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I don’t play a ton of sports games, but I’ve always liked Sony’s MLB: The Show series. However, the fatigue of yearly releases is starting to make the franchise lose its luster.

MLB 15: The Show, out now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Vita, is actually the 10th installment in the series (I started playing with MLB: 09 The Show on PlayStation 3 and reviewed this year’s version on PlayStation 4). It’s been the best baseball game in the industry for years, but it’s struggled in recent years to add enough new features to really justify annual purchases outside of roster updates.

This year’s release isn’t any different.

Above: “I have to go now. My planet needs me.”

What you’ll like

Still a great baseball game

MLB: The Show nailed digital baseball a long time ago. Pitching, batting, and fielding all work great, and each offer as much choice and complexity as the real thing. And just like real baseball, you’ll need to put in some work to learn ever facet of the game.

Luckily, the Road to the Show mode enables you play as a single player, which is a nice way to learn one position at a time. It also adds role-playing game mechanics, since you earn experience after every outing that you can use to increase your stats. You also progress through a simulated career that starts in the minor leagues. This year, you can even import a Road to the Shower player from last year’s game, so you don’t necessarily have to start from scratch. It’s still The Show’s best mode.

Dynasty Mode

I haven’t been a big fan of The Show’s attempts at making fantasy teams before, but this year’s Dynasty Mode was a bit more interesting for me. You can buy packs of baseball cards with an in-game currency that you can either slowly earn by playing or by buying with real money. Each card represents a player that you can put on your team. Maybe it’s just because it reminds me of unlocking new cards in games like Magic: The Gathering and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, but this was a fun way to unlock players.

Above: They’re really reaching here.

What you won’t like

I’ve been playing this game forever

Again, MLB 15: The Show is undeniably good, but I’m just kind of bored of it by now. Yes, little changes each year are nice, but they’re becoming harder to notice. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have known some features were new if I hadn’t researched them online. Everything is just bleeding together. Someone just told me today that players have new animations where they won’t hustle as much to first base if it’s obvious they’re going to be thrown out. That’s nice. I didn’t really notice, but that’s nice.

I’m sympathetic, really. MLB 15: The Show is a victim of its own success. What can they really do? They can’t change too much, since the formula is already so solid. And they can only add so many new features. Baseball is baseball, after all. But I’m really beginning to wonder if the business model of selling a new baseball game every year really has a place in a modern age when rosters and new features could easily be updated with patches.

In-game money ickiness

I said earlier that you can use real money to buy players for your team via packs of cards. You can also use money to buy bundles of experience points for your Road to the Show player. Now, the latter is one thing. It’s basically permitting people to pay money to cheat. Lame, but whatever. However, the in-game currency that you use to buy card packs is really hard to come by. You’ll only earn a little bit when you complete a game. If you really want to get some new players for your team, you’re going to have to pay some actual money. It’s a kind of questionable practice I’d expect to find in a free-to-play game, but MLB 15 The Show is fully priced at $60 on PlayStation 4.

Above: Something just doesn’t look right about that face.

It still doesn’t feel like a huge upgrade from PlayStation 3

This is the second game in the series to come out for PlayStation 4, and I still don’t really notice a huge difference between it and the PlayStation 3 versions. Now, part of the problem is that the PlayStation 3 versions looked incredibly good for their time. Still, I wish The Show on PlayStation 4 could wow me like the series used to last generation.

At best, it looks fine. At worst, you’ll literally see flat, 2D images of cars scrolling across bridges in the background. It’s a cheap graphical trick that immediately ruins any sense of immersion.

Conclusion

It’s weird when you feel so unenthusiastic about a game that you know is “good.” This used to be a series that I would never miss. These days, I’d probably take a long break from The Show if I could.

If you’ve never played it before, maybe you’ll feel the same magic I did back in 2009. But if you’ve been with the series for a while, you’ll feel the same fatigue that I do.

Score: 70/100

MLB 15 The Show is out now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Vita. The publisher provided us with a code for the PlayStation 4 version for the purposes of this review.

MLB 15 The Show includes a lot of new features and upgrades to the franchise, but today we’re excited to show off the graphical improvements our studio’s made to the game. We’ve added new minor league stadiums, introduced dynamic sun generated in real-time, and as a special shout out to the grounds crews across the MLB, we’ve upgraded the grass patterns at each MLB stadium to reflect each ballpark’s unique look.Check out at the video below for a detailed look at the graphical and lighting upgrades made to The Show this year.Follow MLB The Show on, and to get a behind the scenes look at the development of The Show with new screenshots and video shorts with MLB players.And don’t forget everyone’s essential Spring Training ritual: pre-ordering The Show. Pick up the 10th Anniversary Edition while supplies last (/) or the Standard Edition (/) of MLB 15 The Show for PS4 to ensure you receive your DUALSHOCK4 skin from Skinnit.

And if you pre-order from you will receive your bonus 6 item packs.Also be sure to check out all the archived MLB 15 The Show developer Twitch streams at. And be sure to follow the channel for updates on more Twitch streams as we near launch.

