives don’t actually hit half the time.
Whilst I’m not the most authoritative source on whether a baseball game is an outstanding representation of the sport, I can say with some certainty that this game is entertaining, and if you’re relatively new to the sport it allows you to access it easily without being bogged down in the vast amount of detail that is possible within this game. If you’re already a fan of baseball, you can dial all of the involvement up to 11 and try and take the Cubs back through the world series. You’ll be at it for ages, mind you.
I’ll give it 7/10 – for a sports game, it’s managed to strike that balance between being easily accessible and incredibly detailed, and with the customisation available and the career options here, it’s entirely up to you which way it goes.
– Dave
GIVEAWAY TIME – Thanks to our friends at PlayStation New Zealand, we’ve got a copy of MLB The Show 17 to giveaway on PlayStation 4. To enter, you just need to answer the following Question:
Who holds the record for Highest Slugging Percentage in Major League Baseball?
Flick your answer to comps@theempire.nz with a subject line of “MLB Giveaway” to be in with a chance to win.
Rules – To enter this competition you must be
1) Resident in New Zealand
2) Over 18
3) One entry per person – duplicates will be discounted!
Winner will be picked and notified via e-mail on Monday April 10th 2017.
Dave
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