It’s baseball season again in MLB The Show 16! Hopefully baseball fans enjoy this year’s iteration because once again it’s the only major baseball sim in town. It’s also still exclusive to the PlayStation family of consoles (Vita excluded this year, sorry Vita owners), meaning if you’re on Wii U, Xbox or PC, you’ll have to find your baseball fix elsewhere. RBI Baseball or Out of the Park Baseball, perhaps?
Anyway, back to MLB The Show 16. For another consecutive year, San Diego Studios has decided to play it safe by sticking to tweaks and slowly growing the game, rather than doing anything dramatic. Still all three major game types – Diamond Dynasty, Road to the Show, and Franchise – all have received some new toys that will likely please long time fans of that mode. Without further ado, let’s break down what’s new in each of MLB The Show 16’s major modes, starting with Diamond Dynasty, which received the most attention of all this year.
What’s New in Diamond Dynasty
Diamond Dynasty probably received the most attention as it features not one, but two completely new ways to play with your fantasy baseball team. First you have Battle Royale, which seems very heavily inspired (to say the least) by Madden 16’s Draft Champions mode. That’s fine, though, considering Draft Champions is pretty damn fun.
In Battle Royale, you draft a 25-man team compromised of both high and low rated players. You then take that team and play against other human players in short 3-inning games. The longer you can stay free of two losses, the better rewards you rack up. Once you lose though, you’ll have to buy back into Battle Royale using Stubbs (MLB The Show 16’s currency).
OK, so while MLB The Show 16 might have borrowed some ideas from Madden for Battle Royale, the new Conquest Mode is quite unique. Conquest Mode is a real time strategy game that challenges players to spread their Diamond Dynasty team’s influence across the United States, Civilization 5 style. You’ll advance across a hexagonal map of the USA, eventually running into other team’s territories and stealing their fans through conquest in baseball games. You’ll need to use those fans you win over to fortify yourself from other team’s attacks. Within the mode are different challenges you can take on to earn in-game rewards.
The final major change is the new Daily Matchup Rating by Inside Edge, which changes a player’s stats depending on their real life match up for that day. For example, if Lucas Duda is up against a pitcher that he struggles against in real life that day, then for that day, his ratings may take a hit and you may be better off giving someone else a chance. While this change may annoy some people who just want to use their very best at all times, it certainly does add another layer of strategy and forces players to mix up their lineups more than they may normally would.
What’s New in RTTS
Road to the Show is still the same RTTS that longtime fans have come to enjoy, with some new events tacked on and a couple of new quality of life features to make the mode more fun. First, there is a new Bowman Scout Day. Newly made RTTS players will have their skills evaluated by a scout to determine their initial draft stock. Batters will show off their hitting skills, pitchers will pitch; it’s about what you would expect.
A new feature added in RTTS this year that is especially nice is being able to play multiple games in a row without having to return to the menu. Meaning as usual, you can focus on in-game moments that are important to your player to quickly finish a game, and then when the game is over, just jump right to the next one and keep going.
Another cool feature is Showtime, which allows you to slow the game down to help you nail down pivotal moments. For example: Bases loaded, two outs, full count, here’s the pitch… You can slow that down and make sure you get it right instead of being a goat. You’ll have a limited amount of Showtime however, so don’t waste it.
Finally, training also now includes unlockable perks that you can use in-game either for a pitch, at bat, or an entire game. As you can probably surmise, these perks give you an edge to help you come through in certain in-game situations.
Best of the Rest (Franchise and More)
Franchise mode, MLB The Show 16’s oldest and most stoic game mode, basically remains the same with a few added tweaks. The biggest and best change is that player performance will have a greater impact on player progression instead of it being more heavily weighted towards potential. Meaning, regardless of a player’s potential, if they have a break out year regardless, they will receive better progression. Also, players now have morale that will fluctuate throughout the season based on your actions as GM, which as you could probably guess, affects their performance on the field.
Free agents also will now be pickier about where they choose to sign. They will have a preference on the location of the team, their role, and the coaching staff. This means securing a player that’s a better fit for your team will be easier than trying to do so with someone who isn’t.
Finally, MLB The Show 16’s My Locker and EXP system also received a bit of a face lift, mostly in support of the game’s Diamond Dynasty mode. Missions have been added that challenge players to complete a certain task in-game. When completed, the missions will reward you with special cards that can be used in Diamond Dynasty including new Flashback cards that feature older or current players during a specific moment in their career, for example their rookie season or a milestone year.
Also new are Captains. Players can align themselves with a specific MLB The Show 16 featured superstar (such as cover star Josh Donaldson) and rank them up through playing the game and completing tasks specific to that player. Leveling up each of the captains will unlock new rewards that can be purchased with either Stubbs or tickets.
That about does it for MLB The Show’s 16’s major changes. What will you be jumping into first? Let us know in the comments.
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