izigame.me

So, it is difficult to say YAY or NAY on this one. So, let's discuss the reason for the current thumbs down (can change later if it improves).
PROS
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* Line-drive cam is a solid addition
* The slightly adjusted view when hitting results in a more realistic K zone (IMHO). Anyone else still getting called out for high strikes? I like that I have to adjust to this.
* More traits? More fun! Very good addition
* Shuffle Draft!
* Deeper franchise options, well done IMHO.
* Some funny lines come from the crowd and announcer at times, pretty clever
* Smaller fielders has the potential to add more realism to the game (see below why not yet)
* The basic gameplay is mostly untouched from SMB3. This is a good thing.
CONS
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* Terrible shadows / lighting. Just inexcusably bad in some stadiums/time of day
* Player models are terrible, just terrible. There are many examples on Reddit of SMB3 to SMB4 character models and, honestly, it is a little embarassing (if I were at Metalhead)
* New stadiums are very hit and miss. And I mean what looks like a lot of effort for some, and almost none for others.
* Sound... almost all of it. I like the personality they injected here, but the ball off the bat sounds comically bad at times, umps are sometimes very distracting, the music choices are confusing (especially the start screen)
* STILL NO REPLAY????? REALLY??!!! Why?
* Fielding markers are difficult to see due to multiple reasons, but primarily it seems to be related to the shadow issue mentioned above. Could we have something easier to see for those of us having trouble with shadows?
* The Legends were implemented... so very very very badly. Up to this point, I have seen Metalhead as being a bunch of die-hard baseball fans. After seeing what they did with Legends... I honestly wonder if they have any idea about the game's history. Which I hate to say because I have just loved MH to this point.
* We really should have solid integrated workshop features out of the box. It's 2023, come on now.
CONCLUSION
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I think that, with the community's help, we can make SMB4 special like SMB3 is. The prices are pretty close at this point so, if you haven't played either, well..... i guess I'd say grab 4 and play less than 2 hours and decide, but the version you play early in its lifetime is likely to be quite different from what it will ultimately be with a combined effort from the community and MH. But some of the glaring issues mentioned above might be hard-baked into the game and some might not be able to be changed. I am hopeful that many of the issues get resolved.
At the very least, fix the lighting and give us a modern suite of workshop-related options so teams/leagues can be shared easily within the game. If they can also update the sounds or just put the bat on ball sounds back to SMB3 that would be acceptable. We have more franchise depth here, so I think that those little adjustments would be enough to flip this negative to a positive.
I have my own theory on just what happened here (a little experience with the gaming industry informs this), and if it went down how I think, then we should be looking as some solid updates later. I just hope that MH can be convincing enough to allow a little more $$$ to be spent on getting this thing back to the gorgeous gem that SMB3 was.
I personally think they will step up to the plate and crush it. Let's hope!
And, if you read this review and SMB3 is really cheap... buy it. It is a polished gem whose issues are definitely there, but it a better pure baseball experience than 4 at this point IMO. That is likely to change