San Diego Studios’ long-running MLB The Show franchise has seen a lot of success in recent years. The expansion to Xbox and Nintendo consoles at the beginning of the current console generation opened up the series to a whole new group of players. The introduction of the Storylines mode, as well as the continued consumer friendliness within Diamond Dynasty, has helped the series maintain a positive reputation among gamers.
However, the series has not been without fault. Fans have criticized SDS for neglecting offline modes like Franchise in Road to the Show. In the last few years, these modes have seen few new features, with most of the changes being small quality-of-life updates.
With MLB The Show 24 now released, has SDS added enough to warrant the yearly purchase from fans of the series, or does the latest entry rest too much on what has worked in the past? Let’s find out as we take a look at MLB The Show 24.
Gameplay
MLB The Show has for the most part been able to deliver consistently enjoyable gameplay throughout, and MLB The Show 24 is no different. With how well-received gameplay was in MLB The Show 23, many fans wondered how SDS would be able to improve it. Well, they somehow found a way.
In the field, players take a much more urgent approach to making defensive plays. Defenders will break towards the ball faster, and once they field the ball they generally make their throw much faster. This had been a problem in recent years which would allow players to sneak out infield hits due to defensive laziness. Now, it’ll be much harder to beat out a typical groundball to the shortstop, even if you have an incredibly fast hitter. Outfielders also are quicker about getting the ball into the infield. When outfielders collide with the wall, they don’t take as long to recover, allowing you to keep players from taking extra bases.
The only changes to pitching in MLB The Show 24 are for the Pinpoint Pitching method. Powerful pitches like sinkers and sweeping curveballs have been given new paths that have to be traced to throw them. These new paths are more difficult and lead to fewer meta pitches on the corners of the strike zone. On top of this, all paths for Pinpoint Pitching are now reversed between right-handed and left-handed pitchers. However, if you can master these additional hurdles, you will be well-rewarded. Perfect accuracy pitches are now guaranteed to be within the perfect accuracy region instead of just touching it. This adds even more of a skill gap to the most competitively challenging pitching control method.
At the plate, SDS said in the lead-up to MLB The Show 24’s release that hitting balance in this year’s game would be relatively unchanged compared to last year’s game. Not only does hitting not feel unchanged compared to MLB The Show 23, but hitting in MLB The Show 24 feels even better. Exit velocities have gotten the slight boost they needed last year. This hasn’t just led to more home runs, but more hot ground balls that would have been fielded last year just squeaking out of the infield for a hit this year.
Also, regular elevation stadiums no longer cause incredibly low exit velocities on the competitive gameplay style. This means all stadiums are now viable options in online play, not just the two or three minor league stadiums that have maximum elevation.
The rest of the MLB rule changes from last season have finally made their way into MLB The Show 24. The pitch clock, limited disengagements, and larger bases are all now present in the game. While the pitch clock and larger bases typically don’t have much effect on the game, I can see the limited disengagements playing a factor, especially in online matches. To combat this, pitchers are in general faster in their pick-off moves, and new step-off throws have been added to help catch runners trying to leave early.
Game Modes
Storylines
Storylines return this year with The Negro Leagues Season 2. Bob Kendrick, President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, returns to narrate the stories of these baseball legends. The quality of storytelling in this mode is on par with Season 1, which was already incredible. The music, art, storytelling, and gameplay all come together to help make these historic figures of the game come alive. If you enjoyed The Negro Leagues Season 1, you’re going to enjoy Season 2 as well. However, Season 2 only has 4 legends at launch, compared to the 8 legends that last year’s game launched with. The other four legends for Season 2 will be added to the mode in a later content update. The four that are here at launch are some of the biggest names you could ask for. Each player’s story takes about 30-45 minutes to complete and is full of joy and love for baseball that few other sports games replicate.
Alongside The Negro Leagues Season 2, Storylines introduces a new Derek Jeter Storylines mode. This mode has the captain himself recount the legendary moments from the first half of his Hall of Fame career. As someone who is a Yankees fan because of Derek Jeter, hearing him talk about what it took for the Yankees dynasty of the late 90s to come together was enjoyable. Then getting to recreate those moments myself put a huge smile on my face. The creative ways SDS was able to recreate moments like Jeter’s jump throw or the fan interference home run in the playoffs showed the potential of modes like Storylines. It was somewhat disappointing though that the mode only goes through the 2000 season, with the rest also coming in a later content update. However, the mode does a good job of making what is available at launch feel like a complete piece. When you finish Jeter’s story, which takes about 90 minutes, you are left wanting more while still feeling satisfied with what was provided.
