MLB The Show 23

Genre: Sports (Baseball)

Players: 1-4 Team Competitive (Local), 2-8 Team Competitive (Online)

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Review:

One year after Sony released MLB The Show 22 on multiple platforms, including Nintendo Switch, its successor has come to those same platforms again in 2023, day-and-date, confirming that this will almost certainly remain a yearly cross-platform release. Even more curiously, Nintendo even propped up this game with a week-long Nintendo Switch Online trial in July 2023. I don’t know what sort of behind-the-scenes deals resulted in that, but I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

MLB The Show is an annual Simulation-style Baseball game series, and so naturally in many ways MLB The Show 23 carries most of the same traits as its predecessor. That is to say that this is a highly-polished game that is definitely not a low-effort affair to just slap something on the Nintendo Switch so Sony can say they’ve done it and move on. At the same time, since the game was primarily intended for more powerful hardware, clearly some sacrifices needed to be made to get this game to work on Nintendo’s underpowered handheld.

Largely you’ll see these cutbacks in the graphics. The character models are pretty ugly, there are occasional low-resolution textures throughout the game, there’s frequent aliasing, and there are extremely frequent slowdown issues, though this latter problem is mainly just during replays so it’s not going to affect the gameplay all that much.

Despite these severe cutbacks, MLB The Show 23 is definitely not a bad-looking game. There’s a lot of detail in the players and stadiums (even if the low-quality character models means that many of them have crazy hair and derp face), and I am still absolutely floored by the truly sublime animation in this game. Everywhere you look, characters animate fluidly and realistically to the most minor of situations, from fans in the stands reacting when a homer is about to fall in their section, players on the bench lifting up their feet to avoid a foul ball headed their way, and all sorts of little tics and mannerisms of the players as they’re just doing their thing. Despite all the ugliness in other areas of this game, the truly exceptional care put into the animation in this game makes this one of the most impressive-looking Nintendo Switch games this year in my books.

Once again, the sound delivers too, with players able to select either a “The Show” or “local”-style commentary presentation for their game, with each having the commentators reacting fairly realistically to the action as it plays out. This game also makes use of a soundtrack that includes 30 songs in genres like pop, hip-hop, and R&B, with artists that include Metallica, The Roots, and Wiz Khalifa, as well as a throwback to ye olden days in the form of Thin Lizzie’s The Boys Are Back in Town.

Speaking of throwbacks, one of this game’s big new features is an inclusion of a new mode honoring the historic Negro League and some of its star players, celebrating the massive influence of black baseball players during the dark days of racial segregation in America, giving gamers a history lesson on not only how those players influenced baseball, but also how they changed America.

I both appreciate and am also disappointed by the Negro League mode in this game. On the one hand, I am absolutely delighted at this chance to look back into an important part of baseball’s history, one honoring greats of the sport who are unfortunately often overlooked. On the other hand, the way this mode focuses on specific players means that it’s not really intended to simulate playing through full games in a Negro League setting. I think it would have been really wonderful to truly simulate full games within such a unique, important, and historic setting, and it feels like a real missed opportunity that this game seems to be more interested in just having players take the “at bat” role of the individual players they’re honing in on.

Another game mode that I think is new here (though I admit I may have just missed it in MLB The Show 22) is Retro Mode, which gives players a facsimile of the sort of janky and unrealistic camera angles, gameplay, and physics of Baseball games of yesteryear. This is an amusing distraction, though I don’t think anyone will see this as a significant part of this game.

Mostly, however, what you’ll find here is just a really excellent and surprisingly accessible yet deep Baseball Simulation, just like the previous game was. Right from the start, the game gives players a wealth of control options that they can individually set for each major component of the game – hitting, pitching, baserunning, outfielding, and throwing, with a separate option to set to determine overall game difficulty.

I did notice a few odd bits of “jankiness” here and there. At one point my pitcher was sliding back and forth across the mound without moving his legs, and I felt the game was a bit overly-aggressive in having your outfielders automatically attracted to the landing spot of a pop fly ball when you got within range. However, on the bright side, this game moves the annoying “quick counts” feature front and center at the start rather than hiding it in options menus as it did in the previous game, and it is set to “off” by default.

Overall, I think MLB The Show 23 is once again an outstanding Baseball Simulation on Nintendo Switch. I think the game overall makes some solid but subtle improvements over MLB The Show 22 and the new Negro League mode is a wonderful trip through history, if a bit under-utilized. Of course, the Nintendo Switch version clearly features drastically downgraded visuals compared to other platforms, but otherwise this game still retains the same excellent high quality of the other versions. If you’re looking for a great Baseball game on Nintendo Switch, this is an excellent choice.

tl;dr – MLB The Show 23 builds on what was already great in MLB The Show 22, making for yet another excellent Simulation-style Baseball game that’s both deep and highly accessible. The new Negro League mode is a great look back into an important cornerstone of the sport’s history, and while it doesn’t quite live up to its full potential, it’s still an excellent addition to the game. I should note that once again, the Nintendo Switch version of the game is a severe visual downgrade from other versions, but if you’re looking for a Baseball game on Nintendo’s handheld, this is definitely one of your best options.

Grade: A-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Winner:

Best Sports Game – For the second year in a row, the MLB The Show franchise demonstrates that it’s a force to be reckoned with on Nintendo Switch. Not satisfied with merely updating the roster and rehashing the same game with a new year on the title, MLB The Show 23 swung for the fences and tried something genuinely ambitious this year – a Negro League mode aiming to explore an important moment in history for the sport. While I wish this game went even deeper into this exploration, it was nevertheless an exciting and welcome tour through history that videogame renditions of the sport often gloss over, and I absolutely appreciated what it brought to the table to bring something extra special to this year’s release in the series.

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