MLB The Show 20 Review

"Refining the Park"

Campaign

March 13, 2020 at 7:10pm
By Jason Stettner

The latest release in this Baseball simulation series is more about refinement, and polish as it is aims to enhance existing modes. It also digs in deep towards the batting and pitching elements of play with that covered more under the gameplay section of this review.

The game certainly features a wealth of modes, and ways to interact with the experience. I do wonder how the live features will be adjusted considering the virus causing the season to be suspended, that aside there’s a lot to do in this one. With so much to do, they also have a wealth of customization from players to colors and logos.

Some of these are available within the franchise mode, but I just wanted to highlight some of the detail you can tweak here, with a vault of content being available if you’re not too creative. You also get the entire Minor League Rosters included here which I imagine will be a big deal to many out there.

With Road to the Show relationships are now a big part of that, you work on that across the experience on or off the field. Challenges can appear and impact how efficient your squad is. If you do well you can pick what you want to advance, so it’s a neat opportunity to gain better upgrades when it comes to perk progression in this mode where you pave your way to the majors.

For custom leagues take the play online. Create your own setup and adjust a number of settings. That being said, I felt they could have gone more dynamic with that mode or had further depth over additional seasons. In March to October they have a re-hauled rewards structure and a brand new trade hub for better opportunities or well general control of this part of the setup. You basically play key moment in the season’s big games to propel towards that post-season as a goal within the mode.

With Diamond Dynasty you get a lot to do. This area includes ranked seasons, battle royale, conquest (attack, steal, reinforce, conquer) PS4 tournaments, moments, events and extended play. There’s also the very fresh Showdown where you build up your picks in order to take on a big final showdown situation with challenges making a big impact here.

For further context, this is the card based area of the package. Other modes include play now which is where I spend most of my time in sporting titles. There’s also franchise mode to be a GM. When it comes to the fun modes you have moments, challenge of the week, Home Run Derby, retro mode, post season and custom practice.

Gameplay

The visuals are certainly impressive and this does capture the sport. It presents the atmosphere, commentary and presentation basically perfectly to what the MLB is like. I did find that some of the player shapes were a bit chunky in spots and slight performance bumps in cinematics. For the most part it does look great, and it performs perfectly well.

I was initially worried about the batting and pitching mechanics, but I thought they worked out great. They offer a lot of stats when you do either, and that allows you to learn quickly if you’re doing something wrong. There’s a new performance tier called perfect perfect and this is about refining how you’re playing. It’s a lot more technical in that you’re rewarded for having better precision and for how quickly you react.

You see that in hitting a sweet spot between the two core elements of play and in how your players react to throwing the ball from the outfield as well. The gameplay engine and AI have been given an overhaul as well, seems to play largely fine. In general they really nail the overall look, and feel of what this sport should come across as being.

The Conclusion

MLB The Show 20 provides a polished and generally refined experience that’s more about enhancing existing areas as opposed to altering anything too essential. It’s the game you expect, with the features you’ve enjoyed gaining over the generation. It improves some of them in great ways, and it works out well. This is a very comprehensive package, and one that’s filled to the brim with content to enjoy.

This should be a great substitute for missing out on the real season I suppose. It handles well, I liked what they did in rewarding reaction time when it comes to mechanics and I didn’t have too hard of a time getting back into the swing of things. There’s a lot to play, and enjoy in this one. Whether you’re playing more competitively, or just generally being a casual player.

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MLB The Show 20 Review on Playstation 4
Review Code Provided by SIEC

Rating Overall: 8.4