San Diego Studios’ MLB (Major League Baseball) The Show released the 2024 edition in mid-March, and so far the game has had some mixed reviews from the public. The game is currently rated at 3 stars on the Xbox review page as of April 8, 2024, with some players saying that the game is groundbreaking in its field while others saying that the game is a carbon copy of others in the same genre. In my time playing the MLB The Show 24, I have found it to be entertaining and engaging with its new additions and alterations to the animations.
MLB The Show is $60 on both Xbox and PlayStation consoles and is available on both old-gen (Xbox One/PlayStation Four) and new-gen consoles (Xbox series X/PlayStation Five). Xbox players with the Game Pass subscription are able to install the game for no added cost.
I have been playing MLB The Show 24 for a month and I have seen there is not that much of a difference from the MLB The Show 23. The game offers new pitching options, such as more sliders and curve-balls with slightly more break than last game while making some pitches harder to throw. These changes were implemented to encourage players to use a wider variety of pitches, so I don’t mind them; however, my personal pitching choices have always been diverse, so this change does not affect me.
Additionally, newer and more accurate animations have been added to accommodate the growing diversity in play styles of real-life MLB players. Throwing the ball in any way has also been changed, with fielding seeing a slight increase in inaccurate throws – making the game harder for a player that is fielding during a game.
Modern menus and story modes have been a new edition to MLB The Show 24, deviating from the original rustic and industrial style that the game has held over the last couple of years. The menu is no longer dark with bold wording; instead, the menu includes over 30 different animations and new symbols. Story modes have had a greater pool of attention from San Diego Studios, so new storylines like the Negro Leagues and Derek Jeter have been added.
Over 400 new animations have also been added to batting, fielding, pitching, running, and celebrations, with the focus of this change the intention of capturing the true emotion of the game along with the players of real life. I think this change is amazing because I love watching baseball because of the emotion behind the game. With the more realistic celebrations, if I hit a home-run, it feels as if I am celebrating with the players.
Though the game has these improvements, there are drawbacks. The developers are known in the gaming community to be slow with fixing bugs and glitches. One of the biggest problems is frame rates: the average for a gaming console is 60 frames per second but when playing the game, there could be long periods of time when the frame rate drops to 30 or even 20 frames per second.
When batting, the speed of the ball is simulated to real time, which means there is very little reaction time to hit the ball. With the drop in frame rates, hitting the ball is next to impossible due to the fact that you don’t have enough frames to react accurately to the ball.
Other than glitches and lag, MLB The Show 24 is a great game – nowhere near perfect, but it proves to be very fun overall. In order to fully enjoy the game, players should be at least a small fan of baseball. I don’t think this game is worth $60, but for someone with a Game Pass subscription, I think it’s worth it.
