Super Mega Baseball 4 Review – A Super Experience

Super Mega Baseball 4 Review

Super Mega Baseball 4 is the latest iteration of the Super Mega Baseball series, now featuring over 200 baseball Legends and a slew of upgrades. For those who have never played a Super Mega Baseball title, the series is an arcade-inspired take on baseball. Though it has a decent grasp of the simulation aspect as well. Over time, Super Mega Baseball has become the best non-MLB licensed baseball game out there.

Super Mega Baseball 4 plays exceptionally well on a game-to-game basis, as sports games should. If players are coming in from other baseball games, there are some differences with regard to controls. But overall the learning curve is quite smooth. Changing settings can improve your own tailored experience, but this review will cover the standard settings.

For batting, the game requires you to track pitches with a reticle of sorts. Depending on your difficulty settings, the game does help to some degree. But on higher settings, players will need to move the reticle more. Overall, the batting in the game is pretty simple but gets deeper, especially if you are looking to utilize power swings. It was relatively easy for me to get base hits on the more standard difficulty levels. Hitting home runs required more manual tracking and attempting to get a bit under the ball.

As for pitching and defense, this portion may be simpler than other baseball games. Once you select your pitch and location, you have to move a cursor close to your intended location to determine where your pitches end up. For me, this was a pretty easy process. And pitching came naturally to me. For defense, the game once again moves your players for you in order to field the balls. One noticeable difference between some other baseball games is that Super Mega Baseball 4 seemingly operates on an “if the ball beats the runner” basis. This means that slides and avoiding tags are not necessarily a part of the game.

Having played at least 2 of the first 3 Super Mega Baseball games, it is safe to say that Super Mega Baseball 4 has the best visuals thus far. All while keeping the distinct look and feel of the series. One aspect of the game I am not a huge fan of was the presentation of various information on the screen. Simply put, there is a lot going on which detracts from the action of the game. While some portions such as the high score section play into the arcadey feel, others are simply sensory overload.

Legendary

The Legends added to the game include, as advertised, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Johnny Damond, Ozzie Smith, Jason Giambi, and more. This was a nice addition to the game, but completely unnecessary. All of the players on the game’s teams are not real, and players can simply create any real-life players they want. Overall, it’s a nice selling point for the game, but long-time fans might not be as affected by this.

The game also includes teams with baseball-related creators. Which is another nice touch that wasn’t necessarily asked for. In addition to an Exhibition mode, there are online games and leagues, Franchise mode, Season mode, and more. While these are typical modes in a sports game, the Shuffle Draft mode allows players to create a league by drafting players into new and unique rosters. No matter how you want to play, Super Mega Baseball 4 lets you play your own way.

Overall, Super Mega Baseball 4 is the best arcade-inspired baseball game on the market. It also does a great job with its simulation aspects while keeping the Super Mega Baseball form. My favorite part of the game, aside from its strong gameplay, is the amount of customization there is. Whether you want to customize players, teams, leagues, or difficulty levels, there is something you can change. Overall, Super Mega Baseball 4 is a great baseball videogame experience, especially if you want a departure from the MLB.

*** A PS5 review code was provided by the publisher ***