MLB 16 The Show

You may call me captain obvious when I say that MLB 16 The Show is a good game if you like baseball, but there is no other simpler way to describe what this game is all about. If you like this series, you will like this, it is as simple as that. I feel like Sony started to release the same game for several years and that feeling continued for a few entries after this one. Still, it plays a damn fine game of baseball and this year's installment did add in a few new modes which did help make this stand out a little bit from what came the few years prior to this.

Opening Day!

I have to start by talking about the presentation of MLB 16 The Show which is fantastic! They manage to capture the look and feel of an MLB broadcast pretty much perfectly. Granted, you could take MLB 15 The Show and the following years, MLB 17 The Show that sandwich this game and not be able to tell much of a difference. However, there is no denying that they nail the TV style presentation with this. The camera does feel a bit more dynamic here which I had fun playing with. At the end of the day, this is about as authentic as can be when it comes to being just like what you see on TV.

Let’s Play Ball

MLB 16 The Show is a fun game of baseball. What I like about this series is that this is most certainly a sim style of game, but it is so easy to pick up and play. Both batting and pitching are very easy to figure out and your guys on the field do feel quite smart and never have you getting too mad at them. You have t=your standard modes that fans of the series will be used to such as Road to the Show. The franchise mode is awesome if you want to take your favorite team all the way to the top. In all, there is a lot here to keep you busy, but most importantly, this is a very highly polished game of baseball that is fun no matter how big or casual a fan of the sport you are. The multiplayer is also a whole lot of fun, they added a new kind of battle royal mode this year which I know many hardcore fans got pretty addicted to.

A Real Conquest

For this year's game a new Conquest Mode was added that is part of the Franchise Mode. MLB 16 The Show if you ask me does stand out from what came before it thanks to this mode. In this mode, you have a map of the country that shows all 30 MLB teams and the idea is that each one is a territory, you want to claim all the territories, but to do this you have to beat the other teams and their fans. It is a fun and addictive mode and I give them a ton of props for doing this. It is a fantastic and super fun way to take your franchise mode team that you have built and try to have them take over the world of baseball.

Do I Need This In My Collection?

If you are a big fan of the series and baseball in general, MLB 16 The Show is well worth adding to your collection, even if later games do have more polish, new modes, and so on. I think that the conquest mode is a ton of fun and such a neat idea. However, I do also think that if you are a video game collector, you may want to consider adding this to your physical game collection. The reason that I say that is that this game was the last in the series to be released for the PlayStation 3 and that would make it a kind of fun collectible to have in your video game collection.

Pros:

• If you like baseball, there is no way you will not like this
• The TV style presentation is fantastic
• Conquest Mode is very addictive and a lot of fun
• This is the premier baseball series for a reason

Cons:

• At the end of the day, there are at least 6 titles that all feel, look, and play the same
• Some of the repeated commentary lines can get annoying