Review: Out of the Park 14 (PC)

The baseball season has started it playoff period, bringing a lot more eyes to the sport than it enjoys during a regular season that goes on for so long than non-fans could find it interminable.  This seems like a good time to spend some time with the latest iteration of the near-legendary sports sim Out of the Park Baseball 14.

For those who haven't played an OOTP game before, here is a quick rundown:  OOTP allows players to take the role of team owner, General Manager, and/or field manager of a professional baseball team (Major League, Minor League, current, historical).  The most important trait of the game is that players have near-total freedom to play the game as they choose.

Review: Out of the Park 13 (PC)

This is certainly not MLB The Show

Baseball simulations like Out of the Park Baseball 13 are perhaps the most anachronistic of all video games. In an era when the focus of most developers is on realistic graphics and physics, it is amazing a game can not only survive, but actually thrive, with no graphics or physics (to speak of). Instead, games like Out of the Park 13 and its competitors focus on being the most detailed, accurate simulation of all aspects of professional baseball. Out of the Park has changed a lot since I last played it (apparently OOTP 2012 was a major overhaul), but the core simulation engine remains the games focus and its strength.