People, for the love of gaming, STOP supporting these yearly franchises! It’s 2015 and they still use an old engine. And despite what we’re told, they do NOT make the best game they can. If they did they wouldn’t be able to sell new ones every year.

There are always issues and a lack of features because the devs always need something they can improve upon for the next installment. Wouldn’t you be happy to go a couple years without a “new” MLB if it meant we’d truly get the best game possible, with solid online, all the features and modes you want and visuals that really take full advantage of the PS4 hardware?Remember how incredible Fight Night: Champion was? That game received much needed time and passion and we received something great and different that blew away previous installments.

MLB: The Show could be that if you’d stop buying it and force the series to be reevaluated. “People, for the love of gaming, STOP supporting these yearly franchises! ”League licenses cost a LOT of money. You have to sell games to justify the expense. The Show his highly regarded and, while not a massive commercial hit like Madden or FIFA, it sells enough every year to keep going.

It’s the best baseball series I’ve ever played, and while I have a few nitpicks every year, it’s still my favorite game. I’ll keep buying it every year, because every year I get far more than $60 worth entertainment out of it. Champion is not even comparable to The Show, as it wasn’t just some rehashed cash-grab that was rushed out in a year. It’s the only Fight Night game I bought because it was done properly. Interesting boxers, story mode, legacy mode, perfect controls, most realistic graphics since Heavy Rain. What was done with FN: Champion is exactly what I want done with The Show. I’m not saying it needs to become an entirely different game, but it needs to be given more than a year of development time.

It needs to be made without a pre-destined fate. They are already thinking about MLB 16. They already know that in 2 years they are going to shut down servers for MLB 15. MLB fans act as if these games are being made for them. These games are made for money, not as a favor. Each year I read countless complaints about how batting could be improved, how popular modes that were in last year’s game didn’t make it in the new one etc. These are BIG issues that are created intentionally so that repeat customers have a “reason” to buy the next one.

They could make the ultimate MLB game that would last years and even sell roster updates and new modes through DLC, but they make WAY more money taking $60 from the same people every year. @pac no comment about the FN frameset drop which if I turn on my ps3 and open the game up, it still doesn’t happen. And also if they added in all the features in one ultimate game, made dlc and roster updates then I don’t think they’d be able to afford to make the game at all or keep it running. Like the other person said, it cost money to use the MLB, the teams and the players.

How do you know it’s not the MLB that’s the greedy ones? Think about it, it is one of the highest paying sport league. You think unrealistically.

My suggestion buy an updated game every 2-3 year’s if you like the franchise. Upgrade only when necessary. I’d still be playing my career in 13 right now if my ps4 wasn’t taking up my gaming time. And I had at least 8 full legacy career modes in FN. But think about more reasons why FN stopped coming out.

Definition of anodyne. (Entry 1 of 2) 1: serving to alleviate pain the anodyne properties of certain drugs. 2: not likely to offend or arouse tensions: innocuous his speech contained a single anodyne reference to the man who preceded him.— John F. A medicine that relieves or allays pain. Anything that relieves distress or pain: The music was an anodyne to his grief. Anodyne meaning. When Rosamond was quiet, and Lydgate had left her, hoping that she might soon sleep under the effect of an anodyne, he went into the drawing-room to fetch a book which he had left there, meaning to spend the evening in his work-room, and he saw on the table Dorothea's letter addressed to him. View in context.

Boxing costs too much. How much does mayweather get paid for just one fight? They had FN come out 04,05,06,09,11. Doesn’t sound like enhancements but it was getting too pricey. Really, guys, there is a clear difference between right and wrong here. This is not about opinion.

Stop making excuses like Sony is your family and you have to defend them no matter what. This series IS about taking your money. They don’t need to pump out a slightly more polished clone every year to stay afloat.

This is SCE, not some low-budget indie studio. Do you think Gran Turismo games are cheap to make? Does anyone realize how much goes into one of those games?

Do you know why Polyphony Digital spends years making each realease the best game they have ever made? Because that’s what matters to them and to their fans and THAT’S what makes the games profitable. For years, they continue to support the titles through updates, and this dedication has the same fans buying each new release. You’ve heard MLB fans say they’ll buy one game then wait a couple years to buy another. That speaks volumes.

If SCE SD weren’t releasing these every year, then every installment could be worth buying. As it stands, none of them are worth it, but most of you are too blind and have no principles to recognize that. “These games are made for money, not as a favor. ”Oh, so like all video games.League sports titles have a different economic model from racing or boxing.

The leagues want a game out every year, and that is written into the licensing contracts. You can’t just take two years off without breaking terms of the contract. Doing so would be insane anyway. It’s ridiculous to refuse to put out a product that people want, and fans of league-based video games want a new game every year that reflects changes in the sport, however minor you might deem them. You’re leaving a lot of money on the table if you don’t release a game, and this is a business.

And besides that, releasing a game every year doesn’t stop you from improving your game.Your whole argument here just doesn’t make any sense. You can say it’s dumb from a consumer standpoint to buy a sports game every year because the upgrades are so minor — that’s fine — but to claim that The Show 18 would be way better if The Show 15 never came out is just fantasy.(And by the way, Fight Night Champion was such a huge success that it got the series shelved indefinitely.).

