We are now 11 years into the baseball gaming franchise that is MLB The Show. As the name suggests, this game is all about presentation.

We have in recent years, reviewed a handful of games in the franchise, and each time have been impressed by how the developers, Sony San Diego Studios, deliver an experience that can be immersive for fans of the sport, as well as easy to pick up for newcomers.

So now that the latest instalment, MLB The Show 25, is available to play, we spent the past couple of weeks diving deep to see whether it is still as enjoyable and engaging as its predecessors.

Here’s what we learned.

Straight to the action

MLB The Show 25 wastes little time in getting you to the diamond.

There is the usual start screen where you get to see the cover athletes, Paul Skenes of the Pittsburg Pirates, Elly De La Cruz of the Cincinnati Reds, and Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles. Full disclosure we are not as familiar with these players as we are with Shohei Ohtani, who is a player that transcends the sport, but it’s nice to see that more athletes are getting the spotlight.

Once you set your favourite team preferences, which also styles elements of the UI in that team’s official colours, you can very quickly get an actual game started.

You can also set the controls, difficulty, and in-game preferences with ease, and for those that simply want to pick-up-and-play, you can do so quite nicely. Here the controls are kept quite basic, and depending on your difficulty and experience level setting, you can get assists from the in-game system.

These include pauses when first-time actions occur in-game, such as a pop ball being snapped up by the catcher, the pitcher checking runners on different bases, or determining what route to send a ball to home plate in order to get a runner out.

These are all things that veterans of the game will know, but for newcomers, it is a very friendly system indeed, and once you get comfortable with it, the difficulty can increase dynamically, which is also nice.

This came in handy when we first started playing, as it had been more than a year since we last played an MLB The Show title, but because the controls and UI were so intuitive, it was very much like riding a bike in terms of picking things up again and triggering that muscle memory.

Broadcast quality

We next need to touch on the presentation showcased in MLB The Show 25. One standout aspect is the commentary. Normally in sports videogames, the commentary team involved have a fairly scripted set of responses to in-game action that they will dole out.

While it sounds fresh at the beginning, after a few days, the repetition of phrases becomes easier to spot. That is simply not the case here, as commentators have a great rapport, inside jokes, run-off stats and interesting information for star players, and generally make it feel as close as possible to an actual broadcast.

The only thing we have an issue with here is the sheer volume of advertising, which is also real-to-life for anyone who has ever watched an actual match being broadcast in the US, but in a game such as this, it could prove jarring for some. Thankfully you skip most of it by pressing or holding the X button.

For those who want to grow their knowledge of baseball, MLB The Show is a great jumping-off point.

As for the in-game action, all elements look sharp. While most of the action happens between the pitching mound and home plate, when hits or runs occur, players have plenty of control to dictate outcomes, and the experience is never sterilised by automated actions or the in-game AI taking over to babysit the action.

The same goes for the single-player career mode, which has a deep customisation platform to create your future star player, along with an all-encompassing manager-style feel that allows you to control action both in and out of the clubhouse.

That said, if that’s not your thing, and you simply want to play, the franchise mode will scratch that itch.

There’s also a bunch of university teams and a dedicated mode available in-game to play with some up-and-coming talent. Not to mention the continuation of the Negro League, now in its thrid season, which aims to highlight some of the key figures and players of that era, so you can enjoy some history too.

Final verdict

The great thing about MLB The Show 25 is that you don’t have to be a massive baseball fan to play the game, and enjoy it too.

The action can be tailored to your preferences so it can cater to highly nuanced and detailed interactions for those who love to dive into the statistics, manage the roster, and set up teams to your desired liking.

For us, it is equally adept at simply being a pick-up-and-play title, with controls simplified and intuitive, along with a difficulty system that adjusts well as you get more comfortable with the title.

Add to this some solid visuals, brilliant commentary, and gameplay that is engaging all of the time, and MLB The Show 25 continues the recent tradition of great baseball games being churned out by Sony San Diego Studios.

If we are to cite any issue, it is the R1 299 price (PS5 only) for the standard edition of this game. It is a lot of money to ask from more casual baseball fans, or those not familiar with the sport, so holding off until the price comes down a bit is advised from our end.

That said, if you are a fan of America’s past time, picking up MLB The Show 25 is not a purchase you’d regret.

FINAL SCORE: 8.5 OUT OF 10.

FULL DISCLOSURE: A PS5 REVIEW CODE FOR MLB THE SHOW 25 WAS GIVEN TO HYPERTEXT BY THE LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR OF THE GAME.