Gamers have always been on the lookout for the most ‘realistic’ gaming experience–better graphics in Call of Duty, more accurate game play in Madden football, etc. Realism is supposed to be the hallmark of a good game, and if that’s true, OOTP 15 baseball from Out of the Park Developments is simply on a whole different level.
Previously, games have made some valiant attempts at realism. It has rained or snowed in sports games for a decade; virtual players have gotten injured long before that. For the most part, however, these details have been superfluous, adding to the aesthetics of a game or changing some small quirk. In OOTP, even the most minuscule aspect of the baseball universe is accounted for, in exactly the same way it would be in real life.
For those that don’t know and haven’t read my previous review of OOTP 14, Out of the Park Baseball is a baseball simulator that allows the player/user to take control of just about every single aspect of baseball franchise. You can be the manger of a single minor league affiliate, independent or even Korean league team, or the GM of the New York Yankees, in charge of personnel moves for the MLB club and every minor league team right down to the Dominican Summer League. The game is almost overwhelming in its level of complexity. Anything you can do in real life, you can do in the game: make lineups, DL moves, contracts and trades, designate players for assignment and waive them, even designate one player as a starter over another. It can be a lot.
The nice people over at OOTP gave me a beta copy of the new OOTP 15 version so even though the game has only been out a few weeks, I’ve had it substantially longer. One of the most important things I learned while playing this game was how to utilize the computer to help out. Trying to be the manager and going through a big league season day by day making lineup decisions and pitching changes is entirely too tedious for me. Instead, I assumed control of an organization as the GM and put my self in charge of front office business, leaving the in-game details to my virtual manager.
When I first started playing, I decided to assume control over a weaker team and try to make them a power house. Anyone can win the NL West with the Dodgers and their massive payroll (except Ned Colletti, it turns out)–the challenge is in taking a bad team with a tight budget and turning them into something special.
I chose the Rockies and I killed it. I completely revamped the roster, starting with the pitching staff. I added notable pieces like Madison Bumgarner, Hiashi Iwakuma, Noah Syndergaard, and Yu Darvish, along with guys like Carlos Santana and Mike Moustakas to turn my Rockies into a division winner in the very first season, 2014. Of course, I paid a price. My farm system was decimated and for the entirety of my time in charge of Colorado, the AAA Colorado Springs Sky Sox were laughing stock.
The big league team was no joke, though. Before I got bored and started a new franchise, I general managed 6 full season with the Rockies. I won the division every single year and even won the World Series once, in 2018. I won 110 games in 2019 and never won fewer than 91 games in my years at the helm.
I did all this despite a tight budget, one that was disproportionately taken up by my oft-injured shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo’s recurrent injuries weren’t the only life like occurrence that I had to deal with when GMing the Rockies, and this brings me back to my opening point about realism. At one point in my Rockies franchise, I had Yu Darvish, Madison Bumgarner, Noah Syndergaard, Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg in my starting rotation (Strasburg was the only big money long term contract I ever gave because….c’mon) and I still had a starters ERA near the bottom of the NL. No matter who I acquired and what their numbers were like elsewhere, I couldn’t get pitchers to live up to their potential for me. Why? Coors Field. The game controlled for things like park effects so my pitchers were terrible at home.
At the same time, I consistently led the league in offense and launched huge numbers of homers no matter who I ran out there 1-9. The game made it so that managing the Rockies was different than managing any other team. I had unique challenges in my Colorado franchise that I would not have faced had I chosen the Mets or the Marlins or the Reds. That’s Amazing! Talk about keeping things interesting. I not only had to build a franchise under budget constraints,but had to make it flexible enough to deal with things like injury or random under-performance (a major feature of the game) but I also had to account for the unique quirks and idiosyncrasies of my particular team and their particular home stadium. Awesome.
In response, I changed my strategy. I invested heavily in pitchers, particularly starters and built the super rotation I listed above. I learned fast that any holes in my pitching staff would become disasters and I didn’t have the option of getting by with a crappy 5 starter as the other guys were pretty good. Just to be league average, I needed to be way more talented than anybody else top to bottom. To do this, I sucked significant resources out of my starting lineup. I learned that almost any competent player would do well and that that guy and his inflated offensive numbers could then be flipped for a better player later. Alex Dickerson became my long term left fielder and averaged more than 25 bombs a season. Gary Sanchez, my catcher, hit .304 with 36 homers once. Hitting just wasn’t a concern.
Once I learned how to manage my team specifically, I couldn’t help but be successful. I also couldn’t help but marvel at the game, which has managed to intertwine unbelievable levels of detail and complexity (realism) with a fairly user friendly interface. The game can be extremely overwhelming and is at first a challenge to navigate, but once you learn your way around and customize just what you want to control. It can be a really good way to blow an afternoon in a lawn chair.
And now for the rating: The game gets points for enjoyment, realism, and the fact that it never gets old. It looses a couple for complexity and the fact that it’s not exactly the most user friendly experience at first. Overall, it’s excellent and hell of a great time. Highly recommended.
9.0/10
-Max Frankel
Once again, thanks to the OOTP team for supplying me a copy for the purposes of this review.
