Major League Baseball has announced that their planned Xbox One, PS4 port of R.B.I. Baseball 14 will soon come into fruition. The game will hit Microsoft and Sony’s new gen consoles early next week, on June 24th. The PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game will also be $20, as it currently is on Xbox 360 and PS3. The new version of the game will introduce new updates to the game upon its release, most notably of which is a competitive multi-player mode. The new version will also have an updated roster–although we won’t see the update until later this summer–adding such players as Emilio Bonifacio from the Chicago Cubs, Mark Reynolds from the Brewers, and Jonathan Schoop from the Baltimore Orioles.
R.B.I. Baseball 14 is the first console game developed by MLBAM, the MLB’s own development company, and published by Majesco Entertainment Company. It is a port of the iconic series which originally made its debut on NES (which I spent countless afternoons playing with my father as a child). But unfortunately for MLBAM, R.B.I. Baseball 14 was met with a great deal of criticism. It currently holds a 3.3/10.0 user score on Metacritic, and has a noteworthy review from Game Informer which calls the game “one of the most baffling new releases [they’ve] come across.”
MLBAM also intends to add 60 former Major League Baseball stars from R.B.I. Baseball’s past via a special alumni pack for both the old and new versions of the game. Unfortunately, though, MLBAM isn’t intending to fix the game’s extremely basic, outdated two-button controls, noting that the game’s simplicity is its mass appeal.
Gamers would be much better off purchasing the absolutely stunning and incredible MLB 14: The Show for PS4, which you would be able to find for twice the price. But in this case, twice the price is worth it for such a drastic upgrade in quality.