MLB 15: The Show Reviews
The only baseball game in town for next-gen consoles is more realistic throughout, from players and stadiums to the inclusion of real-world news event. Importing your saved game from MLB 14 is a leap forward for all sports games, but the bad calls and awful online mode are hugely disappointing.
Sony San Diego's hardball sim only sees incremental changes this year, but several of them—particularly directional hitting—are welcome. The core game remains solid and even spectacular in places, but online continues to be a total joke.
While still a fun and accurate depiction of America's pastime, MLB 15: The Show does little to move the franchise forward, and is hampered by the same recurring online issues.
MLB 15: The Show has improved in just about every conceivable area from its previous incarnation. So why does it feel so stale?
This year's "Show" continues the series' tradition of being a gorgeous taste of what its like to play professional sports. It's so gorgeous that it's not only the best looking sports game out there, it's in the running for best looking game period. Some scenes make it difficult to differentiate from the real thing. This is the baseball sim gold standard, but compared to what? It's the best baseball game because it's the only baseball game. Marginal improvements will continue to be the trend for this series until another team comes along to give it some competition.
MLB 15: The Show smoothes out some issues that MLB 14 had last year. The graphical portion of the game is the biggest improvement with MLB 15 and something you'll see right from the start. In addition to visuals, the game's upgrades and additions in its modes, as well as some unexpected elements, make it a much better experience than last year's title.
As history has told us, baseball isn’t for everyone. But for those who have embraced the sport MLB15: The Show offers the essential experience for any baseball fan, providing players with an authentic, well-designed and comprehensive experience that will take fans for a sensational ride.
For a more arcade-style (but surprisingly deep) baseball game , check out our review of Super Mega Baseball! - Ed.
MLB 15 The Show is yet another title in a series that provides Playstation users with a wonderful and enjoyable series of baseball games.
You might not feel blown away by The Show 15 with anything new, but you'll be blown away once more by everything that this series has done right for so long.
MLB 15: The Show's level of perfectionism is obsessive, making it a necessary pairing for baseball traditionalists.
MLB 15: The Show is remarkable in that it adheres to a method of gameplay that's absent in most sports games. By privileging patience, attention to detail, and creating a system that rewards minor adjustments to the way we play (not unlike strategy adjustments in the real life MLB), MLB 15: The Show remains one of the only sports games on the market that not only has a distinctive and engaging look and feel, but also pushes an admirable ideology that, however subtly, explores how we engage with sports and videogames.
MLB 15: The Show doesn't really launch us into a new stratosphere of simulation gaming. The upgrades and improvements are there but a lot the game still feels underwhelming, simply due to its age. Even so, it's impossible not to recommend this game to baseball lovers, as the purity and authenticity of the mechanics and physics, engrossing Road to the Show Mode, and unrestrained depth can keep you entertained for many months.