Customer Ratings & Reviews

Great game that’s family friendly. Very close to real baseball.

The Show 22 still delivers a strong representation of the sport it is charged with simulating. Hitting is still rewarding. Fielding is perhaps a bit smoother with new animations–especially around the infield. It feels as though there is an even bigger separation between good and bad fielders, which is nice and becomes a factor in every one of MLB 22’s modes. Lastly, pitching is still excellent with pinpoint pitching finding even more of a groove this year. MORE FROMFORBES ADVISOR Best Travel Insurance Companies ByAmy DaniseEditor Best Covid-19 Travel Insurance Plans ByAmy DaniseEditor While there are a few problematic areas of gameplay I’ll touch on shortly, rest assured, the best part of the MLB series is still intact. If you love baseball and video games, you’ll still love pitching, hitting and fielding in MLB 22. Diamond Dynasty is More Focused, Yet Still a Customizable and Enjoyable Grind Perhaps this will change with the release of more content during the season, but at the outset, Diamond Dynasty’s primary focus is easier to follow. Early on, DD is all about acquiring the Face of the Franchise cards and completing the initial program. You can still progress toward this goal by playing every mode in the game, which is the best way to design a progression system around a collector mode. DD features the addition of Mini Seasons, an offline season mode that pits your DD team against fictional squads manned by user-accumulated rosters from across the Show community. It’s purely a single-player experience and it takes the place of Extra Innings, all the while adding a bit more importance to the experience because of the attachment of more attractive rewards. MLB 22 also takes another step toward pushing the importance of parallel upgrades to cards. At the time of release, the push is toward legend cards, but this could switch to live series cards into the season. Another key addition to DD–and the online experience in general–is the addition of co-op play. Initially, I wasn’t thrilled about this addition, but one experience with 2 friends and I was sold on this as a fun and potentially competitive way to play the MLB series. Co-op is the future of MLB The Show eSports, and there is room for some exciting expansion in the coming years. DD offers the most enjoyable grind of any collector mode on the market, and you can still acquire everything in the mode without spending real money. DD continues to be one of the most addictive aspects of the MLB series with even fewer pain points than it had last season–and it was great in 2021. Franchise Mode Isn’t As Barebones As We Thought The initial rollout of feature info for MLB The Show 22 didn’t mention franchise mode, and that just didn’t seem like a smart approach. We all know DD is the revenue-driver, but Sony–like many others–seemed to have underestimated the importance of franchise mode to its overall fanbase. As it was, the mode didn’t go untouched as it appeared from the lack of early reference. Improved trade logic, the evolution of the Player Metric and offseason tweaks are all under-the-hood enhancements. Perhaps that’s why they were thrust to the forefront as new features. In any case, the improvements do enhance the franchise mode experience, even if they aren’t the bigger changes we’re still hoping to have. March to October Has Found Its Sweet Spot Before I had the game in hand, if you’d told me March to October would be one of the aspects of MLB 22 that I was most impressed with, I would have said you were crazy. After spending about a week with the game, that’s the case. Previously, MTO came off as too much of a watered-down version of a franchise experience, and frankly, it felt like a waste of time. This year’s version brings in just the right amount of player and team management with trades, free agency and some minor league decisions. This is incorporated in the flow with the accelerated pace that doesn’t compromise the time-saving concept that MTO is built to prioritize. Will this replace the desire to play franchise mode in all its glory? Never, but it does offer an alternative experience that I enjoy in addition to, and not instead of traditional franchise mode. Stadium Creator is Approaching Complete Perfection One of the biggest issues with Stadium Creator in its inaugural year was the inability to play night games in your stadium. That has not only been addressed, but the night game experience wasn’t added in lazily. Night games and the construction of your stadium has been incorporated with a level of detail that shouldn’t go underappreciated. MLB 22 doesn’t just light your ballparks up generically, the lighting is almost entirely based on where you place light towers and the kinds of lights you choose. You can even illuminate areas outside of the ballpark in the event you want to spotlight a structure in the background. The enhancements have made a really beautiful feature even better. The Bad Opposite-Field Power Might Need a Nerf Gameplay is still in a good place, but the opposite-field power seemed to be a little jacked. I say this with some hesitancy because play styles can sometimes create some oddities. That said, it felt to me as though I was seeing a few too many oppo bombs from my bat and opponents. Base-Stealer Speed Might Need a Buff Trying to get a running game going felt a lot more difficult than it was in MLB 21. Even with good jumps and no tosses over to first base to keep a runner close, I was thrown out on my first 5 attempts to steal a base. For reference, I was running with a Jimmy Rollins legend card that has 94 speed and an 84 steal rate. Another time, I’m running with the Fernando Tatis Jr. cover athlete card. I saw similar things during MTO and franchise mode play. The eye test seemed to indicate the base stealer’s speed has been slowed perhaps a tad too much. Commentary Has Taken a Massive Step Backward One of my biggest gripes with this year’s game is the commentary. Sony moved on from Matt Vasgersian, Dan Plesac and Mark De Rosa, which wasn’t a problem in general. The trio’s lines had become pretty outdated. However, Vasgersian, Plesac and De Rosa weren’t bad voices in the game, they simply needed to update the text and to record more updated commentary. Sony turned to Jon Sciambi and Chris Singleton this year and this aspect of the game has taken a dip. Sciambi’s voice is fantastic and while Singleton isn’t the most exciting color analyst, their styles aren’t the problem. The decline appears to be a technical and application issue, which might be attributed to a lack of time and/or access to the voice talent. The commentary is missing specific references to key legends and far too many current players. For example, legends and Hall-of-Famers like Paul Molitor are referred to by number, and not by name as they were with the previous crew. This is almost certainly because the talent didn’t record those references and/or the development team didn’t have time to incorporate them into the game. Likewise, there is also an inordinate amount of repeated phrases. This was an issue in the recent versions of the game, but you can add an exponent to that problem in MLB 22. Singleton refers to every player who bats without batting gloves every game with the same generic spiel. There’s another rather tired one about popping out to first base. There is a generic rant about how some players are not only the full package on the field, but examples for their teammates off the field. You can tell these lines are is built-in for players who have a certain rating in multiple categories, but it goes too far to be a general comment about a good player. It’s also too memorable to be repeated as often as it is during the game. There are several instances like this with the commentary, and overall, it lacks personality and quality stitching. Customization is Still Not Where it Needs to Be in Franchise Modes I complimented franchise mode because it isn’t quite as basic as we thought when the game was originally introduced. However, it is still lacking some major features. We still can’t realign divisions and leagues. There is still no expansion or online franchise. The NBA 2K series, though not perfect, offers all of this in MyNBA. Should we not hold the MLB The Show series to the same standards considering their sport doesn’t require nearly as much collision-detection with gameplay development? It’s only fair to make mention to what other series are accomplishing in similar areas. It is time for The Show to flesh out franchise mode and to take a shot at bringing back online franchise. Without those options, the franchise mode options can’t be considered top tier. Graphically, the Hair Textures are Still in Need of Improvement Visually, MLB 22 looks good, but the hair is still a disconnect and immersion breaker. The textures simply don’t look like hair in some instances. See Tatis Jr’s dreads for one example, and any player with longer locks as further proof. At some point, I would like to see the MLB series take a strong leap in visuals. Some Wonky Bat-and-Arm Animations on HR Celebrations Color this small on the list of bad things, but HR celebrations can sometimes be disrupted by some wonky happenings after the swing. A no-doubt HR can be so satisfying in the game that you want to watch or record the replay. Unfortunately, some of the celebrations freak out during the bat flip and ruin the moment. The Absence of Year-to-Year and Carryover Saves Can Be an Experience Killer The only aspect of MLB the Show 22 that bugs me more than the regression on commentary is the continued absence of carryover and year-to-year saves. It is impossible to quantify how big of a loss this subtraction was to the overall experience after MLB The Show 20. Sony’s decision to remove this from its game has robbed roster and player creators of the continuity they became accustomed to over mu

