MLB The Show 18

« MLB: The Show 18 is a refined experience that stands tall as the best baseball game currently on the market. Of all the iterations of the title, this is, to my eye, the definitive best and, I imagine, exactly what fans of the genre are looking for. »

« MLB The Show 18 is another notch in the successful belt of the MLB series from San Diego Studio. It has better mechanics, more meaningful modes, a gorgeous presentation style and it just feels like what you would imagine a baseball game should feel like. »

« MLB: The Show 18 delivers the best video game baseball experience ever, and new additions and tweaks to old game modes make this a baseball lovers dream, from first pitch to last out. »

« Sony's flagship baseball franchise has never been better. »

« MLB The Show 18 is, for our money, the best sports game on console right now. Whether you love baseball or not, this is a flexible simulation that can appeal to both beginners and veterans alike, with some of the best presentation you’ll find on the PS4. On paper this may not sound like a substantial step forward for the series, but the under-the-hood improvements mean that it’s the best playing, best looking version yet. We’re not sure where Sony San Diego goes next with this series, but we say that every year, and it continues to smash our expectations out of the park. »

« A strong baseball title, with an almost perfect gameplay, brilliant graphics and lots of contents; still, some game modes can feel a bit unsatisfying at times. »

« Watching game modes go away is never nice, but MLB The Show 18 makes you forget everything and enjoy the ball game as soon as you step onto its pitch. »

« This year's entry plays it safe, improving the gameplay without taking any risks. We always miss new additions, but the core remains excellent. »

« Good gameplay, strong graphics & fun RPG mode. Highly entertaining & I recommend to any baseball fanatic. »

« This is the biggest money grabbing scam of a sports game I have ever played. They want you to pay money for a decent online experience. If you don't pay for a team, expect to get your butt kicked by a stacked team of all immortals. Also, the game will freeze in the middle of the game and will give you a loss no matter what- even if you're winning. If you try to contact SDS(the creator) about your loss, they will ignore you. You can place the pci perfectly on the ball and swing perfectly and still pop it up. It truly doesn't reward you after games getting 46 OVR rated players after throwing a perfect game. You can open up a million packs and maybe never pull a diamond. I spent two weeks trying to get three finest players and got two of the same **** JT REalmuto cards that they butchered along with Freddie Freeman who is unusable compared to immortals. The game has made me mad more than I have enjoyed it. So this is my farewell on never playing another San Diego Studios game again. TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 »

« **** **** **** This game disappoints on so many levels, it's baffling. Road to the Show? Repetitive. Diamond Dynasty? Broken. Online Franchise...GONE?!?! They've actually taken one of the most universally loved modes and thrown it in the dumpster like Luke Scott's career (look him up). That said, the visuals are mind-blowingly good and the soundtrack is okay. But that's it. »

« My favorite sports franchise and the only one I play year-round (NCAA '13 & '14 are close as far as playing time). I've always been a big fan of Road to the Show and have enjoyed the fact the developers made putting up "video game numbers" even more difficult this year. Franchise mode removed is what makes this an 8.8 instead of a 9.8. »

« When playing against friends this is a big improvement over last year. Much more enjoyable »

