Super Mega Baseball 3 Review

 

Arcade Baseball Amusement-A Super mega Baseball 3 Review

When it comes to sports games, I'm far more engrossed with the more arcade style types as opposed to the more realistic sims. What Super Mega Baseball 3 should provide is another great arcade sports game that is fun to pick up and play at your leisure, so does it succeed at that goal?

Similar Slugging

The gameplay of SMB3 is nearly identical to the second game minus a few visual tweaks and improvements that hardly change the "feel" of the game. I will say, as someone who played the second game a ton, there really aren't enough changes and additions here to really justify that $45 price tag nor justify calling it a sequel. However, I'd like to go over the one area of truly additional content: the highly touted franchise mode. 

This is certainly the most interesting portion of the game, where you essentially play the season mode with a bunch of additional options to fine tune your team. You can handle the players you sign, how they develop, and even do crazy things like putting players on stimulants in an outrageous and silly arcade style. Throughout the seasons in this mode you can manage your economy to effectively stay below the salary cap and you can divert funding into players to make them better. It's certainly a welcome addition, and desperately adds a dimension of gameplay to what essentially is Super Mega Baseball 2 with a coat of paint. 

The risk reward system of player development is very interesting, and can result in huge gains for your players.

As an entry in the Super Mega Baseball series, there are a few features that are present in this game and the prequel that I'd like to highlight. Just like SMB2, this game features full length 2 player co-op through almost all its modes both online and offline. I have gotten vast enjoyment from playing a season through with a few friends and the implementation of co-op in a baseball game here is wonderful (although I'd love to play co-op with more than just 2 players, as the only option for 3+ friends is to play against each other). For example, one person will handle fielding and the other pitching on defensive innings and they switch off every time which constantly keeps players engaged with changing roles throughout the game. 

All the fine tuned arcade baseball from SMB2 returns in SMB3, and it is extremely addictive yet simple. It's fun, and keeps the often slower pace of real life baseball fresh with less downtime and intuitive hitting and pitching. It even provides a few laughs, with small quips in player names as well as funny moments where you line drive a pitcher and they comedically exit the game. Even someone who has no experience can pick up and play, but it ultimately leaves me disappointed with how little changed from the previous titles. When you put the two side by side, it's clear how little was added outside of a few visual touch ups. 

One of my favorite features of the previous game also returns in the randomly generated teams and leagues the game will create if you want to spice things up. It is very fun to design and create your own team, logos, and uniforms if you want, but you can also have the game make entire new leagues without as much as lifting a finger. Although perhaps not that crazy for others, I found it made for a interesting variety of gameplay going up against what feels like a near infinite number of teams. Some online have even gotten really invested in this team creation tool, and you can download team packs of the entire MLB with all of the players scaled correctly too! The next logical step in the series for me feels like steam workshop integration, as of now you have to use mods to achieve what the workshop would streamline. 

Verdict

Ultimately your level of enjoyment of SMB3 revolves around if you played the previous title. If you don't have experience with any other titles in the series, SMB3 is a fantastic jumping in point and has the most content of the three. You'll experience the joy of this series strong mechanics just as I experienced them back in the previous titles, but for those who have already played SMB2 this title seems a bit too expensive to warrant a purchase. I'd say wait for a sale if you played the second entry or don't if you haven't. 

8.1/10-Not Enough Additions, But Still on a Great Foundation