MLB The Show 23 released via early access for pre-order customers on March 24. It releases for everyone else on Tuesday, March 28.
After spending at least a dozen hours playing the game, here is an in-depth review of every major aspect of MLB The Show 23.
Sights, Sound and Feel
During the buildup for the release of MLB The Show 23, Sony San Diego didn’t dedicate any streams or social media posts to advancements in visuals. For the most part, the visual fidelity is on par with what we’ve come to expect from sports video games released in this era.
That’s something that probably won’t ruffle the feathers of the vast majority of players, and it isn’t likely to be a major topic of discussion in most MLB The Show circles. A more active topic for discussion is gameplay changes.
Users who didn’t get a chance to participate in the play test will immediately notice a change in fielding–specifically throwing. There is more of a delay to the display of the throwing meter, and the sweet spot on the meter moves and shrinks to add some challenge and variation. The size of the sweet spot is dictated by the fielder’s ratings and the situation (angle, body position, etc.)
While it’s not a change that most users are describing as game-changing, it is something consumers will recognize when they play the game for the first few times. Another noteworthy change is what Sony has done to differentiate different playing styles.
In an effort to appease the competitive community, the settings for all online head-to-head matchups have been tuned to reduce the randomness that is included in the simulation setting. For example, the competitive settings are less friendly when it comes to making contact with pitches when the plate-coverage indicator is barely touching the baseball. Also, more hard contact will be rewarded with hits, and fewer instances of weak contact will render success.
The simulation settings have been mostly maintained to emulate the randomness that sometimes occurs in real MLB games.
Sony has also taken steps to enhance the sound effects and audio presentation. The game has completely reworked bat sounds designed to convey the different levels of contact made with the baseball. Other baseball sounds have also been reworked, such as slides, mitt pops and more.
The game also includes signature crowd chants for all 30 MLB teams.
The visual presentation for the game has also seen some changes. Users can now choose between The Show theme or a regional package for each game. Regional packages include location-specific overlays and monoliths to drive home the concept of a home network like Marquee for the Chicago Cubs, or TBS for the Atlanta Braves.
The Negro Leagues, which I’ll discuss shortly, also has specific audio and visual presentation associated with the mode and experience.
The Negro Leagues
In many ways, the Negro League - Storylines feature has been the most prominent new addition to this year’s version of MLB The Show. I spoke with Sony San Diego Studios’ Ramone Russell–one of the mode’s biggest inspirations and supporters–about the work that went into making it a reality.
Storylines takes users on an edutainment journey through the careers and impact of eight influential players from the Negro Leagues: Buck O’Neil, Martin Dihigo, John Donaldson, Hilton Smith, Jackie Robinson, Rube Foster, Hank Thompson and Satchel Paige.
Each player’s story is told in a series of Moments called episodes. Most MLB the Show users will recognize the format from previous games. The episodes are almost always preceded by a short intro (30-60 seconds) narrated by the Negro League President Bob Kendrick. Each episode has an objective which progresses you through each series and unlocks several Negro-League-related items that can be used in Diamond Dynasty.
Once the user completes all eight storylines–which includes a 90-overall-rated version of each player–they get a 95-overall-rated Buck O’Neill card for use in DD.
History buffs and those who appreciate the plight, struggles and success of pioneering black Americans will gain great appreciation for this experience above and beyond the DD items that are unlocked for completion.
Diamond Dynasty
Sony introduced an entirely new approach to collector modes in this year’s version of Diamond Dynasty. With their new Sets concept, Sony is releasing 99-overall rated cards at launch. Those cards serve as the chase items for 6-8 weeks until a new set is released and the cycle is repeated.
However, cards that users have become especially attached to from previous seasons can be carried over via the new Wild Card option, which allows users to hold onto their favorite options throughout the life cycle of this year’s game.
Users only get one Wild Card option per Set.
There are also Core cards that can be used during any Set all year. Sony also introduced Captain cards designed to add some flavor to the theme-team trend that has become popular with sports game collector modes.
Those Captain cards also provide potential enhancers for other players in your DD lineup if they meet specific criteria. This feature was added to provide an additional layer to the team-building concept in DD.
Sony also introduced new layers to Mini-Seasons and Ranked Seasons. Mini-Seasons now has three ways to play. Users can start themed-seasons, which are gated similarly to Events. The first themed Mini-Season available is Left Loosey, which requires the user to play through the 28 game season with all lefty hitters and pitchers.
Team Affinity returns throughout DD, and it is used in Mini-Seasons via the use of cards from specific series: Captains, Charisma, Live Series as well as Flashbacks and Legends.
The third way to play Mini-Seasons is in Classic mode, which is the way it functioned when the feature was introduced in MLB The Show 22.
One of the other large changes to DD is the new programs progression. In this year’s game, users will be able to continue to earn XP and rewards even after they have made it to the end of the path. MLB The Show 23 now puts users in a loop that allows them to continue to collect rewards every time they earn 25,000 XP over the designated apex in the reward path.
With the additional layers, DD has more options and asks the users to make more decisions with lineups and overall approach. The game still allows users to earn XP in every mode across the game, which can be spent in DD.
Franchise Mode & March to October
The Show’s franchise mode has taken some criticism from the community over the past few years because of what some users call a lack of depth. In an effort to address those concerns, Sony has made two notable changes.
The first change comes from an in-game addition.
The Show 23’s amateur draft has been fleshed out to include a detailed scouting format. The new format incorporates the unknown element in the draft and scouting. The Show refers to it as “the Fog of War,” which puts users in danger of drafting potential busts based on injuries and poor performance.
There’s also a way to find a diamond in the rough.
The scouting process has multiple stages and is designed to work as a side story to the narrative generated within each user’s franchise mode. These scouting options are also in March to October as Sony takes measures to deepen the accelerated version of franchise mode.
The other addition Sony made this year was a personnel decision. It hired Scott Spindler aka Ridin to assist with creating authentic minor league rosters and other franchise mode concepts.
At launch, this year’s game had what appeared to be 75% more authentic minor leaguers on the base roster than it had at this time last year. Also, Spindler had a hand in adding players from the World Baseball Classic who aren’t on a Major League roster.
Spindler has been a popular member of The Show community for years and his Full Minors roster has been a must-have for many franchise mode fans. It appears The Show games moving forward may have a similar level of detail in their minor league rosters with Spindler on board.
Based on Sony San Diego’s history, it is sensible to expect the development team to continue to add fully-fleshed out microfeatures to boost franchise mode in the future. Perhaps free agency and/or customization will be the area(s) that gets more love in MLB The Show 24.
Road to the Show
The single-player career mode in MLB The Show 23 saw the least amount of individual focus. Based on what I could see in a plethora of hours spent playing the game and looking through preview material, there were only light touches to presentation in Road to the Show.
For users who love to play RTTS more than any other mode, that will be a disappointment. As it stands, the mode is in almost the same position it was in MLB The Show 22 aside from the gameplay changes that affect all modes.
The Bottom Line
The Metacritic score for MLB The Show 23 was 78 at the time of publishing for this article.
In totality, MLB The Show 23 offers a deep baseball simulation with a variety of new features to gameplay, Diamond Dynasty and franchise mode, but almost nothing new in RTTS.
However, if franchise mode, March to October or Diamond Dynasty are your preferred modes, it is likely there will be more than enough new features and enhancements of interest.
A review copy of MLB the Show 23 was provided by Sony.
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