The decision by the International Cricket Council to choose the United States – along with the West Indies – as a host for the T20 Cricket World Cup was meant to show Americans that there’s more to bat and ball sports than just baseball.
The USA’s monumental upset victory against Pakistan and their barnstorming defeat of Canada in the Group Stages has seen Monank Patel’s American Eagles soar on into the Super Eight’s and ignite the first flames of cricket fever in the country.
That said, despite the ICC and Patel’s best efforts, we think Americans are more likely to continue betting on MLB Lines than cricket. But, would American sports fans be better off playing a cricket based video game or sticking to the tried and trusted MLB The Show?
In this article we attempt to answer that by reviewing the latest game in the series, so that you know whether to buy the game, or spend your money elsewhere. Read on to find out if MLB The Show 24 is worth your time and money…
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It Depends
On who you ask… If you Google ‘MLB The Show 24 Reviews’, you will be greeted with a heap of articles giving the game 5 stars out of 5, or 9/10 ratings as a minimum. The problem with a lot of these reviews is they all have the hint of sponsored content about them.
They’re corporate sounding, as if the media team from San Diego Studio has sent out a briefing to writers with key areas that they want discussed. Just in case the legal team from SDS are reading, we’re not saying that has happened, we’re just speculating – but believe us, this thing tends to happen a lot with other games, and we mean a lot!
What adds more credence to that theory is the fact that the game has been rated appallingly by actual players. If you Google it you will see that the game has an overall rating of 1.9 out of 5 and the majority of those reviews start with sentences like this:
“This is by far the worst game I’ve ever had the opportunity to play…”
It’s a similar story if you look elsewhere, such as on the PlayStations store, where the game has a slightly higher but still relatively poor rating of 3.84/5. Then if you head to the MLB The Show subreddit, you’ll see a plethora of complaints and a sticky thread to report all the technical issues and glitches with the game.
Ultimately the decision of who to believe is down to you; do you put your trust in the reviewers who may or may not have been paid to write favourable reviews, or do you take a look at what the player base is saying?
(One of the tamer online reviews of MLB The Show 24.)
Why is MLB The Show 24 so bad?
After playing the game for well over 10 hours and taking account of all the reviews, it’s fair to say that our judgement tallies almost identically with the wider player base. This game is utterly dreadful and not worth the time, effort or money and here’s why:
Nothing’s Changed
The problem with the baseball video game market is that there simply isn’t enough competition to keep developers on their toes. If you look across the pond to the soccer market, the Golden Age of soccer games undoubtedly came in the 2000s when Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA were duking it out for supremacy.
They pushed each other on and the end result was that fans were left with two great soccer titles every year that were always improving. Then Pro Evolution died a death and the FIFA monopoly began which has been catastrophic for soccer gaming fans.
FIFA has stagnated year on year and fans are left with an inferior product and that’s what seems to be happening in the baseball world. MLB The Show 24 is almost identical to its predecessor and some would say to the game before that, so why would you spend a fortune on downloading last year’s game with a roster update?
Glitch Fest
Another thing that the developers appear to have scrimped on is fixing the technical issues with the game. As we mentioned above, there is a sticky thread on the subreddit dedicated to reported glitches and bugs.
That shouldn’t be the case with a AAA gaming title that has millions of fans across the globe not just paying for the game, but regularly spending money on in-game transactions.
It’s Capitalist Muck
Sorry to sound all Karl Marx here, but MLB The Show 24 is the embodiment of the very worst of capitalism. It doesn’t even hide its disdain for players with the upfront price and then rigs every competitive element of the game so that the only way to stay competitive is to spend, spend, spend.
It just feels like this game is trying to bleed you dry of your hard-earned cash at every turn and that’s not a good feeling to have when you’re playing a game that’s supposed to be relaxing.
(This game wants your money and it wants it now!)
In Summary: Is MLB The Show 24 Worth it?
No.
