Second Runner Up: MLB The Show 16
Despite what my UK colleagues might think, baseball is the real “beautiful” game, and The Show continues to be one of the prettiest games around. Unlike just about every other major sport, the layout of a field and stadium factors heavily into play in baseball, and it’s amazing that year after year, San Diego Studios continues to top themselves in recreating each park, and of course the players.
MLB The Show 16 isn’t just a pretty face, though. It also remains one of the most true-to-life sport games around. There’s a strategy to taking and delivering pitches in real life baseball, and unless you’re a god-like player, you need to respect those rules in The Show too. Not swinging at everything, pitching around the strike zone, and knowing when to take a pitch at the plate are all skills that are valued in-game.
While The Show has tried to experiment with some outside of the box new features like the bizarre Conquest Mode from this year’s edition, the staples of the series — Franchise, RTTS, and Diamond Dynasty — are all just as solid as ever. All three are probably due for a touch up sometime soon, but The Show continues to be a fantastic Baseball sim.
