Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "MLB THE SHOW 25 - SALES & REVIEW ROUND-UP"

Episode Date: April 8, 2025

Linktree: ⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠ In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, Analytic Dreamz dives into MLB The Show 25, released March 18, 2025, on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch. Explore gameplay mechanics like Ambush Hitting, enhanced fielding, and SHOWTECH visuals. Analytic Dreamz breaks down Road to the Show’s amateur progression, Diamond Dynasty’s year-long cards, and Franchise Mode’s free agency overhaul. Get insights on top hitters like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, Negro Leagues storylines, and controversies like pay-to-win concerns. With Metacritic scores of 88-90, this segment covers it all.Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Getting into my favorite sport of all time. But this is an NBA 2K. So anyways, getting into baseball, which I think is probably one of the more mundane sports to watch in sports history. I ain't a lot to you going to a baseball game. It's almost like to having a sunflower eating competition rather than playing baseball. But with that being said, of course, we got to show some respect to the MLB community as far as the gamers.

Not only did they show up in droves, but they supported this game to the point where not only is it one of the most popular games on both platforms as far as Xbox and PlayStation. But as far as specific ranking, it's the second most play game on Xbox and it's the third most play game on PlayStation. Now, of course, y'all all know as far as the coverage of the podcast, when I get into games, I'll talk about the global appeal of ball and gun games. And that is no different with MLB the show because of course it has a ball in it. So the sales are going to be through the roof. And once again, EA is just eating off of yet another sports title. Because if you don't know, this particular game was released March 18th, 2025 on a PS5 Xbox Series X and S and the Nintendo Switch. But one of the things to note, especially with their release date, is that it did not, it skipped,

the day one game pass release, which is very interesting because now you're basically putting a lot of confidence in your sales potential and ultimately becoming the second most play game on Xbox, the third most play game on PlayStation, you come to realize that San Diego Studio, who are the developers of this game, had a lot of faith in the sales. Let's just put it like that. Because of course, when it comes to the sales nine times at a 10, you're going to see at least three sports games in the top five. And of course, currently, there's no different. NBA 2K is the, well, NBA 2K-25 is the second most play game on PlayStation.

MLB, the show, is the third most play game, and EA Sports FC25, which is the soccer game. That is the fourth most play game on PlayStation. And of course, you go over to Xbox, and interestingly enough, they only have one in the top five. be the show is the only one in the top five but of course if you go to the if you round it off actually it's the only sports game in the top 10 look at xbox players but playing games ain't that crazy y'all still only account for 3% of marvel rivals but anyways um with that means so the optimization we have to talk about that because a lot of people came out to talk about how this game lacked in a lot of areas when it came to optimization and how it could run smoother right

and what they be in a sports game and them making multiple it well yearly iterations into the title you would think that it will over they will overhaul some mechanics but one of the things they did overhaul to play devil's advocate is the free agency right so the prior to you being able to prioritize three targets with signings influenced by team competitiveness contract offers and player preferences so as far as NBA 2k 25 or just NBA 2k in general my favorite mode will always be my gym. Just because I like to mix and match and look at the salaries and match it up and make the best team possible. Seems like that is becoming more of an emphasis in the franchise mode for MLB to show.

Also, another standout gameplay mechanic is, of course, the home run hitters as the ambush hitting mechanics as far as predicting pitch location inside slash outside to expand the plate coverage indicator for better contact. Now, I'm a gamer. But even that was some type of nerdy terminology that I had no idea of what they were saying, but I had to disseminate it to the public because, of course, when it comes to review and sales roundup, that's what I do. So I wanted to give y'all exactly what people enjoying this game.

And with that being said, road to the show. Road to the show is basically amateur years progression where you spend two or three games in high school, three to four games in college. And of course, your combined draft stock determines where you end up in the MLB draft, right? So estimated story length, because there's a story, you know, even though it's a sports game, we have a little story going on. You know, nothing too crazy, a little Stanley type beat. 10 to 15 hours for the main story, if you fast track the gameplay, 25 to 35 hours with side missions and increased difficulty. So depending on how you want to play this game, depending on how difficult you want this game to be, like maybe you play baseball.

Maybe you was completely irate in the first 15 seconds of this review, right? So with that being said, you play in the game, you probably are more invested to the point where you want to see how you can handle it on this hardest difficulty. Now, I know as a hooper myself, whenever I'm playing NBA 2K, I always choose a big man. You know, I'm trying to make a big man, but I never play big man. You know what I'm saying? So sometimes I like to play different positions just because. And baseball, if you're not the pitcher, if you're not the hitter, I just don't see the appeal of playing any other position.

