R.B.I. Baseball set to return with classic feel
Today, most console gamers are familiar with 2K Sports’ Major League Baseball series or Sony’s MLB: The Show, but with 2K Sports letting their license with the league expire, every platform not released by Sony was left without any baseball title.
Major League Baseball has stepped up to fill this void with the revival of R.B.I. Baseball. The franchise came to exist over two decades ago, yet no title has seen the light of day since R.B.I. Baseball ’95. There was a rumored XBLA revival several years ago; however, that title never materialized in any manner.
This iteration will be true to form with what fans expect from the franchise. MLBAM Vice President of Games, Jaime Leece, told Joystiq that the fun, simplistic controls of the series would return. “It’s you against me, it’s not your dexterity versus my dexterity,” he said, adding that, “Having to deal with button combinations and things like that creates an extra challenge that’s, I think unnecessary and certainly gets in the way of the enjoyment of the product itself.”
This arcade-style throwback may, indeed, be fun to play, but the game will not include things users have become accustomed to with modern baseball releases, such as a career mode, detailed player models and stances, or online multiplayer. In this scaled-back release, exhibition, season and post-season options will be included with split-screen multiplayer.
While R.B.I. Baseball 14has much to prove, hopefully it is up to the task and provides gamers with an out of the park baseball title. The game is scheduled to be released this spring for Xbox 360, PS3, iOS and Android, with Xbox One and PS4 versions to follow shortly after.