R.B.I. Baseball 15 was developed and published by MLB.com. It was released on the Xbox One on April 1, 2015 and is priced at $19.99. A review code was provided by Major League Baseball.

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When MLB.com decided to bring back the classic R.B.I. Baseball series, the developer had a decision to go one of two ways. They could have swung for the fences and attempted to hit a home run by building a game that would rival The Show and really showcased the product that MLB.com represents. With its first rendition in R.B.I. Baseball 14, Major League Baseball was caught looking at a called third strike. In other words, MLB.com just kept alive the horrors baseball fans on Xbox systems had come to expect thanks to the 2K series of games.

Last week, MLB.com released its second attempt at bringing baseball back to Xbox users with R.B.I. Baseball 15. With Opening Day upon us, and just like Cubs fans before the season starts, all Xbox gamers could do was hope that MLB.com would release a game at least decent enough to be called a “single.”

Here’s what I liked:

Quick gameplay — With the ability to play a full nine-inning game in about 20 minutes this is a quick “pick-up-and-play” type of game. With simple two-button controls, R.B.I. Baseball 15 can easily be picked up by all types of gamers. Even if you’ve never played a baseball game before, R.B.I. Baseball 15‘s controls are simple enough to offer welcoming gameplay.

Graphics — While still simple like its predecessor’s, the graphics in R.B.I. Baseball 15 have been done very well. All the ballparks look like their real life counterparts, and the player likenesses are fairly accurate. As you can see in the screenshot below, the San Francisco Giants’ stadium is fairly accurate to what we saw in the World Series last year. The lines cut into the grass change from game to game which, also adds a little authenticity.

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Here’s what I didn’t like:

No depth to the individual games — While it’s nice to quickly play a game from time to time, R.B.I. 15 will just not have enough depth to keep for true baseball fans playing. Granted, MLB.com did add online gameplay this year and more detailed stat tracking for seasons, but the limited controls and options leave a lot to be desired. Diehard baseball fans are going to want to decide between a fastball and a curve in the bottom of the ninth to get that crucial third strike. In R.B.I. 15, that option is just not there.

AI just like your annoying friend — We all had one, that friend that no matter what you did — asked, pleaded, begged, paid, did their chores, etc. — they would just not throw a pitch straight, leaving you with no real chance of hitting it. Well, the AI in R.B.I. 15 is actually worse than that friend. I never knew a baseball could change directions over 20 times in one pitch, but the CPU here has apparently figured out the secret to making it happen, and it will rely on that trick on almost every pitch. When I played the original R.B.I. Baseball back in the ’90s this would always make me “rage quit” by about the 5th inning when I already had 13 strikeouts against me. Now, 20 years later, that trend continues in R.B.I Baseball 15.

Price — Should price affect a review? Well, there is a larger debate to be had here, and that’s for another time. But I believe that it should, and in this case it does. For $20 a person could buy a ticket to a real MLB game and spend three hours watching some good entertainment, hopefully with some friends. I see no way a baseball fan would spend more than 40 minutes playing R.B.I. 15 other than the fact that it is the only option Xbox owners have. MLB.com obviously knows that it has Xbox owners at its mercy, and it is reflective in the price. In comparison, the mobile version of R.B.I. 15 will be approximately $8 when released, which seems far more palatable.

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Wrap-up:

For a second straight year MLB.com has struck out in bringing baseball to Xbox owners. The fact remains, though, that if the Xbox is your only console, and you want to play a baseball game in 2015, then you have no choice but to purchase R.B.I. 15. Does that mean you should? No, it does not. Nothing warrants the price of R.B.I. 15 other than the fact MLB and Microsoft have gamers by the short hairs. If you choose to wait to pick up R.B.I 15 it will not only send a message to MLB but to Microsoft that this is not OK, and we expect a better baseball game on our Xbox consoles. This price sets up R.B.I. 15 to be discounted heavily in the upcoming summer sales that we all know are coming. Save your money and pick this up when it is 50 or 75 percent marked down.

Score: Skip It