Glenbino
Jelly and Ice Cream
Introduction
Almost a month into the 2014 MLB season, those of us who took the plunge and upgraded to a PS4 are still left without a baseball fix as we wait for MLB 14: The Show’s May release. Luckily, Markus Heihnsohn and the team at OOTP Developments are here to quench your baseball thirst with their newest version of Out of the Park Baseball.
Presentation
Those familiar with the OOTP series won’t have much trouble adapting the new version’s sleeker user interface. For first timers however, it may make take a couple of playthroughs to feel your way around the game. The interface itself has been overhauled to work better with widescreen resolutions, which allows for more information and statistics to be displayed on the screen.
OOTP15 Home Screen
From the home screen, you have everything you need at your fingertips to run a successful MLB franchise. Setting your lineup and rotation can be accessed quickly with the panel on the left, and more in depth options like team finances and prospect lists can be found in the top drop down menus.
Individual Team Financial Report
New to this year’s version of the game is the ability for users to import 3D versions of real ballparks into the game, providing realistic dimensions, wall heights, foul territories, and all the other cool things that make ballparks unique. According to the game’s developers, this will act as the precursor to fully featured 3D animations of on the field action in future incarnations. (NOTE: While the game will ship with 3D stadium rendering and ball flights, the feature is still very much a work in progress which will be fine tuned throughout the year via free updates. For more information, check out Heinsohn's statement here.)
New 3D Stadium Models
Running a Team
Once again, Out of the Park Baseball has cemented its place as the deepest baseball game on the market. For what it may lack in pretty visuals, the game more than makes up for with its feature rich gameplay.
The roster set for this year’s version not only features a complete 2014 MLB roster set (minors included), but also features the rosters of the Venezuelan and Dominican summer leagues for the first time. In terms of statistical projection, the game uses PECOTA for all MLB players and select minor leaguers.
Player Profile
The game tracks players’ entire careers, including in-depth stats from their time in the minors. This includes everything from traditional numbers, such as the slash line and RBI, to SABR friendly stats like FIP and WAR.
Individual Statistics Screen
The user experience of OOTP is fully customizable. The player is able to adjust the difficulty level of trades, adjust statistical coefficients for different baseball eras, do away with the Rule 5 Draft, or just about anything else you could think of. Beyond the out of the box features of the game, there are a ton of mods available both in the game and within the Out of the Park Developments community, which allow you to tailor your experience to your liking. The most essential of which is the all-in-one mod that provides authentic team logos and ballparks. Unlike roster sets for other baseball games that will keep you waiting until June, the all-in-one mod will be ready to go on release, making it easy to start your career right away.
How do you know this prospect list is realistic? There aren’t any Angels on it.
I don’t know if there is enough room on the internet to truly delve into the full list of features that OOTP has to offer. Not only does the game feature every aspect of the baseball schedule, it allows the user to go back in time and reinstate things such as the reserve clause or completely tear up the new CBA and bring back Type A and B free agents if they see fit. Or you can go a completely different direction and start free agency 80 years before its time. The complete baseball universe is totally in your hands.
Don’t just build a team, build an organization.
Replay Value
For those looking for a true baseball simulation experience, OOTP is a very dangerous game. It’s not hard to lose yourself for a couple of hours trying to figure out just the right incentive clauses to include in a contract offer while still having enough money in the coffers for the international signing period. It’s manna from Heaven for those [-]Phill[/-] baseball fans who know they can do a better job than their team’s current front office.
If OOTP just gave you the ability to bring current MLB franchises up from the ashes, that would be pretty cool. But one of my favorite features of the game through the years is its historical mode. The feature allows you to take control of a team from 1871 to 2013 and re-write history. This year, that game mode has been taken a step further with its re-designed creation wizard.
New League Creation Wizard
Now you can create a pool that includes players from every era in your own attempt to quash some of baseball’s greatest historical debates. If nothing else, finding out how Ty Cobb would fit in on the Mets teams of the 80s, or how Walter Johnson would fare going head-to-head with Ken Griffey Jr. is enough to pique my interest.
Gamers can also choose to include a number of historical leagues in their game in addition to MLB.
League Selection Screen
These leagues will not only provide the ability to scout international prospects and MLB washouts who go overseas to rejuvenate their careers, but are also fully playable themselves.
Final Thoughts
In the past decade or so the inner workings of MLB front offices have become just as much a source of fan intrigue as the on the field product. With armchair managers giving way to their GM counterparts, OOTP is the perfect game for the thinking baseball fan. For OOTP veterans it’s the next step for a franchise which continues to improve. If you’ve never tried it before, you’ll wonder where it’s been all of your life. 100/100
To Purchase: $39.99 @ OOTP Developments
Complete Features
System Requirements (Windows/Mac/Linux)
Almost a month into the 2014 MLB season, those of us who took the plunge and upgraded to a PS4 are still left without a baseball fix as we wait for MLB 14: The Show’s May release. Luckily, Markus Heihnsohn and the team at OOTP Developments are here to quench your baseball thirst with their newest version of Out of the Park Baseball.
