MLB The Show 24 "Online" Review

Baseball is back

It's fitting that I'm writing this review on the opening day of Major League Baseball because I have felt like baseball has been back for over a week now. I have played MLB The Show 24 since early access on March 15th, thanks to PlayStation Canada. According to my PS5, I have put over 22 hours into the game.

I only play Diamond Dynasty and Storylines, so here at Three Dads, we decided to split our review in two because we genuinely love what San Deigo Studio does every year with MLB The Show. Greg from Three Dads did an offline review, which you can check out here. The changes they have made this year that I will discuss are that every mode you play in MLB The Show 24, whether it's online or offline, counts towards progression in Diamond Dynasty except Road to the Show. Allowing the player to play Franchise, Storylines, Exhibition, March to October or any game mode they want, and when they decide to play Diamond Dynasty, they have already earned rewards. The XP grind differs from previous years because many players used Road to the Show to grind out the program and create a player that could dominate in Diamond Dynasty. I genuinely feel that is why they made the change this year, so people could immediately create a "Joe Random" and have that dominating player. Road to the Show ended up being an XP glitch, and people used it to cheese and gain XP faster to complete programs to get cards.

Sets are gone and have been replaced with Season, and they have brought back the power creep, so there will be no 99s on day one this year. They almost feel the same but with a different name, but I will try them. I liked it when it was all one set, but they added four wild card slots, which you have to earn that you can carry over some cards you like. I understand why they do it because I think it adds to the game's life cycle. It makes it so there is always something to strive for instead of using the same cards all Season. I'm already trying to complete my Live Series collection, as it's usually the toughest, and it feels tougher this year than in previous seasons. The odds of getting Diamond Live Series cards in packs are supposed to be 1:50, but I have tested this theory a couple of times and have rarely pulled any diamonds or golds. I have been playing conquest maps, completing programs to earn stubs to buy the players I need to complete collections, and selling my dupes for stubs.

The card art hasn't changed that much this year, which is a disappointment because I feel I have been seeing the same photos for about three years now, but this is a minor thing. I'm glad that the core mechanism behind Live Series Cards and collections hasn't changed much. MLB The Show continues yearly to make collecting fun and reminds me of collecting cards growing up as a kid. Those who don't play Diamond Dynasty allow you to lock in cards to sets, but you don't lose those cards; you can't sell them, though. Other franchises in the Sports gaming industry make you lose those cards you use towards sets, and I feel you are always looking for ways to ask for more money. There is not one pack you can't buy from the show shop that isn't earned from gaining stubs in the game. You can earn everything in MLB The Show 24 by playing the game. You will see many creators who play the game, who call it "No Money Spent," and more actual words haven't been spoken. That is not to say you can't spend real money to buy stubs, but you don't need to if you don't want to. I wouldn't call myself a diehard player, but I play enough to finish programs and other programs to earn all the cards.

Programs are back, but they are a bit different as they don't give out a ton of XP now, so it will take longer for players to finish the programs, which I don't mind. Doing this keeps you coming back and playing more, but I will say they will need to add more programs to keep the game going. I appreciate so far that the moments are not as challenging this year to complete, and everything is on Veteran difficulty. With a longer XP grind, it would feel a lot longer if everything were so hard. They have added extreme moments for extra XP, but you don't have to do them to complete other programs. Players stop playing When they run out of modes or ways to collect XP. Conquest Maps are back, and I like them as they added what I feel is a mini-game to MLB The Show, but I will say they're not giving out the free packs like they used to for completing goals. In the past, we would get Ballin Is a Habit packs and other feature packs, but now we only get a couple of show packs.

Team Affinity Programs are back and welcome. They add so much content to MLB The Show 24 and make you play the game differently, as you use the players you need to complete objectives. The rewards they offer in Team Affinity are plenty and truly help you create a better roster to compete in Diamond Dynasty. Labelling it as chapter one, we know we will get another Team Affinity program in Season 2 of the sets.

The core gameplay hasn't changed much, but the lighting and shadows have made the players look better, and the stadiums look better than ever. The player's hair is a big step up from previous years, and my favourite player, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who is on the cover, looks unreal this year; the hair animations have looked the best I have ever seen in a sports game. I don't know how much you can change on a yearly sports gaming franchise in the amount of time the developers have to make them. Caps off to San Diego Studios for yearly making the MLB The Show what other sports gaming developers strive to emulate. One change they made to the gameplay involves pinpoint pitching, so now, if the pitcher is a lefty or a righty, you will have to rotate the stick in the direction of the pitcher's handiness. They have added Feilding moments to other programs and storylines, but they're not reinventing the wheel here. They made many changes to batting and pitching over the past few years.

The gameplay is in a good place right now. Sure, they could tweak a few things, but the hitting is solid, and the fielding is on point. The game is never going to be perfect, but I guess it's easier to complain about things than praise them. I have had more glitches than I have in previous versions of the game, though. Far too many times, my players' heads are pretty much baseball caps with no faces, but the gameplay isn't affected at all.

Since launch, they have continued to add content and have been giving players free diamonds each week, which is amazing. They have been consistently communicating with the community and, before launch, held many streams and gave away many packs to start your diamond dynasty team in the form of Twitch drops. They spend time curating the online modes, and I truly appreciate their efforts. I don't participate in online events like BR, but MLB The Show 24 gives better rewards to those players who do. I'm even ok with that, not being a player that plays the non-multiplayer modes of Diamond Dynasty. You can easily buy the cards people earn in the marketplace.

MLB The Show 24 continues with the tradition of having one of the best marketplaces in sports video games. They pretty much allow the players to sell almost every card, even those you earn from the program. Many sports games out don't allow this, which makes their marketplace almost useless. The integration of the MLB The Show app allows players to sell cards and buy cards even when they're not playing the game. If you play Diamond Dynasty and don't have the MLB The Show app, I suggest you get it.

I know Greg spoke about Stroylines in his review, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention how much of a fantastic job San Deigo Studio did with Stroylines this season. Not only did they continue teaching us the history of the Negro League, but they added Derek Jeter's Storyline. The production value of these videos before you play the events rivals that of ESPN docs. We get to learn the history of Toni Stones, who was one of the first female athletes to play with men in Baseball. Because of this storyline, they add female athletes to the game.

For the players that only play MLB The Show yearly as their sports title, I can see why they sometimes complain or ask for more every year from the team at San Deigo Studios. I play many different sports franchises and have seen what teams from EA and 2K have done with them and how much they have monetized them. I don't see that same monetization from San Deigo Studio year after year like other studios do. The game feels more real year after year and truly makes me hyped to watch baseball on TV. Very rarely does a sports video game excite me to watch the sports, and MLB The Show 24 does that in many ways. I can't say enough about the production value in storylines, and I feel that Bob Kendrick should just narrate all sports documentaries. The time San Diego Studios puts into ensuring the game's history should be commended. I will say this every year, but all developers of sports games should copy how San Diego Studios makes and creates the MLB The Show franchise because none are better in sports.