MLB 15 The Show Screens Illustrate Improvements Over MLB 14
An official stream aired yesterday, providing new MLB 15 The Show screens and information for baseball fans. Here’s a quick summary (thanks to Reddit user papito208):
-Animations have been scrapped and re-done in both catching and throwing for each position and each base.
-New Batting feature: you are able to influence where you want the ball to be hit by using the analog stick. When using this feature, the camera will shift to the area in the strike zone that you are focusing on, so if you’re looking for a ball up and in it will be harder to hit balls that are low and outside.
-If the ball is a definite out (example: ball hit to pitcher or any of the infielders), the batter will not try to do a mad dash to first base like they did in every iteration of the show before MLB 15. If it’s a definite out they’ll conserve their energy and casually stroll to first so no more David Ortiz running like his pants are on fire to first.
-Fielders no longer run in a direct line, they run at angles to avoid having the ball going over their head, also to keep in tune to the realism not every fielder will have the perfect reaction to every ball that is hit. Example: Yasiel Puig would probably have a bad hop going forward instead of backwards. Because of his athleticism he MIGHT get to the ball on time but will most likely have to catch the ball as it hops off the wall.
-Animations per fielder have been changed to be more realistic. Example: the third baseman will keep the eye on the ball as it heads into the outfield, once the outfielder has the ball rather than make a beeline to the base they casually hop back to the base making sure they keep the eye on the ball at all times to avoid mistakes.
-The sun and shadows will adapt on a month to month basis rather than a regular day/night cycle. MLB.com has provided the developers pictures on a month to month basis and the colors/brightness/contrast will adapt to match the sun on that specific month.
-New cut off mechanic that adapts to various field situations. Example: in previous games when you held down the X button for a power throw from the outfield the ball would drag on to home base while the runner first made it to second easily. If there is a long throw from the outfield to home, the runner on first will most likely try to make a run to second. You will have the opportunity to press a button after the throw to allow either the short stop or second baseman to catch the ball and throw it to second for the definite out.
Below you can find the MLB 15 The Show screens, showing the improvements in shadowing and skin tones. The game ships on 31 March for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PS Vita.
