MLB 13: The Show

 PlayStation 3
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 119 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 94 out of 119
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 119
  3. Negative: 13 out of 119
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  1. fish6132456
    Mar 5, 2013
    3
    REAL REVIEW from someone who has played every single game since The Show came out in 2006. Same as every other year. There are little improvements here and there, but nothing major. They added ONE new main feature (The Show Live) which isn't fun or interesting at all. This game is becoming like Madden. All they do is add tiny little features each year and you hear the word "Improvement" AREAL REVIEW from someone who has played every single game since The Show came out in 2006. Same as every other year. There are little improvements here and there, but nothing major. They added ONE new main feature (The Show Live) which isn't fun or interesting at all. This game is becoming like Madden. All they do is add tiny little features each year and you hear the word "Improvement" A LOT. Go ahead and read/watch some dev. interviews, you'll see/hear the word "Improved" a lot. They "improved" this and they "improved" that. Instead, they should be innovating (which this game does NOT do). You'll notice too that (just like Madden) they don't come out with more than just ONE new main feature each year. This year's main feature is The Show Live. Last year's main feature was Diamond Dynasty, see the pattern? They do have a "new" beginners mode. I put quotes around the word "new" because it's just another feature that they "improved" really. Also just take a look at Badasz's review... notice anything about it?? I'll take some quotes from his review if you don't feel like reading it.... "The game has a lot of improvement's from the last version".."Graphics and game play are the same"..."RTTS mode, its more realistic than ever" (another example of "improving" something)....Then he talks about the commentary and not hearing them while you play... umm... every single other The Show since 2006 allowed you to turn off commentary (which I always did)... so nothing new there. He talks about playoff atmosphere, just another little tiny improvement, I've always felt the atmosphere was great during playoff games in past The Show games. Manager mode, just "improved". They do this so that they have more to add into their game next year. They don't add other features ON PURPOSE....which I kind of understand, they are here to make money, not please their fans.... and we're the ones who suffer for it. They ad just the minimum amount of new features and improvements to fool players like Badasz into thinking it's a completely new game. Whatever happened to Create Your Own Stadium, Classic HOF players (Ruth, Mays, Paige).... I know they need legal rights to their names, but they've done it in the past, they can do it again.... what ever happened to players wearing their own team jerseys in the All-star game (like in real life), how about adding Fantasy Baseball in the game (like how you have fantasy baseball on yahoo or mlb .c o m. Where the HECK is The World Baseball classic... perfect year to have it. We've been waiting for The Show to add the WBC. I know they won't be able to use players real names, but isn't that what the Roster Vault is for?!?! Definitely wait for this game to drop to around at least $30 before buying it. With everything I said, If you loved last years game and aren't expecting/care-about huge changes and innovations and don't mind the exact same gameplay... then get this game. This game would be deserving of a 10/10 if it were the first or second baseball game to ever exist. It's a great game standing by itself, but since this game is part of a sports series, it deserves special treatment when reviewing it. Bottom line...
    Nothing new. Same Gameplay. Lots of little improvements (batting stances, things like that). ONE new main feature (The Show Live).... that's it     … Expand
  2. Vegas
    Mar 5, 2013
    0
    I'm writing this to warn people who like RTTS that there are now dizzying spins of the camera when you are on the field/coming to bat. So much so, it is making some ppl sick. The devs know this and just don't care.

    Last time I'm ever getting ripped off by sony on this POS!
  3. ryno9913
    Mar 6, 2013
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I've been playing MLB 13 The Show for about 17 of the last 24 hours and The Show is terrible.. Presentation is terrible. The announce team couldn't sound any more artificial. Nothing about their commentary seems real. Matt Vasgersian just rambles on and on trying to play catch up. Online play so far has been horrible. I've played 4 games online and I'm 3-1. It was difficult to play with connection issues and lag with my opponent. I assure you it's not my 50mbps internet that is lagging. So if I want to play online I have to find someone with a top notch ISP and speeds like myself. No servers to help with the connections. The one place the MLB The Show shines is the in depth features of their game modes Franchise, RTTS and the Diamond Dynasty. All three of these features are amazing. As amazing as those features are I can't let the terrible game play slide by. Pure Analog pitching and hitting are horrible, but I'll assign part of the blame to PS3 and their controllers. The Analog sticks are so loose it's impossible to go straight back and forward with them. If this were on 360 I'd be willing to bet everyone would love the Pure Analog control styles. The other control styles for hitting and pitching Zone, Classic and Meter,Classic and Pulse all make me feel like I'm doing nothing. Hitting on this game is still ridiculous. It has improved some. Still way too many weak "oops I didn't mean to swing" type hits. Also in any control scheme for hitting I don't feel like I have control of where I want to hit the ball. They say it's based on timing and the hitters spray charts. This is not like real baseball. Watch any good hitter and you can tell where he is trying to hit the ball. Then usually he'll hit the ball there. I don't feel like i have this type of control in this game.

