Preview: MLB 13 The Show

This year, The Show is coming back with quite a few improvements and additions. One of Sony's goals this year is to make The Show more accessible to casual and new players. Games in the past featured a hard learning curve across all difficulty levels. Sony is combating this by increasing the timing window for making contact with the ball across all difficulty levels. This won't make you a home run machine; instead it will make hitting less frustrating than it was in previous games. Another new feature that is being implemented is the new beginner mode. This mode is perfect if you are really struggling on putting good wood on the ball. In this mode the A.I. pitcher with start throwing fastballs down the center of the plate. Once you start making solid contact he will add another pitch and some off speed stuff. Eventually he will be throwing all his pitches in his arsenal. This mode is designed to teach you pitch recognition and plate discipline.

The popular Road to the show mode is also receiving some improvements this year. For new players to the game Road to the show is a mode where you create your own player and try to make it in the majors. You start you career in the minors and work your way up by earning experience points and building up you skills. You ultimate goal in Road to the show is to make the majors and get inducted into the hall of fame. This year Sony wants to make you feel like you are really in the game. This is done by removing the commentator audio. Instead of hearing the commentator you will hear other players and base coaches when running the bases. For example if you are a center fielder you will hear them talking about the current batter’s tendencies. Other improvements to Road to the show include new camera angles. There are new angles for both fielding and hitting which help improve playability and visuals.

MLB 13 The Show comes out on March 5th exclusively on the PS3 and PlayStation Vita. The game will also feature cross save between the two versions. Unfortunately Sony announced that the game will not be a part of the cross buy program so you will have to buy both versions of the game to take advantage of the cross save feature. Be sure to check out the trailer of the new beginner mode below and get ready to play ball on March 5th.