Once put in to play, the ball travels more naturally than preceding years, even more than in the very good MLB The Show 18 Stubs , thanks in big part to greater hit variety and more realistic physics. I'm seeing a lot more fading line drives and balls that hug the fouls lines. Weak strikes around the plate also reveal more variety.
Fielding also seems tighter, with players behaving more like their real-life counterparts. This shows up in cases like my Phillies franchise, even in which Rhys Hoskins, a first baseman playing the outfield, has a much harder time closing in on ground balls compared to his natural-outfield teammates. Catchers respond quicker to balls in the dirt compared to previously; if you're used to exploiting slow catchers, prepare yourself to get chucked out more frequently. I have also seen more fluid tags all over the area, though there are still some occasional robotic cartoons.
Beyond gameplay improvements, there are plenty of nice visual tweaks. The most noticeable for me was that the manner that uniforms are now made of different textures. Uniform numbers even shine a tiny bit, just like in real life. Also more realistic this year: skin tones and facial features.
Such as the uniform stripes, these make The Show appear more like a TV broadcast than ever before. This is also as a result of the MLB Network presentation package that yields relatively unchanged.
For me, this really is a lateral movement – I don't strongly prefer one over the other. But while the commentary is usually on-point, it seems somewhat more disjointed than previously.
There are definitely moments of overlapping dialogue, but the comment never really captures the fluid cadence of a real broadcast. I've already heard some erroneous and perennial lines in just a couple of days of play – I was once praised for carrying a pitch that I certainly swung at. Nevertheless, I really do love that MLB The Show 18 comprises more scenario-specific references to previous performance and stats.
But outside of these important but moment gameplay varies, I found the overall package to be a little disappointing. The mainstays of Season and Online Franchise manners are simply gone.
cszcy replied
356 weeks ago