If you want to play a PC baseball management sim, you grab Out of the Park Baseball. If you want to actually get on the field, then Super Mega Baseball is, in my opinion, your best bet. The long-awaited sequel finally got a release date this week—May 1—alongside a video detailing how developer Metalhead Software has upped the realism this time around.
Players not only look more human (they were practically bobbleheads in the first game), but their reach, speed and arm strength has been recalibrated so that plays unfold at a more realistic pace, and it's harder to pull of outrageous catches where your short stop leaps 50 feet into the air.
In other fielding changes, the game will now have throwing errors. In the new system, you hold down a button to determine the strength of your throw. Tap it and you'll throw it slowly but avoid an error, which is fine if the base runner is nowhere near safe. Hold it down for longer and you'll throw harder, but you run the risk of hitting the top of the meter, after which errors come into play. You might throw into the dirt, throw wide, or send the ball sailing over the head of your catcher.
Batting has changed to give more realistic hit velocities and fewer harmless pop-ups. Instead of skying one to the catcher—which happened a lot in the first game—you'll more often send the ball foul. Pitchers will no longer have access to an unlimited arsenal of pitches, and you'll only get to select from the ones they're good at.
Mojo will play a bigger part than in the first game because it'll be tracked between games. High mojo means your player will play above their ability level—that means a hitter can build up a hot streak over a couple of weeks where they're more likely to blast home runs, while pitchers can get into slumps in which they're getting hit all around the park.
The video above outlines a load more changes, including defensive shifts, footwork, mid-game saves and simulating parts of your season, so I'd recommend checking it out if you intend to buy the game. This is still very much an arcade baseball sim, but I like the more realistic feel. I've been longing to play the (sadly) console-only MLB The Show, so hopefully this will scratch that itch.
The game will cost $29.99 on Steam.