« With over 100 hrs poured into this game I think I can give it a fair analysis at this point. I would like to start by saying that I am a huge fan of the franchise and is usually the only new game I am guaranteed to purchase every year. Without MLB The Show I am not sure that I would even bother buying a PS4 as I am mostly a PC guy. But I would also like to disclose that I am experiencing some burnout and will be taking a year off from the franchise. From a sports simulation standpoint this, in my opinion, as close to reality a sports series has ever come to the real product. Your Madden's and FIFA's can be fun in their own right but I always feel like I am compromising realistic gameplay at times in order to have fun. For the most part, pitching, hitting and fielding all perform as they should by the AI and are all very approachable for new players. Hitting does take some time to get a handle of but I have become at least competent over time (still not great), pitching is a bit easy on lower difficulties, the defense can take a little time to get used to but is definitely masterable and baserunning is okay but is one of the things I still struggle with. Road to the Show received another cosmetic change this year as your player is boxed into a player type (power guy, speed guy, contact guy, etc) I guess to more mimic reality. I personally don't have a problem with this because this is kind of how I like to build my player anyway but I can see why this would anger players who want to build a powerhouse. The progression feels fairly good as you move up based on your play and can even be reassigned to other positions. Also, like last year, you can put up a stink and possibly get yourself traded or benched. Franchise mode went largely unchanged but the developers did add some scheduling tips for players who do not know anything about the interworkings of the MLB. I am a veteran of this mode so I really did not find any of this to be any help but I also didn't find that any of this hindered my progress at all. I mostly just like to take a crap team and build them up through simulation anyway. In the past few years, I have largely ignored Diamond Dynasty. I have never been a huge fan of hitting and playing defense but this year I figured I would give it a try. Of course, I got addicted to it lol. I am a very mission-oriented person so this mode really got me into all that The Show has to offer. I have learned how to hit and run the bases a lot better than ever before and love unlocking new cards and completing their missions. Conquest mode is where I spend most of my time as now feel the need to fill out that dam map lol. Let us get into the negatives. Yes, Diamond Dynasty can be a bit of a money grab as it is very difficult to get those Diamond cards without ponying up some cash to buy stubs. I really wish the odds of getting gold and diamond cards were just a little bit better, I think this would make your average player a little bit more willing to grind. I, however, enjoy this kind of grind as there are missions in everything you do and I am not really crazy over getting diamond cards. I wish Franchise mode went into a little more depth with things such as international signings and more realistic contracts. The advancement of depth has been lacking in this mode for a few years now. Overall I personally love this game but I can see why people think this becoming more and more of a money grab. Sony needs to be careful with this. But even with this being the case, MLB the Show 18 still has much more to offer in modes like Franchise and Road to the Show that are not attacking your psychology. I hope they take some of that money and put it in to their other supporting modes in the future. 8/10 great. »

« Decent game by 2005 standards... series in DESPERATE need of competition. Game honestly isn't fun. Gameplay is an almost 20 year old engine that has been patched to the point of complete randomness. The only reason they get away with this is the fact they have an exclusive deal with MLB. This game is just a frustrating random pile of 2005 garbage. DO NOT spend money on this. »

« Simply put, this is baseball, and if all you want is a baseball experience, this game will provide you with that. However, since I spent a good chunk of money on this game (as I have done in the past with The Show games), I was hoping for a much fuller experience. There are so many simple flaws, as well as frustrating parts of this game that do not make it worthwhile. Let me give you some examples to show you what I mean. - This has been a problem for year now, but MANY of the batting stances and pitching motions do not look or feel at all like the actual players. This is a simple fix, just watch video of the players actually swinging! For example, the Giancarlo Stanton swing has his knees way too bent and the bat isn't quite in the right position. This is just one of many of the motions that is off. It is sloppy game design and really takes you out of the experience. - Apparently The Show still doesn't even know what the players in the game look like. Ex: The SF Giants reliever Will Smith does not look like the actual player at all! Not only has he (in real life) had a beard for about two or three years now, but he also looks less heavy in the face, than the game portrays his character as. By the way, his pitching motion isn't accurate with real life either. - Simple mistakes kill this game! As I was playing Road To The Show, I noticed the the El Paso Chihuahuas, a minor league team in New Mexico, plays home games at a field called Baypoint Park, and also has a beach boardwalk in the background. New Mexico is landlocked, they could never play at this field! This is careless game design that makes me think they didn't put much effort in to making the game realistic. - The graphics of this game haven't really changed much since about The Show 14 or 15. If you put both games in front of me, excluding roster updates and stylistic changes, I don't think I could tell you which one was which, which is just unacceptable. - I don't know if this one is just me, but this game has had a really bad lagging problems. When I pitch in Road To The Show, the meter will sometimes lag badly, causing me to really miss my spot and throw a wild pitch. I've noticed this usually happens with runners on base, making it more impactful and frustrating, as the other team usually scores because of this. Like I said, I have had many other The Show games before, and they have never had problems like this before. While this game does have some improvements, like the revamp of the Road To The Show progression, they seem few and far between. It really feels like San Diego Studios has lost the motivation to make quality baseball games with continual, positive improvements. They could really use a a serious competitor to their game to spur them towards improvement again, but sadly, it does not seem like that will happen anytime soon. It's really quite sad, as an avid baseball fan I hate to see this series drive itself further into the ground. Finally, I think a five score is GENEROUS given all of the issues with this game. I might be going a bit easy on the score because of the fun this series had given me for so many years. »