R.B.I. Baseball 18

I was eager to try this game since I’ve heard so much about it, however, the game experience has been a big letdown so far. The biggest thing to this point is that there is no learning curve for new players, you just keep logging on and getting rocked by AI opponents that know how to use the game controls effectively. Presumably this continues until the player learns how to use the controls, which would be fine for a free game, but to have paid $2 to be frustrated every time I play is quite disappointing. Casual gamers (players who don’t have or won’t commit the time to learn this game as effectively as the masterful AI) probably won’t have much fun with this game. As for the gameplay, there is zero feedback or timing meters for the player during batting, which could be problematic since batting is entirely reliant on timing. I don’t expect to hit a home run every at bat, but I do think there should be some sort of feedback to inform the player on their timing so they can make adjustments. For example: I know I’m swinging early, but how early am I swinging so I can adjust appropriately? Pitching controls are just clumsy and moderately useless as the AI just gets the clutch hit every time anyway. Yes, it could be that I’m just not good at this game. But so far I have little motivation to get better.

EDIT: A couple small bugs/issues caused me to put the game down. For one, the game gives some of my players in franchise modes imaginary stats. Played about 6 games, hadn’t recorded a hit with Gleyber Torres, but suddenly he had a home run in his stats? Not a huge deal but extrapolate that out over a season/franchise & who knows what numbers are real. I also am finding the computer putting up 25 hits on me per game, on medium. I’m fine with a game being difficult but I mean has any team ever even gotten that many hits? Could be a bit more realistic.. just frustrating when the rays string together 10+ singles in a row off a good pitcher. I downloaded the game on its release date, & it was very buggy. Impossible to play, so I stopped. I’ve seen them push the rough a few updates in the meantime & decided to jump back in. Glad I did because the game is great! Haven’t experienced any of the previous bugs, just a solid baseball game. The best baseball experience in the App Store for sure. Glad to see it in the top 12 on paid apps. Wish it had multiplayer or home run derby, like the console version, but maybe in a future update!

Hitting is a joke! The strike zone is terrible! I got balls in the other box being called a strike! A joystick!? They throw 102! You have no time to decide where you want to go! And if you don’t use it you ground out! But, how many MLB players move before they hit? Realistic!? Please! This game is a joke! Pitching!? You have 3 pitches! A breaking ball that ends up in the dirt or clobbered 500 ft! A I guess change up? It’s a slower fastball! And a fastball! They have a 4 pitches! One of which starts off as a fastball, then breaks! So you move the stupid joystick, get ready to hit, and then it breaks! It’s ridiculous! Fielding!? Apparently everyone is a gold glove winner! The game glitches and the buttons stop working for a second! An average runner beats out a ground ball to shortstop! I loaded my team up because trading is a joke to! But I just wanted a game where I can put a beating on a team! Just for fun. Kill time! I can’t even do that! I have an all star at every position! Even the rotation and bullpen! But I can’t hit because the hitting controls are a joke! And if you do hit, it’s most likely a single! I have to steal 100 bags a game just to get runs! And base running? If you want to send a runner, you have to send both! Meaning that you basically give up an out to score a run! This game needs to be fixed! It’s ridiculous that people aren’t mad right now!

I like the changes this year as some of the hang ups resolved themselves. Liked that roster finally over write the lineup and let you use them. I have found that my players won’t steal when I press the man to steal. There is still no pickoff. The substitutions were a problem I could not get them to substitute early in the year as there was no good tutorial on how to make them so between what must have been a fix it has resolved itself. Injures would not resolve and return to active roster even though it said originally it was for 10 games. But once again I have lost a season of play. It happened at the game that should have on the schedule for 5/28. My franchise team is Atlanta Brave so I’m playing the Mets and on e lat out in the 9th the game froze. I have killed the app and opened it back up and continued the game 3 times recorded the last out and it froze again on the last out in the 9th also replayed the game and yes it froze on the last out in the 9th. I deleted the app and reloaded and lost the whole season. Would like a refund this continues to be a problem on a regular basis every year. Come on man it’s time to get this app right.

I love the fact that it’s actual rosters and honestly that’s what drove me to getting this game but as soon as I started my first game I regretted my decision to purchase this app immediately. Some of the animations are pretty cool but the pitching and batting!? Absolutely horrible. The baseball game I played before (which is FREE!!!) the camera angles for pitching/batting actually made you feel like you were part of the game. Pitching in the other game was also a lot more realistic due to the fact that you chose your pitch (based off pitches the pitches can throw), and the location of where you wanted to throw. There are many other things that I can call out but I don’t even know if anyone reads these so I don’t want to waste my time. Bottom line here is playing the other game (that I have re-downloaded) people always said “wow that looks so real!”, and I would gladly tell them about it and how it’s FREE...this game people see it and think it’s a super old game that I’ve been hanging onto for years and I absolutely feel embarrassed when I tell them I just paid for this...