The MLB The show is the best simulated baseball game on the market. I wait up to a year to purchase last years newest edition. With that being said. This game gives you the best bang for your dollar. I was disappointed that they did not have a trophy for winning it all with "March to October". Another happy MLB The Show Playstation 4 player.

Excellent game. It’s very realistic and the graphics are amazing.

Brother loved this game as his Christmas gift. If you’re buying for someone, make sure they already have PlayStation+ so they can play multiplayer online. If not, consider buying this with PlayStation+ gift card. My brother says all sports games are better with online live players if you they playing alone.

Had been wanting to buy this game for awhile then the holidays came around and it was on sale for under $10 it was a no brainer to grab it finally. Game is amazing and worth the regular retail price lol

I got this game on sale as the title states, 2 days before Christmas, so that might be swaying my opinion a little. If I had payed full price at release, I might’ve been a little disappointed. Earlier entries in the series have been better, but it’s still a fun game and it does what it’s supposed to with a few flaws. The commentary is what’s holding me back from giving this game a 5-star rating. It’s actually taken a major step back in this area, as the last game in the series I played was ‘18 and the commentary was far better 4 years ago by leaps and bounds. It’s not a knock on either guy, their voices are fine, and they did seem to have a little chemistry. It’s that their dialogue is annoying and far too repetitive. I’ve played across multiple modes and, aside from the occasional different line here and there, it’s all the same. I turned commentary off in the settings which I have never done with any of the previous entries in the series. If you turn up the crowd noise, P.A. noise, and the game sounds, it’s super immersive, and adds that real feel to the gameplay. With the base coach’s voice coming out of the controller, it all adds to the experience. The gameplay is pretty great, but by no means perfect. I worry the series is becoming like Madden, where they’re changing/adding things just to give the game a new wrinkle each year unnecessarily. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

This game delivers year after year. You just have to buy it to play with the new rookies of each year. Graphics seem to get better each year. An enjoyable game to play

It’s a great game, really impressed with the graphics and the modes that offers. Was a gift for my brother that started getting involved in baseball.

The kids love it. They can play this for hours. Graphics are top notch.

Always a great game and buy every year. Always look forward to playing.

Received in mail excellent condition, good game but not as good as the previous versions the new commentary is my biggest complaint.

Cant go wrong with The Show franchise. Beautiful graphics and gameplay! Plus the dual threat is on the cover

MLB 22 the show is a great game because your graphics are excelent and your players

Grandkids HAD to have this game. He loves baseball and has all the MLB games

Great game. I’ve been collecting these for years and never put the controller down.

Good game with good graphics. My kids really seem to enjoy.

Good game graphics are spot on and also the online gameplay is perfect

Good game for my grand son. I enjoy playing also. Good price

The best baseball game on the market. Very realistic