Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
San Diego Studio returns for a third season of baseball action on Nintendo Switch and it’s another fairly solid job all round for 2024, giving fans yet another feature-complete port that manages to get the most important stuff right during its deep and addictive matches.
Indeed, whilst MLB The Show 24 has seen plenty of technical issues at launch — which we’ll get into — and there’s not much new or exciting here over what you’ll find in the previous two outings, there’s no denying that this is probably about as good as we can realistically expect these sorts of enormous sports games to run on Switch at this point. It works, but you can almost hear the seams popping.
It’s poor in places, with all the usual graphical downgrades, longer loading times, stutters, and all the rest of it. However, the important stuff; the full suite of game modes, the flow of matches, the timing of button presses on plays, all of that remains unaffected. So, regardless of the fact it looks as though it’d fall apart if you touched it, this is actually a solid and dependable take on the national pastime (we just looked it up on Google and that’s what it’s called in “America”).
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
Comparing directly to MLB The Show 23, well, it looks and plays pretty much identical overall, it still has very notable frame rate issues during action cutscenes (again this doesn’t impact play so your mileage may vary), and most detail has been sucked from stadiums and players, although it still looks decent in places, it has to be said. Menus feel more responsive, which is actually a big win for this sort of Switch port, and various intro videos and cutscenes pre-game definitely seem to be less problematic than previous years.
Now, we mentioned some technical issues at launch and this is the reason why this particular review of MLB The Show 24 has arrived so long after the game’s release. We always try to ensure we are quick off the mark here at Nintendo Life, it’s part of our mission to have you covered with trustworthy verdicts before you drop your cash, but this time we were left in a bit of a spot — alongside anyone else who picked the game up at launch — because entire modes, most notably Diamond Dynasty, just were not launching. In fact, attempting to launch Diamond Dynasty at all for the first week that the game was on sale resulted in us being kicked back to the Switch home screen every single time.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)
We did have some crashes on other modes, it was a widespread problem according to the internet, and yet nobody from San Diego Studio or MLBAM saw fit to say anything for over a week. No word on social media, zero updates to either us or those who had splashed out their cash for the game. Why are we dwelling on this? Because we don’t like to be put into this position — where mere hours after going live our review and score wouldn’t reflect the game that readers want to know about. Day One patches make it tricky at the best of times, but we definitely feel this lack of communication needs calling out. It is blatant and it is frustrating; if people have bought your product, and if a writer is taking the time to review your game, a response or direction of some sort when it’s not working seems like the barest minimum.
Thankfully, and moving on before this turns into a proper rant, these issues do now seem to be fully sorted at the time of writing. So, let’s change tack to the game’s huge number of modes, each of which has made the jump to Nintendo’s console for 2024. It’s an overwhelmingly familiar package with all the regulars returning, including exhibitions, online and offline, co-op, a retro mode, Diamond Dynasty, Road to the Show, Franchise, and Storylines all back for another season of rounders baseball.
The only really noteworthy new addition across the bulk of this comprehensive slew of modes is the ability to create a female player in Road to the Show and, although making your player female doesn’t affect stats or performance, it’s a nice touch that we’re sure plenty will appreciate. It’s in the relatively new Storylines mode that regular players will find the biggest treats and surprises this year. This mode delighted us last time around and for 2024 it has been expanded into two parts, one exploring the Negro Leagues and their star players and another focused solely on Derek Jeter.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)
For us, this is where MLB The Show 24 really comes alive, because these are often poignant stories of people who had to struggle against everything to make it anywhere, and the emotion and personality this infuses matches with as you play elevates everything that little bit. We’d love to see the developer try to incorporate more of this sort of thing into Road to the Show, in fact, as that mode is lagging behind other sports games in its single-player story content, and baseball is a game that’s full of history and emotional personal stories and triumphs to cherry-pick from.
And really, besides that expanded Storylines mode and a few little touches here and there, fans of this franchise will know exactly what they are getting once again this year. MLB The Show 24 on Switch had some serious issues in its first week or more on release, but it still suffers from the same downgrades and performance issues as previous outings — which you might hope had been better optimised and refined given how similar things are.
You should also note that online, as in previous versions, can be a bit patchy. There is cross-play with other platforms, and the game does indicate that slow matchups are because it’s finding players on your level, but you can definitely prepare for some long-ass waits for games, especially if you’d prefer to stick to playing Switch-based opponents. Of course, there’s also cross-progression between platforms here, so you could pick this port up to go mobile with your progress from another console, and really that’s how we will likely continue to use this version of the game going forward.
Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)
Overall then, after a massively frustrating first week full of crashes and errors, baseball is back, eventually, for another season on Switch. Warts and all.
Conclusion
MLB The Show 24 delivers a solid third season of baseball on Switch in a port that keeps the gameplay fluid and delivers a full suite of modes, even if it does feel as though the console is really being pushed to its limit now. There are the expected visual downgrades, longer loading times compared to other platforms, and online can be dodgy, but a slew of modes, deep and satisfying gameplay, and that handsomely expanded Storylines mode patches over most of the rough spots.
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