Roundtable: Our Top 4 Games of 2020 So Far

Now that we are more than halfway through the garbage fire that is the year 2020, we here at VGU.tv would like to talk about our top 5 games that have released so far. With the next console generation nearing and the release of big AAA  games such as Cyberpunk 2077 and Marvel’s Avengers getting closer let’s take a trip through the biggest games of the past 8-9 months.

Allan Muir – Site Admin

MLB The Show 20 (SIE/San Diego Studios)

In a time that will be recorded in history for so much death caused by a pandemic that put a pause on nearly everything video games included, and one of those affected was the 2020 Major League Baseball season that is set to start later this month with a sixty game season. Ever since the planned but later delayed opening day of the season, MLB 20 has been used by all of the major teams to simulate where things would be had the virus never emerged. Along with glowing reviews from all the major outlets, now that the season has begun, the crowd sound effects from MLB 20 are being used by every team in the majors that are currently playing. In the co-op review that I did along with Graydon Webb, we both loved the game. Despite myself feeling a bit disillusioned with the series with MLB 19; MLB 20 reeled me back in hard! I mean, there is a reason that in my portion of the review I gave it a 5 out of 5 score with the game ultimately getting an A as a final grade.

The thing that sold me on the game back during the annual beta prior to the final product release was the general gameplay. When you hit a ball with the new to the series “Perfect/Perfect” system based on timing you get a much more authentic sense of “this feels real” that I personally did not feel with last year’s version of the game. The biggest feature of the game this year was the revamp of the March to October game mode which in the MLB 19 co-op review, Graydon absolutely loathed. When I was playing as the Indians which was in the second tier of teams to choose from based on projections about each team scouting wise, the game mode felt like a part of my nightly ritual of things to do.

As I’ve mentioned on a previous podcast, the game is also my way of testing how I would be as a baseball general manager, in my current four-team save with the Yankees, Mets, Giants, and erm… the Astros I am doing pretty well. With the added feature of re-location for teams, I decided that at the end of my in-game season I will re-locate the Astros to Montreal where they will become the new Expos. Despite this, the Yankees, Mets, and Astros are currently first in the standings with my Giants rebuild team getting closer to the Dodgers in the NL West. With the Yankees, I was able to trade away certain players such as Luke Voit, Masahiro Tanaka, and Giancarlo Stanton and in-return got Sean Doolittle, Lorenzo Cain, and Bryce Harper. While I am enjoying playing as the dominating teams (NYY, NYM, HOU), I am excited every time I play as the Giants and build a dynasty with the prospects I’ve gathered.