OOTP 13 Review: Best Baseball Video Game Ever?

Vitals:

Game: Out of the Park Baseball 13
Platform: PC
Developer: OOTP Developments
Modes: Franchise
Cool Features: Incredible contracts system, massive player and coaches database, complete customizability, and plenty of add-ons.

Here’s my video analysis of the game. It’s long and full of jumpy cuts. You’ll hate it.

Categories:

Realism: 10/10.
Graphics: 7/10.
Difficulty: 10/10.
Details: 10/10.
Playability: 10/10.
Intangibles: 50/50.

Total Score: 97/100 (A+)

Pros:

• Amazing contract details (arbitration, minor league contracts, team/player options, waiver wires, Rule 5 drafts, etc.).
• Massive and accurate rosters.
• Detailed scouting and free agency.
• Massively customizeable.
• Advanced-stat friendly.
• New, cleaner interface.
• Real-time simulation options.
• International leagues.
• Online/multiplayer functionality (I did not try it yet).
• Authentic and unilateral rule changes.
• Authentic (i.e. slow) development for rookies and prospects.
• You can get fired.

Cons:

• Loading screens. Many and lengthy loading screens.
• Several in-game bugs, particularly in foreign leagues.
• No BABIP for hitters.
• Unpleasant in-game interface — busy, ugly, and unchanged from OOTP 11.
• Don’t start unemployed. It’s like trying to become a GM while starting as a blogger.

…For poos and chuckles, I started my first game unemployed, I had to simulate the entire first season because no one would hire me (i.e. there were no openings) mid-season. This is a bummer, but as a result, I can offer complete 2012 season simulations results for OOTP 13:

Division winners:

Tampay Bay Rays (99 wins)
Detroit Tigers (84 wins)
Texas Rangers (94 wins)

Atlanta Braves (101 wins)
St. Louis Cardinals (89 wins)
Arizona Diamondbacks (92 wins)

Wild Card Teams:

New York Yankees (92 wins)
Boston Red Sox (86 wins)

Philadelphia Phillies (93 wins)
Miami Marlins (89 wins after a game 163)

Marlins beat Rays 4-1 in the World Series.

Also worth noting: CF Yoenis Cespedes got traded to the White Sox midseason for John Danks. The A’s, who finished with 78 wins, were the second wild card team at the time of the trade.

The long story short: This is an incredible game with an active AI, an improved interface, an unmatched financial aspect, and an altogether addicting gameplay. It will not get your adrenaline going like MLB ’12 The Show or MLB 2K12, but it is nonetheless an amazing game.

Purchasing: ($39.99 at OOTPDevelopments.com)

Other Reviews:

96 A+ MLB ’12 The Show (PS3)
79 C+ MLB 2K12 (PS3, XBOX 360, Wii, PC, etc.)