Out of the Park Baseball (OOTP) is a game that originated 21 years ago. It released on March 20, and early access was given March 17. I bought OOTP 20 and OOTP 21, and I can tell the difference. I will divide this review into a few different parts:
-Pros
-Cons
-What’s new in OOTP 21
-Written review
-Rating out of 10
Pros:
-OOTP 21 allows you to be an MLB GM. This game is so deep, so I guess the depth is the pro here. There is so much to do, so many players to scout, people to draft, players to sign, coaches to hire, and much much more.
-I love the rosters for independent leagues. I enjoy playing with leagues and teams that I didn’t know existed, and now I can say that I love independent league baseball! COMPLETE and ACCURATE rosters for EVERY independent league team is included in the game.
-I also love the realism. It is the most realistic game on the market of any sport. I could go on and on about the depth, but I already covered that.
-Although I don’t like EA’s Ultimate Team, I love Perfect Team. Combine baseball cards with OOTP’s award winning simulation engine, and you get Perfect Team. Basically, you start out with 6 card packs that will make up your team. You are then placed into an entry level league, and it sims 162 games in 1 week with simulations coming 30 minutes apart. It’s a fun mode, and it takes 5 minutes to look over your team and then move on to your franchise.
-I love the focus on franchise mode. Franchise mode is the main mode, and I haven’t noticed OOTP change their focus to Perfect Team. Companies like EA and 2K have shifted their focus to “Ultimate Team” modes where you have to spend money if you want to be good. But OOTP 21 bucks that trend, as OOTP adds more features to Franchise mode than it does for Perfect Team.
-Last but CERTAINLY not least, I love the historical seasons. You can literally play any season from 1871-2019. Any season! Free of charge! I love this, and I will start replaying classic years like 1957 and 1983.
-Much More! There’s a lot more that I love, but I don’t have enough space to include it here.
Cons:
-I don’t like the gameplay. I know that this game is incredibly deep and that the developers don’t work on gameplay as much as they do the core game, but it just looks weird. When I say gameplay, I don’t mean that you play the game, you watch it. It looks clunky, and it’s not the prettiest thing in the game.
-Another thing that I don’t like is the inability to find features. I don’t know where to go to turn off AI signing my free agents for me, and that is kind of annoying. I also had to wait a week before I could use the Stadium Creator because I couldn’t find it.
-As with any game, there are always bugs. For me it’s the game crashing while I’m watching a game.
What’s New in OOTP 21:
-The main feature new to this year is a stadium creator kit! I love this. It’s so fun making a ballpark, and you have full customization! Want to make a ballpark with walls 60 feet tall? You can!
-There’s also a new GameFlow system. If you’re lost and don’t know where to go, you can just click the big green button. It will direct you to what to do next.
-Overhauled scouting and drafting is also new. They’ve totally remodeled it, and now this feature is better than ever!
-New scouting accuracy. You can see how accurate the scouting is!
-New 2020 rules and strategies. How will you adapt to the 3 batter minimum? How will you use the 26th man to your advantage? When playing OOTP 21, you get to answer these questions.
-Faster simulations, and hundreds more improvements across the board.
OOTP 20 was a great game, but one could argue that it was just OOTP 19 with a roster update. OOTP 21 isn’t OOTP 20. There are so many new improvements, AI logic is better than ever, and this game has the award winning OOTP engine! There’s so much to do, and many would argue that there is too much depth! If the depth is overwhelming, just make your Assistant GM handle it. Everything that a real GM does, you do, plus even more! The most in depth sim on the market, OOTP 21 delivers a real life experience.
Perfect Team is also much improved. I love how it is different from other “Ultimate Team” modes because it is easy to navigate, easy to get currency, and less attention is put on marketing micro-transactions. I can buy a pack and then update my team in 5 minutes, and then I can get to my franchise. I love Perfect Team and I hope that it stays for as long as the game stays.
Overall this game is deep, brings the Award Winning OOTP Engine, and this game has added numerous cool features, plus other features that aren’t flashy, but they’re necessary. For this I think that OOTP 21 gets a 10/10. I highly recommend this game to all people who love baseball.
OOTP 21 is available on Mac, Windows, and Linux for $39.99. It is also available on Steam.