REVIEW: Out of the Park Baseball 11 (PC/Mac)
It’s hard to review a game like Out of the Park Baseball 11, since it’s literally an evolution of previous games. Rather than rehash the entire game, first visit our reviews of Out of the Park Baseball 2007 and Out of the Park Baseball 9 for a base analysis of the game.
Now that you’ve checked the older reviews out, here are the improvements over the previous game, currently at 11.1.8:
- The biggest, most obvious improvement is the interface, which is probably the most user-friendly in the series. In particular, the Manager Page is the most helpful; a lot of what the manager needs to know and do will be on this page. First off, the page will let a manager know what players are currently on the waiver wire, which is a big help, since plucking players off the wire is one of the most important GM duties. The page also highlights the more important players on the trading block. A player can also will be informed of staff openings as well. While the interface is still a little clunky, the manager screen will send a player to need screens as soon as possible.
- Another obvious change is the drafting mechanic. Players now have to give signing bonuses to draftees, and budget must be able to accommodate them. Players will be ranked as easy to nearly impossible to sign, so while some stellar high school players may be available by the late rounds, they might be unsignable anyway.
- Player’s personalities play more of a role, and the numerical value of their desires are now hidden. Rather than be given numbers, a player will be described as selfish, or in it for the money, or a leader, and so forth. Owners now have personalities as well.
The game also features the usual upgrades to artificial intelligence, career progression algorithms, and new stats (wOBA, OPS+, FIP, ERA+, for example). One feature that is desperately needed, however, is real-time online league management – such as live online drafts and live GM interaction. The current FTP upload/download system is at best functional, and at worst, gives a player a sense of disconnect from other owners, since trades must be communicated to the commissioner to be manually transacted.
[One issue with OOTP11 that this particular player has is that the 11.1.8 update disrupted his online league play, no longer able to upload files to his league. According to developers, this bug was an artifact from an old OOTP10 issue. It isn't a widespread bug, so many players will not encounter it, but it does exist.]
Out of the Park Baseball 11 continues the tradition of being the best baseball management sim out there. You can buy it for PC, Mac and Linux here at the official site.
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