MLB The Show 18 Reviews

REVIEW | Baseball is back! But does MLB The Show 18 hold up? Our full review.

Few annual releases have been as consistent as Sony San Diego Studio’s MLB The Show. Each year the PlayStation-exclusive baseball game manages to deliver a polished experience that improves on the last. The lack of plateauing is especially impressive due to how little competition there is, as it’s not competing against games from 2K or Electronic Arts.

The boo-birds come out when perennial all-stars are ice cold in the opening months of the season. Fans believe these players didn’t take care of themselves in the offseason, and treated spring training like a vacation. In reality, April’s frigid weather and windy conditions impact player abilities and limit the flight of the ball. As the weather heats up, so do these players.MLB The Show 18 is the video game equivalent of the slow starter. Online performance issues have become an unwanted annualized feature – so much so that Sony made online infrastructure a central focus of development this year. In previous years, Sony has patched up or stabilized the online experience as the season progressed. This year, the development team didn’t want the online experience to start out cold, but achieving this goal meant difficult cuts.In prioritizing new technology, Sony was forced to remove online franchise from this year’s game. Offline season mode is also oddly absent. These are two huge avenues of play that delivered different experiences for people – whether it’s shortening up a season for a breezier path to the playoffs or spending significant time battling friends for the pennant. Both are gone.

Bases loaded.

MLB The Show 18 brings everything a baseball fan could want and more to the plate with its diverse mode selection and deep customization options.

The strength of the MLB The Show series has always been its authentic gameplay, which traditionally does a fantastic job capturing the essence of baseball. The 2018 version of The Show continues that trend, creating the most realistic baseball game to date. However, the nuanced gameplay and visual changes don’t quite make up for the lack of innovation – or removal – of MLB The Show’s core modes.

MLB The Show 18 takes the good parts from last year's game, but doesn't build on the series much.

This article is a sequel to our review in progress last week. While we’ll touch on everything again a bit here, for our full thoughts on MLB The Show 18’s single-player modes including Franchise and Road to the Show, give that a read as we’ll be focusing more on Diamond Dynasty and online play more in this scored review.