Sony has hit another home run with their release of MLB The Show 12. Throughout the years, baseball has always been one of those games where either you like it or you don’t. With this new addition to the series, even the hardcore sports loathers will become lovers.
This series has always been a favorite among sports fans myself included, because of the way that they always seemed to keep your focus and attention making you want to play time and time again. The controls for The Show games have never been bad either which can definitely screw things up as some felt in Fight Night Round 4. The main thing about the series that I love is the fact that they keep the rosters up-to-date making it easier to play with the dream team of my choice. Sony has kept everything that you enjoyed from the previous games and added many new features. The additions have made a great difference to The Shows’s gameplay experience with new play mechanics, upgraded graphics, and so much more.
The gameplay is the same as you remembered, but a lot has been added to submerge players into the game making its difference from reality as blurry as beer goggles. The first change that I noticed was the improved load times which may be a small change, but I’m not complaining.
A new and welcomed mode has been added to this slug fest by the name of “Diamond Dynasty” mode. In this mode, players have to option to create a full-fledged custom team all the way down to the logo with up to 1,000 layers of detail. Dynasty players are rewarded with an award/achievement system that to me seems way more demanding than playing with the average MLB roster players. Even though this may be more demanding, it’s also way more rewarding because you will be able to have a team with everything that you could possibly dream up aside from a panda bear outfielder. A man can only dream, though. Most of the budget to train your team comes from online and “vs. CPU” matches. Every five games, your team will be re-evaluated to be placed in one of five divisions from Spring Training to the World Series.
Franchise mode has made a few new changes making it easier for anyone to get into the series. Players are now given more variety and realism during character generation. The newly updated Road to the Show has received training modes to improve yours skills on the field and on the mound while also making your created character a Double-A starter. The rosters are also updated to stay as close to real life as humanly possible during any of the modes.
To spice things up a little bit, Sony has decided to combine the old MLB 12 The Show’s analog controls with the new “Zone Analog Batting System”. The right analog is still used to control your stride and swing while the left is now used for zoning to help choose which zone to swing in. It sounds like it may be a difficult task but after a few tries it’s pretty darn simple. The pitch control is still fairly the same with “X” still executing a simple pitch. The only difference in it is that there is now an on-screen display to help ensure accuracy. All of the other pitching aspects have been improved creating easier access for players.
With the Vita released, Sony has of coursed worked that little system in to make your season a lot more accessible. They have incorporated what they like to call “cross platform saves” where you just transfer your save file from your PS3 or Vita and send it to the other system. Now it doesn’t matter which you’re playing, you’ll always have your teams by your side.
While playing I couldn’t help but realize how great the graphics are for this game. The lighting, shadows, and even physics just make the game even more realistic. On top of that, Sony has improved on what they like to call their “TruBroadcast Presentation” by improving non-player character AI, revamping the cameras, and providing a great audio experience. The way that they went about replays is nothing even close to mind blowing but it was done well enough to where it was extremely easy to thoroughly rub a home run in my friend’s face. The graphics and all around presentation has been greatly improved giving you an even better experience stealing your time from the rest of the world (or wife) for a few hours.
MLB 12 The Show is definitely a welcome addition to the series. With the improved realism and character creation, I had an easy yet rewarding time putting myself into the game. The AI was is definitely smarter this time around, making me feel like I wasn’t playing with a bunch of Psyducks. On top of that, with the improvements to the pitching and hitting, this game couldn’t be more entertaining. I think that this new addition to the series and is sure to please. *Smacks Butt* Good game, Sony!
