We enter this review been the fourth year into reviewing the game. We love our sports management games and this series of games before this review sat number 2 in the list (Behind Football Manager). Can it knock it off? Lets breakdown the game and see.
About the Game
“Officially licensed by MLB, MiLB and the MLBPA, OOTP 20 is a baseball & strategy gaming fan’s dream come true and the only game ever to win the Metacritic PC Game of the Year Award TWICE. Out of the Park Baseball 20 – Twenty Years of Excellence!” – Steam Description
Gameplay
Pick Your Team
Game starts like any other manager game, where you pick your team and then get targets that you need to hit. MLB is the biggest league with all the other major leagues from around the world, but how about going into the MLB’s past. (This makes Out of the Park Developments games stand out by far).
We love our baseball so have tried in the past to do challenges in the past where we took a bad team to the top. Be it the era we grew up in or even in the 1920s – where most people who play games won’t know anyone.
Getting the Roster Right
Its all about finding the right balance when it comes to baseball rosters. There are different elements that you need to find that balance to and get t right on the field. How about getting the basics of pitching right – dam you have spent too much and now have a bad set of outfielders. Everyone will have their own strategy to trading and signing players – the one bit of advice we would give is to know what your focus is. If you are going for a good defense with good pitching – don’t waste your money on big hitter batsmen.
The Depth and the User Interface take a bit of getting used to but once you learn where everything is and all your possibilities are – you are perfect. The thing management games always gets wrong are a clunky UI – This is perfect.
On the Diamond
One thing about the game which we still love is its presentation is its on the field game play. Because you can tweak it enough. One bit of warning we give is baseball is a stop start game to watch so making the game flow is very hard – so tweaking the game to flow perfect is needed.
Make the decision to move the players back for a big hitter or do you substitute your pitcher cause he cannot throw strikes for toffee? The option is yours.
Overall
Good game that’s shows what a management game could be. Making a presentation of a database game with terrific gameplay is hard. This hits it out the park with a good User Interface and good gameplay which you can make as quick or slow as the user wants.
Fed up with a slow game, let the computer do the tactical stuff whilst you trade the players. Choice is what made this game good in the past – and it still shines from that standpoint.
Good game – 4/5. Not great because it doesn’t stand enough apart from the previous generation of game.
For More Info
Released – 22 March, 2019
Steam Page – https://store.steampowered.com/app/831980/Out_of_the_Park_Baseball_20/
Developer/Publisher – Out the Park Developments
Price (Time of Writing) – £30.99
Disclaimer – Pictures are screenshots from my Game-play. Partial pictures to not include information from future features or to give personal information away.
About Author
