Out of the Park Baseball 11 Review

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Read Full OOTP Baseball 11 Review

Game Description

All Baseball, All Your Way

Play baseball your way in this advanced baseball management game! You make the deals and choose your players from Spring Training through the Fall Classic. You can even play with real major league rosters!

You Have Complete Control!

This game puts you in the lead as you decide which aspects you want to control. You can customize almost any part of the game, including league rules, schedules, financial settings and more. Decide the lineups, select your rotation, develop the winning strategy to make your team great and more!

With complete major league rosters from every season in history you can create a team of legends and really watch them play!

Enjoy Hours of Strategic Fun!

Baseball fans will fall in love with this game because it gives you complete control, down to minute details! You can plan and play for hours and still enjoy endless hours of fun and strategy!

Start your own league now with Out of the Park Baseball 11!

Out of the Park Baseball 11 Review

Out of the Park(OOTP) Baseball puts you in complete control of a Major League baseball team, or a team in a league that you create yourself. You dictate everything from the price of tickets to trades in this realistic and detailed simulation game. There's tons of information and statistics presented to you in a sleek and organized user interface to help guide you. You also get to take part in some of the action through the play-by-play feature that gives you even more control over your team strategy and the outcome in games.

Total Control or Delegate to the Computer

You start the game by selecting the type of game you want to create. You set up one or more managers (a profile you use to manage teams), and various other options for your game. You can select which team you'll be in charge of, and whether you'll be able to control rosters and trades for other teams. After you've finished making a manager and selecting all your options, the game begins with a new season. You have total control over lineups, pitching rotations, trades, renewing contracts, drafting players, and more. You can also delegate duties to the computer and have them manage part or all of your team if you wish.

You advance through the season by simulating games or playing them in play-by-play. Play-by-play gives you more influence and control over the outcome of games, allowing you to determine pitching, batting, offensive, and defensive strategies that will be used during the game. You advance through the season, deal with the draft and contract renewal in the offseason, and then begin a new season and do it all over again.

A Few Ways to Customize Your Games

While OOTP Baseball doesn't offer different modes of play, you can create different game types that will affect the rosters and league you play with. A 2010 Major League Game starts with the complete Opening Day 2010 rosters and history of Major League Baseball built into its record books. A Quick Start game lets you jump into the action without any configuration or setup. You can pick a game with fictional players and teams, play with baseball's all-time greats, or the 2010 major leagues.

You can also create Custom Game that allows you to create and modify leagues. A Custom Game lets you create an entirely fiction league, create one based on real leagues from around the world, or even create a league using historical players and data. You also have the ability to save templates for your setups and use them again later to make new games.

Learning Curve

OOTP Baseball can be a challenging game, but it also has a lot of settings and options that allow you to adjust the difficulty or place the computer AI in charge of different tasks (drafts, defensive strategy, etc.). These features give you the ability to find the right mix that provides a suitable challenge for your level of skill. However, the game will still take some time and effort to learn. It provides you with a fairly robust manual to introduce and explain nearly every aspect, but it will take time to get through it all. You'll also need a healthy knowledge of baseball beforehand to really understand things and be successful. If you aren't familiar with baseball or are just looking for something quick and simple, this may not be a great choice for you.

Easy Controls

The game controls are fairly simple, requiring only a mouse to interact with the various menus and buttons. There are also shortcut keys you can use to access features you use often. The game manual also introduces and explains many of the buttons and menus and how to use them. The controls in this game are done well.

Graphics are Basic But Good Enough

There's not much in the way of graphics when it comes to OOTP Baseball. The closest thing you have is a rudimentary baseball diamond that shows player positions and where the ball land after a hit in the play-by-play screen. However, the user interface that you use throughout the entirety of the game is well designed and easy to navigate. The sounds are also done very well an add to the atmosphere of the game.

Conclusion - A Great Baseball Management Sim

Overall, OOTP Baseball is an excellent choice for baseball fans and those looking for a realistic baseball simulation game. There's a good deal of complexity that will take some time to overcome, but the game does have an in-depth manual to help you out. You have control over nearly every aspect of your team. You can access tons of records and information to make better decisions for your team. The user interface makes accessing information quick and easy.

If you don't know a lot about baseball, or are looking for a quick and simple game, OOTP Baseball may not be the game for you. For anyone else, this is a great baseball game that's well worth a try.

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