@25 – You’re flat-out wrong, plain and clear. And please, spare me your attempts to appear as if you know SCE’s internal business deals. That alone invalidates your entire rant. Not only do you not have the slightest comprehension of what you are talking about, but you are determined to prove that you do.

Because you’re a MLB fan? Get over yourself and attempt to see the bigger picture.Yes, MLB 18 WOULD be way better if it spent 3-4 years in development and was built from the ground up. To suggest that it wouldn’t, and that in 1 year they have reached the limit of the studio’s and the franchise’s potential is shockingly absurd. Just think before you speak.GT has to make plenty of arrangements when it comes to licencing. With 1k different cars, all needing to be accurate in both terms of appearance and all manners of physics, it’s a huge undertaking.

Not to mention that they continue to add cars, tracks and modes post launch. Your comment about Fight Night: Champion is completely irrelevant, unless your intention was to say that it would have been more successful if it was Fight Night Round 5 and if a new title was released every year? I’m not going to try to make sense of something that doesn’t. We can only speculate as to why that game didn’t achieve more sales, and my assumption – which is all any of us can offer – is that people were let down by Round 4 and didn’t want to give Champion a chance.But again, that’s irrelevant.

“Get over yourself and attempt to see the bigger picture.” “Shockingly absurd.” “Just think before you speak.”I’ll just say that you don’t have a very persuasive way of making your points. It’s pretty clear you have less interest in talking about reality than simply screeching about the bad corporate man who’s out to get you by offering you a video game or something. I’m going to go ahead and bow out of this fantastic discussion. Good luck with your business idea of taking already great games, burning them down, starting from scratch for some reason, and going three years without releasing anything.

Facts are persuasive, and that’s what I bring to the table. I’m not interested in making a friend of you.

For someone who has decided to “bow out”, you sure blew a lot of smoke and sarcasm, further emphasizing that your presumptuous and illogical statements had been debunked. For that, I thank you. Your opinion of this franchise has been noted, but that’s not what I came here to discuss. Believe it or not, I want to see great things from this game and the studio behind it. The game industry as a whole is in a very rocky place right now, with so many of these samey games being pumped out just for a quick buck.

This generation of sequels will meet an inevitable end if gamers stop believing that this is all done for their benefit. Have you noticed how often people complain about Assassin’s Creed? But so many of those complainers still buy it because it makes them feel relevant to ride the hype train. We CAN make a difference.

This stuff won’t simply continue to happen unless WE allow it. Show these companies that we won’t support it and they’ll be forced to rethink their practices and provide us with something compelling. Pan – You’re a bag egg plain and simple. Let me run this down.

EA: brings out fight night three consecutive years then every other year for two years. Boxing is HIGHLY paid. Therefore the only LOGICAL explanation, they don’t have the money to keep producing games year in year out for it.

Which is why 3 years in a row they did right? Talk about “franchise” games that come out every year.

EA is one of the most known to have that. They are out to make the most money they can and you can tell by the way they do their games in progressive years. So yeah my “rant” about FN is completely logical, you’re just someone. I have no idea what I’m talking about? Okay, enlighten me how much these companies pay to use the organization? How many people work on this project year in and year out?

How much does it take altogether to produce such a game using so many teams, players, and names for likeness rights, licensing rights, and all of that legal stuff? That’s what I thought. The show, is a great game.

You need to get over yourself. Sounding like a two year old now.

I enjoy a good debate, but none of you have proven capable. The first problem is that this isn’t something that any of you has any business arguing about. I’m speaking in defense of the entire gaming community vs.

Companies that seek to profit by taking advantage of people. Second, the most important, basic rule of debating is having your facts straight; None of you have a clue what it is that you’re talking about. You are feeling defensive and your arguments are biased, and you are allowing your fandom to cloud your comprehension of the truth, rather than being objective. And if you aren’t being objective, then your thoughts/opinions/arguments aren’t worth hearing.

Don’t engage someone when you don’t understand the topic. Don’t make embarrassing attempts to discuss the finer details of a business that you know nothing about. Shut your mouth and open your eyes and ears to reality. You are contributing to an enormous problem, and at this rate you won’t realize it until the game industry crashes again.

As a gamer – and I’m willing to bet a much more devoted gamer than you – I sincerely look forward to that day. We need it, every last one of us. To the whole team at San Diego Studios.

Great job on this year edition of MLB the Show 15. I love it all. The biggest thing was fixing the issues of last year online play.

There’s so many little things you guys did graphically that will go un-notice by some. But as a fan for the last 10 years I’m appreciate every little detail.

All those twitch posts you guys did was great but its nothing to experiencing the game yourself. At times during a partly cloudy game and the cloud cover would blank out the sun. It made me feel like I was at the game.

In all my years of playing I’ve never felt that. MLB2K sure did some wind effect blowing debris around but this is on another level. If you name a baseball game I bet I’ve played it. Even the beloved High Heat Baseball by 3DO which Microsoft brought and didn’t do anything with that IP. All I can say thank GOD for SDS team and MLB series.

Great job SDS from a loyal fan. Sony this is one of the reason I have brought all your systems over the years.