Presentation
Those familiar with the OOTP series won’t have much trouble adapting the new version’s sleeker user interface. For first timers however, it may make take a couple of playthroughs to feel your way around the game. The interface itself has been overhauled to work better with widescreen resolutions, which allows for more information and statistics to be displayed on the screen.
OOTP15 Home Screen
From the home screen, you have everything you need at your fingertips to run a successful MLB franchise. Setting your lineup and rotation can be accessed quickly with the panel on the left, and more in depth options like team finances and prospect lists can be found in the top drop down menus.
Individual Team Financial Report
New to this year’s version of the game is the ability for users to import 3D versions of real ballparks into the game, providing realistic dimensions, wall heights, foul territories, and all the other cool things that make ballparks unique. According to the game’s developers, this will act as the precursor to fully featured 3D animations of on the field action in future incarnations. (NOTE: While the game will ship with 3D stadium rendering and ball flights, the feature is still very much a work in progress which will be fine tuned throughout the year via free updates. For more information, check out Heinsohn's statement here.)
New 3D Stadium Models
Running a Team
Once again, Out of the Park Baseball has cemented its place as the deepest baseball game on the market. For what it may lack in pretty visuals, the game more than makes up for with its feature rich gameplay.
The roster set for this year’s version not only features a complete 2014 MLB roster set (minors included), but also features the rosters of the Venezuelan and Dominican summer leagues for the first time. In terms of statistical projection, the game uses PECOTA for all MLB players and select minor leaguers.
Player Profile
The game tracks players’ entire careers, including in-depth stats from their time in the minors. This includes everything from traditional numbers, such as the slash line and RBI, to SABR friendly stats like FIP and WAR.
Individual Statistics Screen
The user experience of OOTP is fully customizable. The player is able to adjust the difficulty level of trades, adjust statistical coefficients for different baseball eras, do away with the Rule 5 Draft, or just about anything else you could think of. Beyond the out of the box features of the game, there are a ton of mods available both in the game and within the Out of the Park Developments community, which allow you to tailor your experience to your liking. The most essential of which is the all-in-one mod that provides authentic team logos and ballparks. Unlike roster sets for other baseball games that will keep you waiting until June, the all-in-one mod will be ready to go on release, making it easy to start your career right away.
How do you know this prospect list is realistic? There aren’t any Angels on it.
I don’t know if there is enough room on the internet to truly delve into the full list of features that OOTP has to offer. Not only does the game feature every aspect of the baseball schedule, it allows the user to go back in time and reinstate things such as the reserve clause or completely tear up the new CBA and bring back Type A and B free agents if they see fit. Or you can go a completely different direction and start free agency 80 years before its time. The complete baseball universe is totally in your hands.
Don’t just build a team, build an organization.
Replay Value
For those looking for a true baseball simulation experience, OOTP is a very dangerous game. It’s not hard to lose yourself for a couple of hours trying to figure out just the right incentive clauses to include in a contract offer while still having enough money in the coffers for the international signing period. It’s manna from Heaven for those [-]Phill[/-] baseball fans who know they can do a better job than their team’s current front office.
If OOTP just gave you the ability to bring current MLB franchises up from the ashes, that would be pretty cool. But one of my favorite features of the game through the years is its historical mode. The feature allows you to take control of a team from 1871 to 2013 and re-write history. This year, that game mode has been taken a step further with its re-designed creation wizard.
New League Creation Wizard
Now you can create a pool that includes players from every era in your own attempt to quash some of baseball’s greatest historical debates. If nothing else, finding out how Ty Cobb would fit in on the Mets teams of the 80s, or how Walter Johnson would fare going head-to-head with Ken Griffey Jr. is enough to pique my interest.
Gamers can also choose to include a number of historical leagues in their game in addition to MLB.
League Selection Screen
These leagues will not only provide the ability to scout international prospects and MLB washouts who go overseas to rejuvenate their careers, but are also fully playable themselves.
Final Thoughts
In the past decade or so the inner workings of MLB front offices have become just as much a source of fan intrigue as the on the field product. With armchair managers giving way to their GM counterparts, OOTP is the perfect game for the thinking baseball fan. For OOTP veterans it’s the next step for a franchise which continues to improve. If you’ve never tried it before, you’ll wonder where it’s been all of your life. 100/100
To Purchase: $39.99 @ OOTP Developments
Complete Features
System Requirements (Windows/Mac/Linux)
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