    Pitching is insane as well. The pitch never goes where I aim for it to go, even if ,no matter which control scheme I'm using, I perfectly execute the pitch. The one positive for pitching in this game is the pitchers seem to fatigue realistically. Fielding in this game is a big area of concern for me. Even with the best infielders I can't get to regular ground balls in the hole. There are not too many balls that gets by Brandon Phillips at 2B for the Reds. I see at least five get by him per game on The Show. Also too many times I've had my fielder lined up perfectly to catch a fly ball, then it mysteriously drops to the ground. Finally on fielding is the throwing. The throw meter is stupid. Just plain stupid. All fielders that I have noticed have the same green spot. Shouldn't that spot be bigger or smaller depending on the fielders throwing ability. Then too many times I've just barely missed the green spot, like it's just barely past it in the yellow and the ball goes way off line usually resulting in an error. Baserunning maybe I'm dumb but I can't figure it out. I have to aim the Left analog stick at the runner then tell him what to do. I've tried this and usually they just stop running. So I'm left with just advancing all and returning all. You may want to discredit me for the upcoming closing part but here it goes. A lot of the "new" improvements and the "new" game mode "The Show Live" were mostly ripped straight from MLB 2K series. Analog hitting and pitching were perfected by the 2K series. The new throwing meter in the field, was done first by MVP baseball then perfected by the 2K series. The above mentioned new game mode "The Show Live" is a direct ripoff of the MLB Today game mode from 2K. I'm not trying to say 2K is the better game or not. 2K has some serious issues with glitches and poor graphics and just hardly ZERO depth and features in their game modes. However, while the glitches are annoying, they are usually minor and don't effect the outcome of the game too often. I am willing to sacrifice a level or two of graphics in exchange for better gameplay. Sorry MLB2k may not look as good, but the pitching is the best ever of any baseball game. The fielding is par. The baserunning is easy. The hitting I have complete control of where i want to hit the ball. The announce team and audio presentation squashes MLB The Show. They also have servers and better online connections. So I've played both games. I went out and bought a PS3 just so I can play The Show. I feel like I have wasted $370.00 I could have just bought MLB 2k and would have been happy.    … Expand
  4. mlb13isajoke
    Feb 11, 2014
    2
    For all these review that praise this game....what are they smoking??? Sure, this game has excellent graphics and the attention to detail is outstanding, but the actual gameplay...horrible! This game has more bugs and glitches that make the game almost worthless playing, unless you like to stress yourself out by dealing with it. An example, would be the "catcher freeze" glitch. This isFor all these review that praise this game....what are they smoking??? Sure, this game has excellent graphics and the attention to detail is outstanding, but the actual gameplay...horrible! This game has more bugs and glitches that make the game almost worthless playing, unless you like to stress yourself out by dealing with it. An example, would be the "catcher freeze" glitch. This is where you've struck the opponent's batter out with a pitch in the dirt, and all of a sudden, the catcher 'freezes,' you cannot move him, or do anything. In the meantime, the opponent's batter that just struck out runs to first base, and if the opponent decides to take full advantage, he will seamlessly run around the bases to score and there is nothing you can do about it. This must suck if you've pitched a perfect game with a 1-run lead going into the 9th inning for something like this happen to you.

    There are other things, such as your pitcher throwing the ball into the stands out of play when trying to pick the runner at 1st base off. I mean, often does that happen? Once in 'blue moon?' Not in this game. It happens so much, that you become reluctant to trying to pick the guy off at 1st in fear that you're gonna give him 2nd base for free by throwing it out of play.

    I can't tell you how many games have been lost due to pass balls. Its beyond ridiculous. I mean just because the pitcher throws a pitch in the dirt, doesn't mean that it has to go all the way to the back-stop. I mean give me a break. These guys are professionals and practice countless hours on blocking pitches in the dirt in front of them. Again, how often do pass balls occur in real life? Not here, you'll be lucky if the catcher keeps the pitch in the dirt in front of him, otherwise, if there's a runner on 3rd base, you may as well just guarantee the other team an added run to their score.

    There's also the network connection bug that should get an honorable mention. That's where out of nowhere, the game will end due to "network connection lost with opponent," but really, its a game server problem, because you will see that the opposing team will be awarded rating points even if you were winning 5-0 in the 6th inning. And the winning team is suppose to be the only one being rewarded with rating points, not the losing team as well.

    The list goes on and on. Anybody who has played this game long enough, I'm confident can relate to these issues that I've mentioned. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these guys have had to replace their own controllers because they've thrown them across the room out of frustration, not because they're losing, but losing because of these flaws that they have no control over.

    What surprises me the most, is that they have actual forums and a place where you can report these bugs; however, months, and months have gone by, and still the problem exists. If these bugs and glitches didn't exist, this game would easily be a 10+ score, but since that's not the case, I give it a score of 2...and that's being generous.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

7
#7 Best PS3 Game of 2013
55
#55 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 36 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. XGN
    May 29, 2013
    80
    A great, deep and entertaining baseball sim without a tutorial to welcome newcomers.
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  2. CD-Action
    May 7, 2013
    60
    It’s the best baseball simulation available, but the biggest new feature is the mode for beginners, not very interesting to PS3 baseball aficionados. And the rest will probably ignore this game. [CD-Action 05/2013, p.79]
  3. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Apr 23, 2013
    90
    The Show remains the most authentic sports series of all time. FIFA can't touch it. [May 2013, p.108]
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