Out of the Park Baseball 20

it's america's pasttime, what's not to like

The gameplay of Out of the Park Baseball is fantastic - it's really fun to virtually manage a baseball team. However: this game is still being sold even though the servers have been shut down. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME FOR LINUX SUPPORT: The Linux version is completely broken and will fail with "Error, unable to continue...". I posted on the forums and asked about this (after having to pass multiple human verification checks) and OOTP had been purchased by a new development company and no one has any idea about Linux, so there's no way they are fixing this. