Out of the Park Baseball 16 Review (PC/Mac)

[RaychelSnr]

For those of us who understand the brilliance of Out of the Park Baseball, the annual question isn’t “Should I buy the new version?”, but more so “What new stuff do I get this year?” For me, last year was a bit of a down year. OOTP 15 was a great game, but beyond 3D graphics, the developers didn’t bring a ton of innovation to the series. For some reason, I ended up playing OOTP 15 a lot less than previous years.

After a few weeks with OOTP 16, I will say the new stuff this year certainly warrants a purchase. In fact, though it seems to be said every year, this may be the best Out of the Park game yet.


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[ty5oke]

Best baseball game out there. Always dreaming of matching the depth and options that OOTP brings with the gameplay and graphics that the Show brings.

[CujoMatty]

Ea should throw money at Markus and make a ootp baseball game for consoles. I think most people are in agreement that the reason EA isn't back in the baseball market is because the show is too good And they don't want to play catch up. If thats true I don't blame them seeing as in the basketball genre it's not going so well For EA. Realistically though if they had the depth of OOTP with even just improved mvp 05 graphics I think people's minds would be blown.

[artgamer72]

This is something I would love to see as well. Can you just IMAGINE being able to SEE any player in the history of the game? Imagine, for a second, the ability to create and edit any player or entire roster of players from the past, including being able to import stats. I would love to see Babe Ruth rounding the bases. Willie Mays in the outfield. Johnny Bench behind the plate. The old ball parks. Baseball card packs representing the real thing.

[MissionMaximus]

What I want to see in the future of OOTP is a realtime 3d gameplay engine that plays out during games like that of Football Manager. Then I think I could really get into this game.

[artgamer72]

That is what most of us are looking for. If you head over to the OOTP forum on their website, most folks do NOT want a 3D engine. They are scared to death of bringing animations into the game. Most of them just sim seasons at a time so they can pour over stats. They have no use for animations and that is exactly why the game really doesn't have much to do with 3D at this point. Markus does not want to lose a bunch of customers. He has been very good about implementing features and stats that the majority of folks wanted. Both OOTP and The Show are eventually going to implement the one thing the other game is known for, and the other game will suffer greatly for it. I personally think that OOTP has the better chance of adapting the competitor's feature ONLY because pc games to date have provided more freedom for the modding community in general. Both games are becoming stale. I do think many folks, including the publishers of these two products, felt the competition would only come from their platform. It is getting to the point where they are mostly just revamping game menus and dipping their toes in the other game's signature feature.

[Shadak]

Re: Out of the Park Baseball 16 Review (PC/Mac)

To be honest it doesnt have to be full 3D, when I look at the Football Manager match engine, its not exactly Show graphics but for this kind of game I actually find it better and really cute. Imagine those little guys batting and fielding

http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_kubrick/536/5360430/2323001-trailer_fm14_prebetamatchenginefootage_20131014.jpg

[tarek]

There seems to be some talk about the 3D engine aspect and I'm in the bucket where I think a well presented, non-intrusive 3D engine would be excellent.

I play ALOT of both football manager and OOTP. I think the FM engine works great at giving you a level of immersion into your team and results. The options also vary from watching a full match, to a level of "highlights" that are either limited or extended.

With OOTP or baseball in general, I think those "highlights" presented in a 3D engine format is the way forward. It doesn't need to be much, but a way to capture critical moments in a game, whether it be a big at bat, a home run, a huge strike out, etc etc.

Another game which I play alot of is called cricket captain 2014. It's a cricket management sim and what it does amazingly is allow you to (similar to OOTP) play each ball, play each over (i.e. a set of 6 balls) and only show highlights of wickets (outs), boundaries, milestones or key plays. In that way if an over is fairly benign, like a maiden or 1-2 singles, then it's essentially a click and you move on, if something happens or is a key moment then it will give you a 3D representation of it. The immersion in that sense is great as you can clip an edge that goes by the slips for a boundary, or a dropped catch, or a missed LBW call, etc.

OOTP needs to start moving towards this type of highlight 3D engine, not a 3D representation of the entire game. With the addition of the robust and in-depth commentary already in OOTP, this would be, in my opinion, a sure fire winner rather than turning away existing customers.

[GOBLUE_08]

Loving this game so far, it's been pretty much running non-stop on my pc since I got it. Only thing that bothers me a little is the amount of "setbacks" players have when recovering from an injury, mainly pitchers. It always seems to tack on an extra 5 or 6 weeks of recovery time.

[Dubsonic]

Until there is a single / payoff pitch mode implemented alined with a refined graphics sim engine I won't be that interested (it's close. See Football Club Managers series). This type of mode was something introduced as far back as Earl Weavers Baseball and subsequently in titles such as Tony Larussa Baseball 96, and the All-star Baseball series.

By allowing the user to quickly watch the action unfold on the field, this provides for a far more immersive GM experience than a completely text base sim. Condensed versions of games can often be completed in 5-10 mins. Maybe it's just me but this format is far more enjoyable than watching results being tabulated in a stale box score format.

Cheers.

[geisterhome]

cant stop purchasing this year after year.

[geisterhome]

cant stop purchasing this year after year.

[bellok]

Re: Out of the Park Baseball 16 Review (PC/Mac)

PC Action does the quick replay and you can watch the ball flight etc. Or you can play against the computer, or head to head via internet. PC Action is a great game, I buy OOTP almost every year and I like it, but most of my playing time goes to PC Action.

[jmaj315]

Re: Out of the Park Baseball 16 Review (PC/Mac)

ootp 16 is on sale for $29.99 until June 22nd

I was just thinking about buying it and right when i added to cart it went down from 39.99 lol