RBI Baseball 17 Nintendo Switch Review

"Portable Arcade Ball"

Campaign

RBI Baseball 17 is a bad game, it's the worst of the recent modern releases of this series. That being said, it's actually the perfect sort of game for the Nintendo Switch. Being a versatile game available for all consoles and mobile platforms it works well into the mobile design that the Switch is built on. That means it's basically the full arcade Baseball experience without much of a change in graphics or performance whether you're playing on the big screen or out and about. Despite that aspect, the core game is still not great with this year in general being a step back. While it's got an updated roster for the latest season, things are basically the same as the 2016 year with some aspects being dialed back. The multiplayer is gone with only splitscreen local being an option. There's a full season, partial season and other options for playing the sport as well as the traditional quick exhibition mode. Nothing too creative here to expand on the sport as it just gets by with the bare minimum.

Gameplay

It really doesn't look all that great and on the Nintendo Switch this is more apparent when on a larger screen. It does however look decent when on the undocked version for when you're on the go. The controls are a streamlined hit system that might be difficult until you get the hang of them. This comes down to a combination of just buttons and the D-Pad. I did find some aspects unresponsive such as pitching with the Joy-Cons coming across as slightly off. The crowd are paper people, the stadiums are alright looking with a step up from past entries and the people have some better form to them. The animations are somewhat stiff as the player at bat will slide across the floor as will the pitcher. I did find that the core gameplay was cleaned up compared to the other versions and the glitches I faced on the other platforms weren't present while I was playing.

The Conclusion

There's definitely some potential with this series as the last few were alright and had been going in the right direction. I felt that the Nintendo Switch version of this year's iteration is probably the best release since the game is so perfect for being something to have on the go and then take home. There are plenty of issues present though overall a cleaner version of the game since I didn't run into the glitches that previously plagued the other versions of this release. It's got some alright arcade Baseball action if you enjoy a fun take on the sport, though if you're looking for a simulation than this isn't it.

RBI Baseball 17 Review on Nintendo Switch
Review Code Provided by MLB

Rating Overall: 4.0