After putting hundreds of hours into its predecessor, SMB2, I was hesitant to try SMB3 which looked like a money-grab re-release, nearly the same game. In a lot of ways, it absolutely is.
However, eventually, we gave SMB3 a try and are glad we did. Here is why: Franchise mode makes playing consecutive seasons with the same team more interesting. You really have to angst over offseason choices and then see how they pan out for you during the following season. You are never given enough money to do all the things you want to do, so each decision has weight and consequence. For example, you hold off signing a free agent hoping for a lower price, (there are several dozen rounds in the postseason and everyone's asking price comes down each round,) and some other team snatches the player you were coveting at the higher asking price, and you have to pivot. That makes the offseason somewhat exciting and engaging.
There is a ton to love here.
1. Game play is just fun. That's #1 for any game.
2. It's highly customizable just like its predecessor was. You can approximate the logo of every MLB team or make up some awesome ones on your own.
3. Stat tracking year over year is half of what baseball's all about, and this game has it.
4. Franchise mode adds depth so you aren't just swinging away with the same overpowered team year after year. Star players decline or quit, and you have to manage your roster and make smart replacements if you want to continue to compete every year.
I do have some very real criticisms though.
1. The AI never, ever makes a baserunning mistake. If they run to 2nd on a ball which your outfielder fielded cleanly and gunned to 2nd base with a 99 power throw, there is basically still a zero chance you'll get an outfield assist, ever. They NEVER run to 2B unless they're practically guaranteed to make it. It takes some of the fun and realism out.
2. Negative random events happen WAY too often. In the course of a season you can expect a random player to lose up to 20 points of a stat every 10 games or so. It's ridiculous. Example: "Handley Dexterrez doesn't see the ball as well as he used to. -12 Contact." (Permanently!)
3. Players you've invested money in training can still randomly decide to retire or quit on you at the end of the season, wasting your investment outright. In real life when your employer pays for training and you quit within X number of years, there's usually language in that contract where you have to pay them back for the training which made you more valuable to the job market. I would have liked to have seen something like that implemented here. Training dollars are too precious to waste like that (or to have them more-than-offset by stat losses from random negative events, as described in #2.)
4. Pitching in this game has become disproportionately difficult compared to hitting. Sometimes it feels predetermined that batters were going to get a hit on pitches that usually would get fouled off or swung on and missed. Sometimes you execute perfectly and they still crush it. I get that that happens in real life too, but, it feels like all that effort is wasted because it is detached from the quality of outcomes - at which point, what's the point of pitching well? In SMB2 you always felt like you could pitch out of a jam. In SMB3 I often feel like the only way out is to put in a new pitcher, because "the numbers dictate" that this pitcher will simply give up hit after hit no matter how well you execute.
5. Lag is a real thing and has genuine impact on outcomes. It is always frustrating to have a pitch blink through the zone that you had no chance at, because you didn't get to see its path coming in; it warped. I wish they had come up with an asynchronous way to rectify this, by having pitch data communicated to all players prior to delivery of the pitch, then have that occur locally on the batter's machine, so that lag could not be a factor. Then communicate the hit data back to the server afterward. Split second timing is needed to hit pitches, and lag just ruins it sometimes.
Lastly, I don't PvP in this game, only co-op, so I can only comment on the co-op aspect.
Final Note:
I'm disappointed that this publisher was bought out and will not be making any sequels or enhancements to this product line any more (so, sadly, none of my issues above will ever be addressed.)
This game is just good fun to play, has a low bar for entry, and an equalizing difficulty factor called "ego" which that makes it possible for a seasoned player to play competitively with a beginner.
If you are into baseball games and don't mind the cartoonish graphics, pick this up on sale and see what the fun is all about.
