With the NHL franchise going down the tubes in recent years (thanks EA), MLB The Show has become my new go-to game. I've been a big fan of the franchise for years, ever since I first played MLB 09: The Show when I got my PS3. I was amazed at how far ahead of every other sports franchise The Show was, and that remains true to this day. Since then, MLB The Show's popularity has skyrocketed, thanks in large part to the re-vamp of Diamond Dynasty in MLB 15: The Show. The huge spike in popularity has provided more opportunities for Sony's San Diego Studio, but has also brought along a number of challenges. In this review I will discuss the basic elements of the game, including sound, graphics, depth, etc., but I will also discuss how the series has transformed over time, and what San Diego Studio needs to do to prevent themselves from becoming the next EA Sports. I will also make a few comparisons to NHL 19 in this review, to demonstrate how MLB The Show does things better. If you haven't seen my complaints about NHL 19, you can read that review here.

Graphics: 10

The graphics in MLB The Show games have always been phenomenal. They were miles ahead of any other sports game when I first played MLB The Show back in 2009, and they are still miles ahead today. The players look incredibly lifelike, the stadiums are gorgeous and easily distinguishable, and the attention to detail is mind blowing. There isn't a single sports game on the market where you can immediately tell which player is which by looking at their face the way you can in MLB The Show 18. The animations are incredible as well. There are thousands of different batting stances and pitching deliveries, including custom ones for nearly every every current player, as well as hundreds of retired players and legends. Every batting stance and pitching delivery is created specific for that player, and is remarkably close to what they do in real life. There is also a ton of customization options for your created player in Diamond Dynasty and Road to the Show. From face to body type to equipment to animations, you can make your player look and act exactly the way you want him to. They even have a plethora of unique home run celebrations, some of which are based on famous real life bat flips and celebrations, such as Jose Bautista's bat flip from Game 5 of the ALDS in 2015. There are a few graphical errors that will occur occasionally, such as players appearing to be safe but being called out, but even with those glitches it would be criminal for me to give the graphics anything other than a perfect rating of 10 out of 10.

Sound: 9

MLB The Show has always had a pretty solid soundtrack in my opinion, and MLB The Show 18 is no different. Unlike recent NHL games, MLB The Show 18 has not strayed away from their normal sound by trying to inject the game with pop and EDM songs. Instead, they have continued to include a number of different genres including rock and rap, that go along well with baseball. MLB The Show 18's soundtrack features artists such as Beck, Queens of the Stone Age, NF, and Chris Stapleton. If you don't like the music in the game, The Show also offers you the option of adding your own music, which is always a nice feature to have. In addition to the soundtrack, the commentary is also pretty good. The commentators in the game are Matt Vasgersian and Dan Plesac, and Mark DeRosa has also joined the booth this year, replacing Harold Reynolds. Unlike the NHL franchise, most of the commentary is new in MLB The Show 18, instead of being recycled from previous years. They also have different phrases and fun facts for each player, that are occasionally played during that player's at-bats. The only complaint I have about the sound is that, for some players, they only have one tidbit, and they repeat it A LOT. If you use the same player or players frequently, be prepared to hear the same "fun" fact enough times to have it permanently engraved in your brain. Overall though, the sound is really good, enough to earn a 9 out of 10.

Addictiveness: 7

I played MLB The Show 18 pretty much every day for 3 or 4 months, from when it was released in March until I started work at the end of June. Despite its gameplay flaws, which I will discuss later, the game definitely kept me coming back for more. At the height of the Fortnite craze I drove my suitemates crazy, because if I was playing MLB The Show on my PS4 it meant they couldn't use it to play Fortnite. In my NHL 19 review I mentioned that the game failed to keep my attention for more than two or so weeks. MLB The Show 18 kept me coming back for much longer, simply because the game is just better. Road to the Show is a fantastic "be a pro" experience. Diamond Dynasty is a great "ultimate team" game mode with a number of online and offline challenges, and the ability to create a great team without spending any money. Franchise mode is really well done, and is a lot of fun too. Overall, the game is a lot of fun, and is really well made. The part that knocks the addictiveness all the way down to a 7 though is frustration with gameplay. I'll discuss it more in the "Gameplay" section of the review, but my unhappiness with certain aspects of gameplay, in addition to being exhausted from work, are what led me to stop playing The Show over the summer.

