RBI Baseball 21 may no longer be the only Major League Baseball licensed option for Xbox One and Xbox Series X, but it’s still being launched – and it’s appearing on March 16, five weeks before Sony San Diego Studios MLB The show 21.
And you know what? It looks pretty good! RBI Baseball, developed by MLB Advanced Media, with the game of last year adopted the modern tone and batting cameras (and controls) and took the series away from the red, arcade-style look and basic commands. It’s still not necessarily a complete ‘simulation-style’ baseball title, but such things communicate that the franchise has more depth than transferring the gameplay from the 1987 NES original to the present day.
RBI Baseball 21 will add play-by-play comments from Fran Charles of MLB Network. (This is actually Charles’ second video game concert; he hosted a virtual highlight show in Madden NFL 10.) Users can also create their own players and place them in any setup. And lighting will now change throughout the course of a match to show transitions from an afternoon to late turn under the lights.
Tim Anderson, the shortstop of the Chicago White Sox, who won his first Silver Slugger award after the 2020 season, is the cover star. RBI Baseball 21 will be sold via online store windows for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One, with packaged goods available to pre-order at GameStop, Walmart and Target.