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Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager is on the cover of "R.B.I. Baseball 17." RBIgame.com

'R.B.I. Baseball 17' Review: R.B.Why?

By Sam Greszes | Last updated 4/5/17

The idea was a good one. Since "MLB The Show 17" would be appearing exclusively on the PS4, why not go back to basics and launch a multi-platform game in "R.B.I. Baseball 17," an arcade-style callback to the baseball games we all grew up with?

Generally, baseball games are confusing and hard to pick up nowadays. Sure, it's a necessity given the different systems in play for the different phases of the game, but it does mean that baseball games have always been (and probably will always be) more niche titles than, say, football, soccer, basketball or even racing games. The drive to simplify and go back to basics is an understandable one. A budget-priced title with this kind of simplicity should have been a home run.

Yet, at almost every turn, "R.B.I. Baseball 17" disappoints — falling short of its predecessors since the series' revival in 2014, and in many respects falling short when compared with the original NES game.

Very little about the game has changed from "R.B.I. Baseball 16," and what has changed has done so for the worse. Though it's no huge problem that there's a lack of an in-depth career sim mode, an understandable fact given that this is, at the end of the day, a $20 video game, the fact that the game does not feature any kind of online multiplayer at this point is ridiculous, especially given that last year's installment did. At the end of the day, you're limited to a handful of single-player modes (exhibition, season,and postseason) and some local multiplayer options.

The graphics are awful too. The player models all look kind of like if the team behind "Wallace and Gromit" was tasked with making ultra-realistic re-creations of baseball players, down to the awkward way they move around the bases. Sure, it's a budget title, but it just seems hack-y, like the developers didn't even try. If I'm being honest, I would have preferred the game go all-out and make everything 2-dimensional, using 8-bit sprites for the players like the original did. The alternative just doesn't work.

This is an official still from the game. Someone thought this looked OK. Image via RBIgame.com

I would, however, be able to forgive all of this if "R.B.I. Baseball 17" came even slightly close to giving players a fun, pick-up-and-play arcade baseball experience. Too bad it doesn't. This game might be the most frustrating baseball game I've ever had the misfortune to play. That's not to say it's all bad; it's not. It's just wildly inconsistent. Pitching and batting are a joy, and it's just as satisfying to get a batter to bite on a pitch that you curved 10 feet out of the zone as it was back in 1988. It's arcade-like and intuitive in the best way.

Unfortunately, this house of baseball cards crashes to the ground as soon as bat meets ball. The game seems to automatically switch you to the fielder who is second-closest to the ball instead of the person who should actually be making the play, and the player indicator is a light shade of green that would have been a good choice in an alternate dimension where baseball fields were covered with the same turf that the Boise State football stadium uses.

What this all means is that fielding just doesn't work half the time. On the off chance you can react to the hit fast enough to switch to the correct player, identify the player you've switched to and get into position under a fly ball, you'll then have to contend with the game just deciding for you whether or not to throw to the cutoff man on shallow outfield plays, despite the fact that there's a button specifically designated for that task. Oh, and god help you if you ever want to try to make a diving play. There are no such things as running dives in this game — if you press the dive button, all of your player's momentum will stop and he'll just kind of crumple to the ground.

Things are slightly better from a base-running perspective, albeit not by much. The AI is horrendous in handling routine base-running decisions, but even if you try and control all of that individually, you're bound to make a mistake. Unlike every other baseball game, the running controls in "R.B.I. Baseball 17" correspond to the base you're running to, not the base you're running from. So if you're trying to advance a runner on third base home, you have to hold the joystick down and press the advance runner button. It's incredibly counterintuitive, and it makes stealing bases or getting back to a base after attempting to advance almost impossible.

All in all, "R.B.I. Baseball 17" really has no excuse. Its predecessor wasn't very good, and this year's installment is actively worse. If you really want a retro baseball game, dust off your old NES and play the original. Or see if you can find your old copy of "Backyard Baseball." Or do anything else. Just don't waste your time here. Hopefully next time around they take Joe Maddon's advice: "Try not to suck."

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