Road to the Show
Road to the Show desperately needed some love this year after receiving barely any updates last year. The biggest update to the mode this year is the ability to play as a female ballplayer. If you choose to play as a woman, your playthrough will be accompanied by a brand new story that follows your journey to becoming the first woman to play in MLB. I played through this version of the mode with my wife, who has never really watched baseball before. She was grinning from ear to ear as she got to create herself in the game for the first time. The new customization options for female ballplayers are incredibly detailed.
The best part of the new story is your close friend Mia, who is also working her way towards the big leagues at the same time. Giving your ballplayer a close friend who is going through the same struggle as you makes your interactions and choices feel more important. The writing between your character and Mia is very well done and makes these ballplayers feel like real people. It was also nice to see Sarah Langs, one of the most respected women in all of baseball, included in the mode as well. SDS did a great job of making female players who are excited to create themselves for the first time feel welcomed into the game.
Outside of the female storyline though, not much has improved with Road to the Show. The MLB Draft Combine has been added to the beginning of the mode. Here, you run through drills and play some exhibition games to improve your draft stock. This is incredibly similar to the Bowman Scout Day and Topps Showcase games that were in the mode before being removed in MLB The Show 21. This makes the Combine feel more like a recycled feature than something brand new.
On the field, the additional ShowTime situations do make fielding more engaging. You have less time to pull these plays off, so you have to pay attention and stay prepared. It is a good first step to making the actual on-field gameplay of Road to the Show somewhat different from previous years.
Once you get drafted though, Road to the Show is pretty much the same as it has been the last few years. The current loadout and progression system is unchanged from the last few years. I’ve been very vocal about my dislike for this system, as I feel it hurts the enjoyment and replayability of the mode. There is also very little to do outside of playing the actual games in the mode. At least if you create a female ballplayer, you have a fun and engaging storyline to follow as you make your way to the Major Leagues. For male ballplayers, the storyline is pretty similar to previous years. The conversations with your agent and manager are pretty by the numbers and don’t do much to distinguish this year’s version of the mode from previous ones.
Diamond Dynasty
Diamond Dynasty is always a difficult mode to review at launch since so much of the enjoyment of the mode depends on the content updates to come throughout the year. However, in my time with the mode so far, I am enjoying myself. The removal of abundant 99 OVR cards at launch makes the slow progression of my squad more rewarding. I also find myself progressing through programs much faster this year. There is more variety to the objectives, allowing players to unlock the best rewards in the game regardless of how they choose to play. Certain objectives like Battle Royale Flawless were lowered this year, giving more players the chance to earn even more top-tier rewards than before. These quality of life changes show that Diamond Dynasty won’t be giving up the title of most consumer-friendly card-collecting game mode anytime soon.
On the other hand, there isn’t much in the mode at launch that we haven’t seen before. In terms of what you will be doing in Diamond Dynasty, the mode is very similar to the last couple of years. There are no new modes for online or offline, and the overall process of grinding for new cards remains similar to previous years despite being faster to complete. If you’ve enjoyed Diamond Dynasty over the last few years and just wanted some of the few issues ironed out, then you’re going to love the mode this year. Also, if you’ve been holding out on hopping into the mode but want to give it a shot, this is the best time to do it. But if the grind has become too repetitive to you over the last few years and you want something in this mode that you’ve never seen before, you’re likely to be disappointed.
Franchise
Franchise mode’s biggest addition this year is the custom game entry conditions. This is an improvement on the critical moments feature from previous years. Now, you will be able to set how critical of moments you want to be prompted with, as well as how late in a game you want to start seeing these prompts. So if you only want to hop into one-run games in the 9th inning, you can do that. You can also turn on or off player moments. These include situations like keeping a hitting streak alive or finishing out a shoutout.
Once you hop into a moment, if the situation’s importance drops below the threshold you set, you will be asked if you want to continue simulating or play out the rest of the game. If you simulate, you’ll still be notified if the situation’s importance meets your threshold again in that same game. So if you want to just play the key moments of every game, you can now do that. This is such a great way to implement this feature. It lets me hop in and out of key moments in a game and makes getting through a full season of Franchise much faster and more enjoyable.
