R.B.I. Baseball 21

Genre: Sports (Baseball)

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local, Online)

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Review:

R.B.I. Baseball is a series of baseball games that has struggled to gain traction over the years, falling well behind Sony’s beloved MLB: The Show series for years. On the Nintendo Switch, the series at least has the benefit of being the only simulation of the sport available, though Sony’s franchise going multiplatform threatens to invade even this safe space. And in the meantime, the absolutely sublime Super Mega Baseball series, while too cartoony to be considered a true baseball simulation, is nevertheless such an outstanding representation of the sport that even more serious-minded baseball fans may find it preferable to the R.B.I. series. In short, something clearly needed to change here.

As such, this year’s R.B.I. Baseball is being positioned as a great reworking of the series, adding new streamlined controls, improved visuals, and play-by-play commentary. It is clear that the hope is that this entry in the series will keep the R.B.I. Baseball franchise competitive.

Of course, the Nintendo Switch is always going to be the platform with the least impressive visuals, but the question is, are they at least competent here? And the answer is… ehh. The menus look good, there’s a good overall resolution, and some of the textures like the grass on the field have a good resolution as well… but beyond that, this game has problems.

The players do not look at all impressive, seeming like something out of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 era, with dead eyes and dull features. Animations look odd and unnatural at times. The grass may look good, but the dirt is unconvincing. Fans in the stands look like we’re seeing them through a camera smeared with vaseline. Clouds look like copy-pasted cutouts. Every time anyone hits a home run, the framerates drop to a slide show. And that’s not even counting odd glitches, like the ball shaking like it’s suffering from epilepsy mid-pitch. Seriously, guys, this is improved graphics?

At the very least, the play-by-play commentary here is decent, but it’s also very repetitive – I heard comments repeated within just the first few innings of my first game, not a great sign. The game also features 20 licensed music tracks which is fine, I guess. But the sound in the rest of the game just left me feeling uninspired. Pitches and catches give none of the sense of speed and power I want from an athlete flinging a ball 90+ MPH, even the biggest home run hit sounds weak here, and neither the crowds nor the commentator channel the excitement of the moment.

As for those new streamlined controls, I’m sorry to say they seem too streamlined to me. Batting has none of the nuance of aiming for the ball, pitching requires no skill to execute pitches, and if you’re outfielding and the batter sends a fly ball anywhere near your character, you might as well set down the controller and relax for a moment, because the game will essentially catch the ball for you (okay, I exaggerate a little, but not much). Thankfully, you can mix-and-match which control schemes you want for which position – maybe you prefer the new way batting works, but want more nuanced pitching, and in that case you can opt to mix-and-match. Of course, then you’re once again back with the less-than-spectacular control scheme of prior games.

Despite all my complaints, I don’t think R.B.I. Baseball 21 is a terrible Baseball game, but it is an extremely flawed one, and flawed in virtually every element of the game. If this is the series’ attempt at rejuvenating the franchise, I’m sorry to say they may have to just accept that they’ll always be trailing behind every other franchise on the market. Is it still playable? Yes. Is it currently the best simulation-style Baseball game on the Nintendo Switch? Yes, if only by default. Would baseball fans on the Nintendo Switch be better off going with one of the Super Mega Baseball games instead? Yes, absolutely. But if you only have a Nintendo Switch to play on and you’re allergic to cartoony-looking characters (wait, why did you get a Nintendo Switch, again?), R.B.I. Baseball 21 will meet those demands, I suppose.

tl;dr – R.B.I. Baseball 21 is a simulation of the sport that attempts to rejuvenate the series, but still ends up having major issues in every area, from its incredibly flawed and buggy graphics to its uninspired sound to its overly-simplified gameplay. It’s not a terrible game, and it’s sadly the best simulation-style baseball game on the Switch as of this writing… but only by default. If you can stomach cartoony characters and fake teams, I strongly urge you to consider the Super Mega Baseball series instead.

Grade: C-

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