Baseball is America’s pastime. Some people just like to watch, some just like to play, but some people spend insane amounts of time studying sports statistics. These detail-oriented fans hammer out statistics of every single part of the game and every single player to get that extra edge over other fans. MLS The Show 16 caters to the stat die-hards nicely. This is not required though. If like me, you don’t have that level of statistical interest you are still able to collect and create a fun team of players.
Create your team for MLB The Show 16
Fans of the series need not worry about the team they built and worked with the MLB The Show 15. There is a really neat feature that you can import last years saved game in this year, otherwise you start off creating a new player and a new team. This can be quite detailed as they have created a very advanced editor and graphic customization. You can change every single detail of uniforms and logos to make your dream team. You can also share your creation with the world via upload function.
In each game mode you play you collect cards and packs. These unlock equipment, players and other items like stadiums. There are countless cards to collect. Entire teams. There are also some missions you can do that will get you rare and special cards.
Game Modes in MLB The Show 16 Review
There are several game modes available to play. Road to the Show, Diamond Dynasty, Franchise Mode. I dove right into playing various tutorials. And boy is there a lot of tutorials. You can spend many hours just going through the initial advance setups and explanations for all of these games modes. It was a little overwhelming. I wanted to just hit some balls and play a game. 🙂
Road to the Show offers many options as well, but I started off in “Scout Draft Days”. This interactive experience made your character go through playing in front of “the Scouts”. Depending on how you do in this initial training/scouting, you will get recruited by a better team. I didn’t really enjoy this part. I found you couldn’t really skip around and you would get stuck pitching a ball over and over with no way to get out, as you progressed through the scouting.
I tried out some of the practice modes and a home run hitting mode. These were more fun as I competed head to head with a friend of mine for who could get the most home runs in 5 minutes. The game began to get more fun and started to feel like a baseball game I wanted to play.
Diamond Dynasty mode has some changes from previous years with several game modes available. Battle Royal and Conquest Mode. I played both of these a few times to get a feel for it. Battle Royal allows you to select a unique 25 player team and play head to head live against a real opponent. It’s rather fun and exciting to pitch, hit and catch balls from another real world player. Innings last 3 rounds and its a fun experience that I really enjoyed. When they pause the game, your game pauses also I noticed. Thankfully, they always returned shortly, but it was nice to know a real person was over there.
Conquest mode starts off with a ‘Risk’ board game type feel. You place your fans and it’s your job to attack other teams and take their fans away. You also play games in between here with your team. This is a neat little side component to offer a break from the pitching and hitting.
Graphic and Audio MLB The Show 16 Review
I was really impressed with the graphics and how everything looked. The players looked great, their cards sometimes had actual face images of the players imported in. The field was great with grass blowing in the wind. Other times I felt the audience moved systematically like robots and it detracted from the game. Many of the characters seemed to have those “soulless eyes”. The commentators were probably my favorite part. Depending on what happened with your pitching and hitting, they updated what they were saying. For example, I tried to bunt twice in a row and they piped right in with how shocking it was that the hitter ‘tried to bunt twice’. It was artificial intelligence which was on point, and not repetitive in any way. It made me feel like I was really watching a live game while playing it at the same time. So my original point of not being super into a sports video game, has been addressed.
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Final Thought for MLB The Show 16 Review
Overall I enjoyed playing some of the modes of this game and spent several hours trying all the various parts out. I don’t think I scratched even the surface of what the game is capable of. Some of these game modes were quite fun and I fully enjoyed planning out my team. Some parts were super technical and complicated, but I think those parts are targeting a different audience. You can still enjoy the game even if you are not Mr/Mrs Stats too. If you have a baseball sports fan in your life, MLB The Show 16 , as one of the best baseball games I’ve seen, might just be what you are looking for whether you are a casual or a hardcore baseball player.
