I am not a huge baseball fan. I’m honestly not really a huge sports fan. I enjoy sports. I have my favorite teams and I have shirts and hats with my teams on them. I even have a jersey or two. However I don’t listen to ESPN radio or watch sportscenter. I don’t really care about drafts or injured reserve lists. I do love going to games though. I also love to play sports. I am always game to play a round of pick up basketball, throw a football, or swing a bat. I grew up playing baseball and basketball, and football was a Sunday tradition at my house. So I have a familiarity and appreciation for sports. Including sports video games.
I tend to gravitate towards sports games that not only have good gameplay and make me feel influential in the actual game instead of just a cog in the wheel, but also have a compelling and fun single player or create a player mode. MLB The Show 19’s Road to the Show is no exception. I’ve been a fan of this series for a while and The Show 19 does a good job of making some changes but keeping what works, making for a single player mode that will have you checking the clock wondering where the time went.
As in previous versions, this years Road to the Show has you create a player from scratch and define his characteristics. The basics are what you’d expect, name, number, position played etc. This year sees a little more variety come into the type of player and personality characteristics though, allowing you to distinguish what specific kind of player you’ll be and what attributes you will have the easiest time advancing. The colorful descriptions are fun, and if you are a longtime fan of baseball you may notice some legendary players shown as references for the different styles. The personality choices are all new and they add a new mechanic into RTTS. This year, your locker room demeanor has the ability to unlock boosts and bonuses as you play, and you will have many opportunities to interact with your teammates as you progress through the seasons. Each interaction gives you four choices while having a conversation with a teammate, and each option advances one of the four personality trees, each with different boosts. It’s a fun mechanic that gives you something to think about other than pure baseball and it adds a layer to the single player experience that helps separate RTTS from the other game modes in The Show 19.
The gameplay outside of the locker room is much the same as in previous versions, and that’s a good thing. Depending on your position, play is simulated until a play where you are likely to make a difference, then the controls are given to you to help your player make that key play. If that’s not your style good news, you can adjust the settings to watch the whole game, or to simulate even more. If you aren’t getting enough of a superstar feeling, you can adjust sliders to change how well the pitchers pitch, how well your player hits, even the frequency of the other teams home runs or foul balls. You should be careful though moving these sliders, I pitched a no hitter my second game in the AAA league and that is one of the most difficult feats in all of baseball. Needless to say the challenge was non existent.
Through out the game you will have opportunities to train your player and help him improve. He will improve naturally as you play as well but it’s less focused. You will have lots of training options and the choices you make can have large effects down the road, as some training raises the cap of your attributes, and some simply raises the stat itself. From time to time, you will also get challenges in game that give you a chance to increase your gains by different percentages based on which challenge you accept. These come often enough that you shouldn’t stress out if you fail them, but it adds a nice new level of difficulty and fun to the game aside from the basic try to hit a home run or strike a batter out.
The Show 19 is a great game for the casual sports fan to get some fantasy fulfillment and zone out for a while. It can be challenging if you like, or you can be the greatest baseball player of all time. You can pick your favorite team, or let the draft happen naturally and work your way to the team you really want. No matter which experience you’d prefer, you can set the game up to give you just that. The cinematics and commentary do a solid job of selling the dream of playing in the Majors and the stadiums are accurate enough that you’ll know where to go if you ever visit. The special gear you can unlock is a cool bonus but it’s not a requirement to have fun or play well. The games go by quick and as long as you aren’t pitching, you can knock out a few in half an hour, but you’ll quickly find yourself saying “one more game” even after several hours in. If you enjoy baseball even a little, you will likely have a good time in MLB The Show 19’s Road to the Show.
MLB The Show 19 is available exclusively on Playstation.
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