Alongside this addition, Franchise received a few other additions. An Awards tab was added to player cards to track all of the awards they win throughout their career. This is one addition I have been begging SDS to add for years now, so I am over the moon to see it arrive. The one small gripe I have with it though, is it does not seem to track World Series championships. I would prefer if I was also able to see how many rings a player won in their career.
On top of this, the Top Prospects list was expanded from the Top 50 to the Top 100. You are also now able to view the 20 best prospects in each organization and at each position. The Prospect Promotion Incentives, which give teams additional draft picks for promoting prospects who go on to compete for awards early in their career, have also been added into the mode. Finally, you can now start a Franchise with current MLB injuries included.
The biggest flaw I see with Franchise mode is trade logic could still use some work. Now whether a trade is a good or bad trade is subjective. Also, I don’t mind an occasional bad trade, because bad trades do happen in real life. However, when a handful of these trades happen every year, then some adjustments need to be made. I saw Bobby Witt Jr., one of the best shortstops in baseball who just signed a 10-year extension with the Royals, regularly get traded in the first year of simulation. He is often traded to teams like the Rays, where three of their top five prospects are shortstops.
I also saw weird trades within divisions. For example, the Pirates, after trading for Bo Bichette, decided to trade their young phenom shortstop Oneil Cruz to their division rival Cincinnati Reds. This is even stranger when you remember the Reds have their own phenom shortstop in Elly De La Cruz. While trade logic in general isn’t terrible, some adjustments need to be made for situations like these.
Finally, that brings us to the final game mode, March to October. Not much to report here, as the mode does not seem to have experienced any noticeable changes this year. With the addition of custom game entry conditions, I honestly can’t see why you would play March to October over Franchise at this point. This could be why not much has changed within the mode this year.
Presentation
MLB The Show 24’s presentation feels pretty similar to previous years, which isn’t a bad thing. MLB The Show has always done a great job of presenting the game of baseball to players. From the regional broadcast packages in Franchise and Road to the Show to the sounds of bats and coaches yelling, there is a love for the little details of baseball all throughout.
That being said, there is one big problem with the presentation here. The UI design needs some work. First off, the general background color is very bright. If you’re playing in a dark room, it can be very straining on the eyes. I don’t use dark mode in apps and devices usually, and even I would turn on dark mode immediately for this game if it were available.
Some weird UI glitches appear in a few places. For example, in Conquest mode, every time I attack an opponent, there is this weird flash of white over the screen before and after entering the simulation. I mean, I know I’m attacking them and all, but this shouldn’t feel like I’m back in my Call of Duty days getting flash-banged every two seconds.
There is a ton of writing throughout the game that is very difficult to read. The Captain boosts in Diamond Dynasty have a light green on the white background, which makes the text basically disappear. On player cards in Franchise, the color and font choice for how much player attributes go up or down is nearly unreadable. These are all issues that can be fixed with patches, so hopefully these will be addressed so I’m not squinting at my screen all year long.
Verdict
In a vacuum, MLB The Show 24 is a very good game. The gameplay is among the best I have ever played in a baseball game. The addition of female ballplayers welcomes a whole new audience to the game. The changes to Diamond Dynasty make it by far the best card-collecting mode for no-money-spent players in all of sports gaming.
However, when you compare MLB The Show 24 to the last few entries in the series, it’s clear that to some players, there isn’t enough new here to justify the $70+ price tag. Franchise, despite its improvements, still lags behind in features and logic. The addition of female ballplayers does not change the fact that Road to the Show is almost the same as it has been for a few years now. Storylines is great and reminds us of why we love baseball, but a lot of the content for the mode isn’t in the game yet.
At the end of the day, it depends on which group you fall into. If you’re new to the series and want to pick it up for the first time, you’re going to find yourself falling in love with baseball all over again. If you’ve been playing the game for several years now, then there might not be enough new here to earn your purchase. If you do decide to pick it up though, I don’t think you will regret your purchase. The game is really fun and that’s what video games are supposed to be. If you do get it, I recommend venturing outside your normal modes and sampling all of what the game offers. MLB The Show has a way of celebrating the sport and reminding us fans why we love it in a way no other sports game on the market does.