MLB The Show 24 Review – a worthwhile step forward

MLB The Show 24 is finally out, and just in time for the new MLB season. For the first time in a while, Sony San Diego has made some significant changes. Most of the same game modes are present, but there are some newcomers along with tweaks that make this a step in the right direction. When it comes to baseball simulation games, there just aren’t many out there. That doesn’t give Sony San Diego a free pass, though. They still need to put forth a quality game, and it’s far from perfect, but they have done so here. 

Road to the Show is better than ever. There’s a real sense of progression through a farm system outside of the standard overall increases. Your player can play so well that they are forced to move you up regardless of what your rating currently is. If you’re a veteran who knows how to play, your trip through the minors can be a quick one, which is ultimately a positive.

Additionally, no matter what difficulty you have the game set on, there’s a distinct difference between the minor leagues and major leagues. When you finally get that call up, the game becomes harder even if your setting hasn’t moved. 

This is a fantastic change that adds some much-needed realism. The grind to making it as an MLB player is better represented virtually than in years past. For example, I rarely struck out in my 60 odd minor league games. Through no more than five at MLB level, I have struck out multiple times despite not changing the difficulty. There’s always an adjustment made in real baseball, and Sony has finally mastered it virtually. 

The addition of women as playable characters is wonderful, too. There’s no reason one half of Sony’s audience has been unable to represent themselves in this mode for so many years. There are plenty of options for customization, and that’s what a game mode of this nature is all about.

You can completely design your own individual batting stance. Your gear can be unique, fun, and creative. There is a wide variety of possible looks for both male and female, so each created player will be almost nothing like the rest. 

New mechanics on defense in this mode are another addition, one that can be both positive and negative. When playing the field, your RTTS character will normally throw the ball with the joystick and the right trigger. Sometimes, they randomly task you with a long, unforeseen string of buttons.

When you’re expecting the joystick control, you waste time thinking and can’t get the throw off in time in most instances. It makes it more challenging and gives some control variety in an otherwise monotonous part of the game, but it’s a very difficult acclimation to make. 

Storylines mode is a welcome upgrade to MLB The Show. The ability to go back and play moments in MLB history was an awesome part of some previous games, and it’s back with more epic narratives for you to try. They are sometimes a bit too challenging, which is a downside since this can force players to repeat missions endlessly with no luck.

The Negro Leagues have long been under-represented and largely forgotten about in the baseball landscape, so it’s fantastic to see Sony put such an emphasis on them in MLB The Show 23 and 24. It’s more prominent than ever this time around. 

Franchise Mode is strong once again, but it hasn’t changed all that much. It’s great fun to take over a franchise and guide them to success or maintain a dynasty, but Sony hasn’t messed with the formula. There wasn’t much reason to as Franchise has been a staple of so many iterations that fans love. It’s not an improvement on games past, but it’s lovely to see that it’s still as reliably fun as ever. 

The real money-maker for MLB The Show is always the Diamond Dynasty mode. The card-collecting team-building mode draws in so many players. The vast majority of those who stream this game are opening packs and doing missions. Therefore, it’s arguably the most important one for the developers to nail. 

I hesitate to say they’ve nailed it, but I have never been all that into this style of play as a whole. It is, truth be told, a better version of the format than other sports games, but it’s nothing amazing. In a yearly playthrough, I prefer to grind the other modes while letting Diamond Dynasty slowly add better cards. 

Later on in the mode, it’s much easier to build the team of your dreams than it is at the start, but Diamond Dynasty has no major issues in MLB The Show 24. It will continue to be the most popular mode since there’s nothing wrong with it other than it being a little bland and boring, and most gamers do love the thrill of trying and pulling a diamond from a pack. 

There are some negatives with the game, though. Hitting is still not as realistic as it could be.A swinging bat is not the same over and over again. Players can and do adjust mid-swing to either stop, change direction, or aim a little better, as well as adjust to the speed of the pitch. 

It’s a small thing, but it does remove some realism. Mastering that in mechanics is something most sports games have struggled with over the years, because it is challenging to simulate and mirror what a human might do and how they might do it. 

Unfortunately, there are some bugs present as well. There’s one glitch that takes away a home run after causing the ball to travel for what seems like 1,000 feet. That’d be a home run in every park that has ever existed, but this glitch changes that. 

There’s a particularly humorous issue that mixes up the gendered pronouns of your RTTS player. My player, a male, has been wrongly referred to a few times. Another bug lets players bunt and send the ball flying into the outfield for extra bases. 

The knuckleball is effectively unhittable, too. It’s supposed to be a difficult pitch to hit with unpredictable movement, but it’s broken in MLB The Show 24. Any pitcher who has it is almost overpowered right now. These issues can be cleaned up, but they weren’t at launch, which is disappointing. 

Whoever is in charge of player ratings at Sony is also struggling this year. There are a few very head-scratching choices on player overalls. No sports game ever gets these right, but more than a few in MLB The Show 24 are mind-boggling, to say the least. Juan Soto at 91? Mike Trout still a 99? Eury Perez an 89? These just don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense. They don’t make a massive difference to the game, but it is something that sort of pulls you out of the experience for a bit. 

MLB The Show 24 is much like the sport of baseball. Even if you don’t nail it every time, you’re going to be successful. They haven’t hit 1.000 in this game, but they’re definitely batting well above .300, and that’s an elite metric. 

Reviewed on PS5. Game provided by the publisher.