Also on: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Medium: Digital/Disc/Cartridge
Players: 1-8
Online: Yes
ESRB: E
While it’s been a long time since the MLB The Show series felt fresh and innovative, there are still some years where it feels like Sony San Diego made more of an effort than usual. In MLB The Show 24, for example, they added in the ability to play as a female player, as well as the opportunity to play through key moments in the career of Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter. Similarly, in MLB The Show 23 the game introduced a storyline mode focused on Negro Leagues greats like Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson.
Then you have years like this MLB The Show 25, where the big additions are a new way to guess pitches (“Ambush Hitting”), the addition of a few games in Road to the Show at the high-school and college level, and a roguelike single-player mode in Diamond Dynasty called Diamond Quest. Hardly groundbreaking stuff.
Don’t get me wrong, MLB The Show 25 is still a faithful representation of America’s pastime. And the above additions certainly add to the game in their own small ways. But by and large, this is one of those years where the feeling of being a roster update is particularly strong.
You see this most of all in this year’s edition of the Negro Leagues storylines. Where previous years’ storylines felt like fully fleshed-out game modes, this time out there are only a handful of Negro Leaguers; as fun as it is to see Cool Papa Bell, Bullet Joe Rogan, and Turkey Stearnes get their respective dues, it really feels like they were running out of ideas for the mode.
Similarly, even if the game makes a big deal about its new Diamond Dynasty roguelike mode, Diamond Quest, it doesn’t feel all that different from other Diamond Dynasty modes. You roll dice, you move around a board, you randomly get into baseball encounters with other teams where you have specific objectives – while it’s a little more streamlined than your usual Diamond Dynasty modes (you just have to get 3 outs or drive in a run, for example, rather than play a 3-inning game), it’s not really a huge departure.
Then again, it’s quite possible that Sony don’t think they need MLB The Show 25 to be a huge departure – after two years of adding in some cool new features, this may be the year they decided to coast a little. And, I mean, why not? Even a forgettable version of MLB The Show still delivers a best-in-class baseball experience. It makes it hard to recommend if you picked up the last few years’ editions, but if you’ve taken a year or two off, it might be time to jump back in.
Sony Interactive Entertainment provided us with an MLB The Show 25 PS5 code for review purposes.
