MLB 12: The Show arrived in 2012 as the latest entry in a franchise that had been the highest rated sports video game for the past four years. Sony Computer Entertainment published it. San Diego Studio developed it. It landed on the PlayStation 3 and, for the first time in the series, the PlayStation Vita.
It is also the second installment to work with PlayStation Move. And it is the first year the game skips the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable entirely.
That is the shape of the thing. The question is whether the polish holds up.
Trailer, via Game Footage Archive.
Adrián González and the Cover That Aged Wrong
Adrián González got the cover. The Boston Red Sox first baseman earned it after batting .338 with 27 home runs and 117 runs batted in during the 2011 season.
He is the third Red Sox player to take the honor. David Ortiz held it for MLB 06: The Show. Dustin Pedroia held it for MLB 09: The Show.
Then the season turned. González was traded to the Dodgers halfway through 2012, which left the cover outdated while the season was still going. A sports title ships in March and the sport can rewrite your packaging by midsummer.
Canadian buyers got a different face. On January 23, 2012, it was reported that a separate cover would carry Toronto Blue Jays right fielder and third baseman José Bautista. He batted .302 with 43 home runs and 103 runs batted in during the 2011 season.
Two covers, two markets, two very different summers.
What the PlayStation Vita Version Actually Changes
The PlayStation Vita release is the headline. This is the first installment of the series on Sony’s newer handheld, and it matters more than the Move support, which is the second time the franchise has bothered with motion controls.
The PlayStation Vita puts a console baseball game in your hands. Whether the controls translate is the question every handheld sports port faces, and the source material does not hand us a frame-by-frame answer. What we know is the platform list: PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita. Single player, multiplayer, split screen.
The modes carry across both platforms. That much the source states.
The franchise’s pitch is consistent across the releases: true-to-life gameplay, authentic franchise and season modes, and detail that other sports games do not match. MLB 12: The Show builds on the previous releases and adds features meant to push the sports genre forward. That is the publisher’s claim, and it is the same claim the series has made before.
A Chicago Commercial and a 104-Year Drought
The marketing went somewhere strange. A commercial for MLB 12: The Show shows the city of Chicago celebrating after the Cubs win the World Series at Wrigley Field.
The spot frames it as the end of the longest championship drought in MLB history — what it could have been, 104 years. The source ends there. What happens after the celebration is not reported, and this article will not guess at it.
What is clear is the setup. The ad sells a Cubs title that had not happened. That much the commercial itself puts on screen.
The Comparison Table
| Feature | PlayStation 3 | PlayStation Vita |
|---|---|---|
| Release year | 2012 | 2012 |
| Split screen | Yes | Yes |
| Single player | Yes | Yes |
| Multiplayer | Yes | Yes |
| First series entry on platform | No | Yes |
| Developer | San Diego Studio | San Diego Studio |
| Publisher | Sony Computer Entertainment | Sony Computer Entertainment |
The table shows the PlayStation Vita is not a stripped-down companion. It carries the same modes. That is the point of the release, and in this paper’s view it is the reason the PlayStation Vita version is the one worth talking about.
Where the Franchise Stands After Four Years
Four straight years as the highest rated sports video game is a run. It is also a trap. When you have been the best for that long, the bar is not the competition. The bar is your own last release.
MLB 12: The Show adds features. It polishes. It brings innovation to the genre, or at least the publisher says so. The PlayStation Vita is the new variable. The Move support is a second attempt at something the series already tried.
The PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation Portable are not in the platform list this year. That is the quiet fact of the release. MLB 12: The Show is the first entry that commits to the PlayStation 3 and the PlayStation Vita and nothing older.
The Score, and What It Means
The published critical score is 7.9 out of 10, an IGDB critic aggregate drawn from 7 outlets. That is a good score with a raised eyebrow in it. It says the game is very good and not quite great.
The PlayStation Vita version is what this paper would point a buyer toward first. A baseball sim on a handheld, with split screen and multiplayer intact, is the new thing here. The Move support is a footnote in our reading. The cover athlete situation is an accident of timing that nobody could have planned around.
What holds MLB 12: The Show back is not any single failure. It is the weight of the streak. When you have been the highest rated sports game for four years, a polished, feature-complete, platform-expanding release still reads as maintenance rather than a leap. The PlayStation Vita is the leap. The rest is a very good game doing what it has done before, slightly better.
Worth your time. Worth your money if you own a PlayStation Vita and want to see what the hardware can do. Less urgent if you already own last year’s disc and a PlayStation 3.
7.9 of 10, per the IGDB critic aggregate.
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