Depth: 9

MLB The Show 18 has a great amount of depth, especially for a sports game. Road to the Show has always been considered one of the greatest game modes in any sports game. It continues to impress in The Show 18, providing a much better experience than any other "be a pro" style game mode I've ever played. While many other game modes of this style can get stale after playing for a few years, Road to the Show can be played for months until you reach the end of your player's career, and still be fun the whole time. Additionally, Diamond Dynasty has a ton of depth, more than most "ultimate team" game modes. There are tons of missions to be completed where you can earn rewards, numerous ways to play, and new content (including new legend and flashback cards, new missions, and new equipment) being added almost every day. In addition to the regular online seasons mode, there is also a Battle Royale mode (no, not like the Fortnite kind), an Events mode, and Conquest mode within Diamond Dynasty to allow you to mix it up a little, try out some new players, and earn new rewards. In addition to Road to the Show and Diamond Dynasty, the two most popular game modes, MLB The Show 18 also features Franchise Mode, Home Run Derby, Challenge of the Week, and more. Depth is not an issue at all in MLB The Show 18. There are plenty of game modes to choose from, and a ton of things to do within those game modes. However, one of my favorite game modes is missing this year, and that is Online Franchise. Online Franchise allowed you to create and play in a custom league with a number of your friends. Since Online Franchise was dropped, The Show 18's depth rating was also dropped, from a 10 to a 9.

Difficulty: 8

Difficulty is hard to rate in a sports game, but I decided to give MLB The Show a fairly high rating of an 8. The first reason for this is because the game can be very challenging for new players. In order to hit the ball, players need to to time the swing perfectly, aim the swing perfectly, and make sure the pitch is in the strike zone. This can be difficult, especially for people that haven't played before. The Show 18 does offer a number of different hitting options, including options that don't require you to aim your swing, but these methods are far less effective, and you won't stand a chance if you use them in online play. Hitting in MLB The Show 18 in general is also much harder than previous years. I will discuss this more in-depth in a little bit, but the game is much more favorable to pitchers this year, and that can be incredibly frustrating for players that aren't very good to begin with. To demonstrate my point, I have pulled up my Universal Profile, and I will give you some stats from it. I don't mean to brag or anything, but I am a pretty good player. In MLB The Show 17, my record in 9-inning online ranked season games was 113-33. In MLB The Show 18, my record was 69-26. Slightly better record in 17, but not a huge difference. However, my ERA is The Show 17 was 3.65, and my batting average was .322. In The Show 18 my ERA was 0.82 and my batting average was .239. Those numbers should make it very clear how difficult it is to hit in this game, especially in online play.

Gameplay: 5

My thoughts up until this point have been mostly positive. Now it's time to get negative. The gameplay in MLB The Show 18 is the worst gameplay in any MLB The Show game I've played. As you can see from the stats I provided in the "Difficulty" section, they made hitting much harder, and it's super annoying. They released a number of patches and tuners and updates throughout the year, and none of them fixed the problem. Everything I hit is either a ground ball or a popup. There is no in between. I understand that they wanted to cut down on the number of homeruns from MLB The Show 17, but they went way too far, and made the game almost unplayable. By doing this, they also made contact an obsolete stat. Since everything is either a ground ball or a popup, the only way to get a hit is to get lucky and hit a homerun. Therefore, the best way to win is to load your lineup with power hitters. I'm not kidding when I say that Ryan Schimpf, a 69 overall player at the time, was the best player in the game until they nerfed him. His contact was in the low 30s, but his power was over 90, and that's the only thing that matters in MLB The Show 18. Overall, actually playing games in The Show 18 is a horrible experience. Most games end with scores like 3-1, with all four of the runs being scored on homeruns. Offline gameplay, for whatever reason, is not nearly as bad. It's just the online gameplay that sucks.

While they are still miles ahead of NHL 19, Sony's San Diego Studio is starting to scare me, because they're making a lot of the same mistakes that EA Sports made. They're butchering gameplay to try to please everyone, and it's making the game unplayable. They need to stop listening to fans, and continue to make the great games they have made for years. Just because you have a much larger audience now doesn't mean that you have to let them dictate what you do. I pray that they re-evaluate what they want for MLB The Show, look back at the success of past games (specifically The Show 16), and try to return to the basics and focus on putting out a actual quality game that is fun to play, rather than a game full of flashy gimmicks.