The idea of a brand new Free-to-Play sports game release by a major publisher is always filled with worries, as I’ll always feel skeptical about how its in-game economy will be designed. Will it be something that won’t feel overly egregious, or will it be a carbon copy of the mess that is EA FC‘s Ultimate Team system? Furthermore, considering how Konami’s last sports effort, the eFootball franchise, has completely lost its terrain and relevance, how would they be able to learn from past mistakes and come up with an accessible and non-predatory title for another sport? The answer is eBaseball: Pro Spirit, an admittedly simplistic baseball game, one that does feature microtransactions, but also a half-decent arcadey title if that’s all you really want from it.

The camera angle doesn’t help make your pitches feel fast, but the mechanics are very solid.

Given how major baseball licenses are held by the MLB itself, MLB The Show is the go-to game if you’re looking for realism, current player rosters, and an overall high-budget vibe. eBaseball: Pro Spirit cannot compete in this aspect. There isn’t a single license available, with all teams either being national teams comprised of completely fake players (gotta love playing as Iceland with a roster comprised of people with Hispanic and American surnames), or fictional teams created by yourself, complete with fully editable logos, names, kit designs, and so on. There isn’t a lot of depth when it comes to team variety, at least at first; Konami actively wants you to come up with your own “dream team” of sorts, and throw it either into local modes or the flagship online multiplayer offerings.

You can fully customize your controls, as well as the level of gameplay depth. If all you want to do is pitch and bat, you can do just that.

And yeah, the flagship multiplayer mode is card-based, and microtransactions do exist. Maybe it’s my overall disinterest for overly competitive multiplayer that isn’t Doom 2016 or Guitar Hero, but I never felt like grabbing packs to improve my roster. Konami does gift you with in-game currency by just playing the damn game, but, of course, it forces you to play a LOT of matches in order for you to properly improve your roster for free. I’ll be honest and say that I’ve played a couple dozen rounds of online matches, before reverting back to local play. I just decided to use eBaseball: Pro Spirit as a quick, arcadey sports time-waster, and you limit its scope to this particular setting, it works surprisingly well.

The reason is simple: the controls are really good. They are extremely customizable, depending on your skill level, and how much involvement you want in the gameplay as a whole. For instance, if all you want to do is bat and pitch, you can do so. Whenever you feel more comfortable and confident in your skills, you can also manually perform base running, add more complexity and physics to your pitches, and so on. eBaseball: Pro Spirit can either be a quick, arcade-like experience or a more serious simulation, depending on your playstyle. Add in the excellent framerate, and I have little to complain about the gameplay, aside from the admittedly clunky menu navigation.

Even though it’s just a minigame of pressing a button at the right time, batting feels super rewarding in this game.

If you’re looking for an exciting career mode, licensed teams and a more AAA-esque coat of paint, then eBaseball: Pro Spirit is not the game for – just stick to MLB The Show for that matter. But if you’re unwilling to spend a hefty sum for each new MLB The Show iteration, and all you really want is a pretty, competent, and responsive baseball simulator, one which is very forgiving to newcomers and perfect for quick, local matches, then Konami’s brand new F2P sports game does a remarkably good job in that aspect. Just understand its scope is very limited. Then again, you’re not paying for it, so that’s still a lot of bang for your nonexistent buck, regardless.

eBaseball: Pro Spirit is available now on PS5 and PC.

Reviewed on PS5.