Backyard Baseball (2026) Review
Nostalgia: a hell of a drug and the simplest strategy for companies looking to hook in sentimental suckers. Over the past two years, this sucker eagerly awaited the long-anticipated release (the first in over a decade) of the newest installment in the Backyard Sports series in Backyard Baseball (2026). Like many kids growing up in the early 2000s, I loved coaching my teams across a variety of games (Baseball 2001/2003/2005/2006, Basketball, Hockey, Football 2004/2006, Soccer MLS Edition) to championships on the easiest settings across a variety of consoles (Hefty Gateway Desktop, Dell PC, PS2, Gameboy Advanced). Of course, my teams always revolved around our star player and inspiring short king hall of fame member: Pablo Sanchez.
Pablo entering the pantheon of greats with not so great vertical structure.
July 9th AKA Release Day had finally arrived. I booted up my PS5 and expeditiously navigated to the PlayStation Store. Only a Pre-Order button appeared on the screen across from me. I learned I apparently needed to wait another forty days until I’d be able to feel the sweet sweet rush of dopamine coursing through my veins as I’d earned a slew of digital trophies just for losing in different game modes. (This damn generation!) Lacking patience and other instant sources of rewarding neurotransmitters, I purchased the game on my subpar “Gaming” Acer laptop with the justification that I’d be honoring my earlier keyboard-and-mouse-playing history with the franchise.
As I excitedly entered the exhibition game of my initial endeavor, everything felt off. Inaccessible game modes scattered the main menu. Elements of customization that made every pick-up game feel different like team name, uniform color, roster selection, and field choice were all missing in action. Worst of all, the distinct cast of characters who made the original games so memorable were transmogrified into uncanny versions of themselves. I appreciate the developers not capitulating to modern culture warhawks, who had no qualms regarding its diversity twenty years ago, by having I.C.E. arrest Maria Luna or the Khan brothers mid-game and replacing them with an inferior white crony kid alternates, but the jarring incongruence between the voice acting and personalities was difficult for me to overcome.
Some, like Dante, still maintain their unique identities in voice and mannerisms, but most others fail to distinguish themselves performatively on the field or vocally as they sound like either an over-the-top toddler impression or a low-effort adult voice talking slightly higher than normal. (The new Angela Delvecchio takes the cake for worst of the worst.) Their appearance remains easily identifiable, but to me, their voices had the same effect as that of being in the presence of a dying relative or an old friend you haven’t seen in a decade. They’re there, but they don’t sound like how you remembered. The designs and graphics are fine but lackluster for a $40 game in 2026. I assume the latency I experienced even with lowered settings stemmed from my crappy gaming PC. Although, universal bugs persist in the forms of constant fielding struggles, overpowered AI batting ability, demanding baserunning burdens, and balls hit out of the park or off the wall illogically being caught for outs.
Essentially, in its current state, it’s an incomplete hot mess not worth half its price tag. I expect this shitty practice of releasing an unfinished product that forces ardent fans and early players into the role of guinea pigs to uncover the developers’ incompetent errors from AAA gaming studios but not from a smaller company that primarily focuses its efforts on one entity. To their credit, there’s no microtransactions (yet), however, there’s also no magic of what made the original games so amazing.
The classic Shadey the Dog PSA
Perhaps my age has transformed me into a curmudgeon who despises change, but there is one change I’d like to see: this game being overhauled and finished to provide players with their money’s worth à la Fallout 76 or No Man’s Sky. For now, DO NOT BE A SUCKER AND GET REELED IN WITH THIS NOSTALGIC BAIT!!! Wait a year until this game goes on sale and in the meantime, play one of the recent re-releases of the other 25-year-old Backyard Sports games that are more fun.
Always be aware of nostalgia worm!