Arcade sports games, once the cornerstone of great console catalogs, have generally become obsolete and obsolete. Unless you consider fantasy sports like Rocket League, the days of NFL Blitz and NBA Street are sadly long gone. Super Mega Baseball, now in its fourth installment and officially under the EA Sports umbrella, is at least flying the flag of an underrated genre. Overall, this title is a lot like its predecessor, but it’s still an interesting alternative to Sony’s more straightforward games. Participated in MLB The Show 23.
The big additions this time around are legendary players from MLB’s storied history, including the iconic Babe Ruth and Hall of Famer David Ortiz. These stars will not only roll out a whole new league of pre-made teams, but will also be sprinkled into online pennants his race in rotation, keeping the roster fresh across the various in-game seasons. Like its predecessors, this flagship multiplayer mode lets you climb the competitive ladder against opponents from all over the world. With crossplay enabled this time around, finding rivals is fairly easy.
The online suite is strong, including online leagues, casual exhibition matches, and more, but it also has some pretty strong franchise features to keep offline players occupied. This is a lot deeper than expected considering the arcade nature of the series, with elements of Team His chemistry incorporated to add strategy and depth to the roster-building experience. Unfortunately, I’ve found the overall user interface to be cluttered at best and overwhelming at worst. This didn’t exactly encourage us to work with some of the mode’s deeper features.
Luckily, once you hit the field, the game is pure fast-paced baseball. The ingenious ego system from past releases returns, allowing you to adjust the difficulty exactly to your liking, whether your strengths lie in pitching, hitting or defending. The engine has been upgraded to allow for more dramatic weather lighting and players are even more animated than ever before. The presentation is full of character, with stalls yelling out the prices of snacks from the stands while waiting for the next pitch.
And all the customizations that have become a staple of the series are back in the background, letting you build your own squad, down to the smallest details like uniforms and logos. There’s no shortage of pre-made content, but Super Mega Baseball 4 will reward those willing to invest time and customize it the way they want. Even if that, combined with the extremely entertaining arcade his gameplay his looping, didn’t quite feel like the massive upgrade the developer was expecting when Metalhead Software was acquired. His fourth installment is guaranteed not to disappoint.
