The latest AAA sports games are overrun by the mode that collects cards. The explosive popularity (and profitability) of EA Sports FC’s ultimate team has been forced to mimic most of the other major sports game franchises. Each EA title has its own ultimate team mode, with the NBA 2K franchise having MyTeam and the MLB having the Diamond Dynasty.
Beyond the predatory microvariability that exists so far in some of these games, these card collection modes can feel like the genre is escaping its roots. Most of these modes try to shoot awkwardly to play cooperatively to overcome this, but the show can actually provide a fun cooperative experience.
Ranked cooperatives of the Diamond Dynasty are easy. Before the game, each player selects two bailouts from the roster of three batters, one starting pitcher, and individual Diamond Dynasty and adds them to the collective roster that both players build together. The game will fill the remaining gaps from a consistent pool of players and build a complete 26 roster. During the strange innings, players 1 pitch and catches during Player 1 field, and even innings are reversed. In an attack, the player turns off the hitter at all at-bats. This means that both players will have the opportunity to hit everyone on the roster multiple times in nine innings.
Image: Sie San Diego Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
This is a very simple system, but it also allows for a much more balanced gameplay share than the cooperatives offered in card collection modes in other sports games. You don’t have to struggle to play one person’s lineup or another (Madden and EA Sports College Footballone brings the attack and the other brings the defense). They have an unstoppable 98 over big man, so they don’t repeatedly bait the ball on one player. Don’t miss out as one player becomes the quarterback and the other isn’t. It feels like they’re giving both players the same space for fun.
Much of this comes down to great decision-making with MLB by show developer Sie San Diego Studio, but the reality is that there’s more to do with the sport itself. Baseball is much easier to do cooperative exercises. It consists of a series of one-on-one battles. This means you rarely need to rely on AI decisions in the game (unlike a 5-to-5 or 11-to-11 sport, most players at any time will be AI controlled even if they are two people in the mix). EA Sports FC is limited by the speed and pace of soccer, so a series of quick passes means that they often hand over the responsibility of ball-on-ball within a second. The 2K Triple Threat Co-op is fine for the 3V3, but it’s not the perfect setup for two players. You simply have to expect your AI teammates to complement your playstyle. Madden, on the other hand, is a bit of supportive disruption thanks to the complexities of football in general. It is by far the most complicated sport.
Baseball doesn’t really have these issues. It’s full of natural breakpoints to exchange positions. Switching off on each AT-BAT doesn’t just provide everyone with the opportunity to try every card in the lineup. This also means that a meaningful single inning rally requires both players to watch the ball and get hits. Other sports games require group success in a rare way. Everything doesn’t limit the literal home run chances of one player popping out to get things done.
This next part may sound strange as a way to praise the cooperative game, but the effect of this setup is astoundingly lonely as baseball alone can do. Every at-bat is a new opportunity to get ahead of your team and put both you in a better position to win the game. But the actual act of hitting is simply you to the pitcher. There is no mini-game where teammates can help them guess the pitch or steal signs. There is no real bonus you get when your partner hits a home run just before you (though the pitcher’s trust rating may shake up a bit). Success is all up to you.
Image: Sie San Diego Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
But like real baseball, this loneliness creates room for new ways of communication that other games don’t have. Your teammates may not be able to mechanically help you during the batting, but they can give you information about what the pitcher’s tendencies are, as does the teammates at real baseball games. In other words, my embarrassing strikeout may not have been much worth during my batting time, but it informed my teammates that the pitchers love to finish off batters with high fastballs.
Just like real baseball, hitting on MLB The Show is extremely difficult. What feels like just a second requires correctly identifying the incoming pitch, determining whether to swing it, adjusting the hit indicator, and adjusting the hack properly. Having someone together on that journey is the easiest way to succeed (without very good vision and no reflexes), pattern recognition, and two pairs of eyes are better for that, so there’s a long way to go. When we, the two authors of this post, co-authored this in a true cooperative style, MLB Show 25it took quite a few games to eliminate the first victory. But with practice, hard work and great care about our opponents, we were able to hit more consistently and put together the winning string.
On the pitching side there is a similar kind of loneliness that provides ample space for both heroic and disaster. In a cooperative game, there’s no feeling of finding you struggle with the runner on 1 base and 3rd base. You’ll get caught up in this mess and you’ll have to go back from it too.
Baseball is a team sport, but it is also a deeply isolated game. Somehow, the Diamond Dynasty cooperatives at MLB The Show can evoke both these seemingly AT-ODDS facets of sports, creating a challenging yet rewarding cooperative sports gaming experience in a time when many of them remain.