It's like in the NFL, right? Who in the world is going to my career to select the safety position? Ladies and gentlemen, you played yourself. It's a video game. We're supposed to have fun. How are you going to have fun when you're staring at the game and what's happening in the game for 90% of the time? And then 10% that you do have involved in the play,

What if you blow the opportunity? See? Now you're just upset for the rest of the 90%. So all jokes aside, I do respect the sport of baseball. I feel like it has a lot of its audience that's hardcore to the overall culture of the sport. But personally, I just think it's one of the more mundane and monotonous games we've ever created. So with that being said, as far as sales, I already got, I mean, I already went over the position as far as PlayStation and Xbox. You notice, I did not talk about Nintendo, which this game.

game is currently out on. So I'm not going to say Nintendo doesn't play MLB to show. All I'm going to say is I couldn't find any sales anywhere when it came to the position of this particular game on this platform. And best believe me, I searched. I saw a lot of anime games and a lot of Mario. I did not see any MLB to show. But of course, as long as you're very successful on console, I'm not going to say who needs Nintendo, but you know, it would be it would be a great addition, but it's not needed. Anyways. So, some of the other controversies in this game is the diamond dynasty so because they say it's pay to win as far as the early scarcity of high-end cars and matchmaking issues favoring spenders now 2k it's a common common theme here i would talk about eafc but i've never played that personally so i can't really account to what they do but the diamond well no the dynasty mode and all sports games have become predatory Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am saying that the dynasty mode at this point in time is the mode that developers want you to play because that's where they make the most money.

You want that shiny LeBron or you want the shiny, let me see, shiny Aaron Judge. Like, you're going to have to pay for it. And you're not going to get it on the first five. Yeah, the first five tries. It's going to be probably the 50 million time. You go to the redraw, right? So Dynasty mode, I think, is one of the more predatory modes ever invented in sports because of the way that they went about monetizing that game mode.

Anyways, some of the other things I want to get into is, of course, the top hitters and the MLB to show. Because when we talk about the overall mechanics, we have to talk about who's the dominators in the only position that matters. Now, I'll just play my fault. See, I'm definitely going to get hate for that one. all right so as far as the top hitters in the MLB of course number one is Aaron Judge as far as best power hitter number two is show in the world show he oh oh Tony showie I Otani I think that's how you said dominate versus right hand pitching okay and then you have Jordan Alvarez a pure hitter Corey Sager power against right handers okay then we got Juan Soto, elite plate disciple. Then you have Mike Trout.

I've heard his name a lot. I don't know why I've heard his name, but I've heard his name a lot. But anyways, they say, still a threat despite decline. Wow, why they have to put despite decline? Is he like falling off of something? I guess so, huh?

Anyways, Jose Ramirez, balanced hitter, and these I'm just going through the top 10, right? So number eight, we have Brent Rooker, emerging power hitter, Kyle Tucker, consistent performer, and then Bryce Harper. I've definitely heard his name a lot.

So, as you can tell, those are the top 10 hitters in the game. I'm not going to go back over the list. You can just rewind it, but the main thing I wanted to let you know is, you know, maybe you want to play as these gentlemen in the game, and, of course, you want to know

who's the best hitters. So that's why I read off that top 10 list. So other things about the game is that, of course, with the stars, like, showy, I still don't know. I say his name. Otani, Soto, Paul Skeens, Ellie, Dela Cruz, like,

stars like that. And of course, when it comes to the historical players, it includes Roger Clemens, Manny Ramirez, Nomar, definitely can't say that last name. Cool Papa Bell type of name. And Turkey, Stearns in the Negro League stars. So,

brings me to my next point. What is the Negro Leagues? Well, I'm glad you ask. The Negro Lees is in the game and is narrated by Bob Kendrick in initial three-player narratives with additional players arriving in April 2025 updates. And as far as the Negro League, you know, it's great history. If you ever want to go down that path, as far as figuring out why the Negro Leagues was a thing, well, you probably couldn't already guess, you know what I mean, racism. You know what I mean?

You feel me? People tell us and forget about it, but, you know, it played a huge part in a lot of things. So Negro Leagues was a thing before, you know, They started to bring over people because of the sport becoming way more exciting to watch than the actual league, right? That's the reason they brought Jackie Robinson over and then they started to bring more people over. I think Jackie Robinson technically, I don't know if he was actually the first one they brought over. I think it was the first one that was popular.

I don't have to go back to it. But yeah, as far as the Negro leagues, that's why they brought us over. It wasn't because they liked us. It was because our game was the way we played the game was a little bit more exciting. Just think of basketball today, basketball in the 70s. that's that's basically what was going on if you watch the negro leaves documentary it's a very entertaining so uh with that being said i wanted to get into oh yeah the review roundup so when it comes to reviews i gn gave this an eight out of ten praising this core gameplay and updates that

but noted that the storylines had lighter content so of course it's a sports game it's not going to be heavy in story content i'm not mad at that game spot gave this an eight out of ten highlighted the free agency overhaul, which I already got into earlier, and critiqued ambush hitting's impact, which I also talked about earlier. But some players said they liked it, so I think that's more of a personal preference. So Forbes, what is Forbes doing reviewing games? Anyways, Forbes gave this a 9 out of 10 calling it the series Pinnacle, despite muted visuals, basically calling the graphics ashy.

That's essentially what that means. Game rent gave it an 8 out of 10. they say they appreciate the polish but miss the bold new mode okay so with that being said i believe a lot of people enjoyed it when it comes to the additional things they have in the game as far as the first game with with three cover athletes uh symbolizing the next generation um diamonds quest board game the negro league storylines that addition right uh show text animation leap includes error specific overlays such as 1970 score bugs which you know okay that means the sports game supposed to be historically accurate um

amateur years and r ttss mirrors real MLB journeys a series first okay so that's basically it so with that being said it seems like MLB the show is a solid game and objectively speaking it's a very successful game as it's the number two game currently on xbox and it's the number three game on playstation so click my link tree in my bio let me know what of my social media is what do you think about the video game MLB the show and if you've played the game what is your favorite part of playing baseball games