Let’s make this clear right off the bat: RBI Baseball 14 is not a simulation, but a simple arcade game that attempts to appeal to a wide audience. But after playing only a few games, ultimately fails to be appealing at all. It may have an updated look – at least, up to 2006 standards – but it plays and feels exactly how I remember it from RBI Baseball ‘95, 19 years ago. Outside of a few fun local multiplayer moments, that’s not a good thing.

I always appreciate a retro-style game that looks vintage, and give the impression that the developer has carefully written a love letter to the games of yesteryear while bringing what was great and memorable about it up to modern standards. RBI Baseball 14 is not one of those games, as its baseball gameplay hasn’t evolved since the 90s. Meanwhile, the same uninspired music plays on repeat and the announcer is fairly annoying; I was very quickly encouraged to turn the sound off altogether.When starting a game there are literally no team introductions or animations. It just dumps you straight into the game and forces you to pick a starting pitcher, without showing you any of their skills. It’s obvious that players have attributes, since some can pitch faster than others, but it’s as if it’s a secret between the MLB and its biggest fans. There are no team ratings of any kind, either. The only way to know which teams and pitchers are the best is if you paid close attention to last season, which directly contradicts what RBI Baseball 14 is seemingly attempting to do. How can a game be accessible to everybody if you have to know how good all the players are before you play?Controls are oversimplified, which, on the bright side, makes it easy for anybody to pick up and play. Moving the joystick to the left or right to move the ball while it’s in the air is a fun mechanic when trying to fool your friends into swinging, and it can provoke major trash talking. Hitting is equally easy to do – it’s just a matter of timing.Fielding the ball once it’s in play is where the simplicity starts to hinder the experience, and the ball is in play quite a bit. A yellow circle surrounds the ball at all times, letting you know how high in the air it is by growing and shrinking. While it seems like a workable system, the way the circle changes sizes made it difficult to tell where it was headed. Especially because you can’t see the player you’re controlling for the first few vital seconds, and when you can they move very slowly, I felt like I was guessing where the ball would land every time. It’s by far the worst part of RBI.Ground balls are similarly frustrating. Once a ball is hit, you automatically assume control of whichever player the computer decides should field that play, even if a different player is clearly in a better position if you have a brain. That annoyance can be circumvented by changing the fielding settings from standard to assisted or automatic, but when your best bet is to have the computer play defense for you, it’s not a good sign.Game options are limited to an exhibition mode, a season mode, and a postseason mode. There is no online multiplayer (only local) and no home-run derby, which would have made sense for an arcade game. It struck me as odd that in season mode you have the opportunity to unlock throwback uniforms by completing team-specific challenges like hitting a certain number of home runs, but not offer any viewable stat tracking.