MLB 14: The Show

Baseball is a cracking sport. When your team's down and out, then the lead star - from out of nowhere - hits that much-needed home run, and the crowd ignites, the excitement can be felt cities away.

Unfortunately, what makes baseball great doesn't translate all that well to video games. The magic, which captivates millions, is simplified down to, "Hit ball with bat," and "Press left or right to move a bit."


Thank you very much

Batting in MLB 14, for example, feels dull. Each of the face buttons has a different swing or bunt attached to it, so whenever the pitcher lets fly you press one at the right time to swing, and pray you make contact.

That's it. You press a button to swing, and hope the game takes care of the rest. It should be exciting and nail-biting, but as a game mechanic it's just boring.


'Lucile' lusts for blood

It's the same for pitching. Aim inside a square box, then press a button for the type of throw you want to pitch.

There are no secret hand gestures between the pitcher and catcher to subtly work out how to throw the batter off - just a button press, followed by an animation. If the batter hits it, you might need to move a fielder left or right, but that's about as exciting as it gets.

Thankfully, there is one saving grace that makes the experience a little more tolerable. Instead of button inputs, there's an option to use the right-stick as you would a bat. Pressing down acts as a stride, then following it through by pressing up acts as the swing.

This small change makes the experience feel slightly more realistic, but after you've made contact with the ball, the excitement soon fades, and it's back to simple choices like pressing left or right to take a base.

It's not that MLB 14: The Show is a bad game. It's packed full of features, like Franchise mode, and Road to the Show - a story-driven episode of getting drafted and making it to the big league. And aside from a few framerate issues during cut-scenes and create-a-characters than look like they've been dipped in acid, it looks rather nice.

But the gamey bits are tiresome. Its basic game mechanics - the bits needed to make it fun - are largely uneventful.


Decisions, decisions...

There's times where it feels like you're playing a baseball simulator – which would be fine if that's what it was meant to be – rather than participating in an actual game of virtual baseball.

I suppose what it all comes down to is this: are you a die-hard fan of Major League Baseball or the MLB series in general? If you are, great - there's a home run to be had if you're not too fussed about the levels of simplicity the game has to offer.

However, if you're a gamer in search of a game to actually play, then MLB 14 is an inorganic swing and a miss.

MLB 14: The Show

MLB 14 looks great and has a host of cool features, but strikes out when it comes to gameplay
Score
Wesley Copeland
Wesley Copeland
Wesley Copeland loves video games. Probably more than he should. In fact, while you're reading this, he's probably Googling how to find a specific piece of armour or beat a certain boss. It's a disease.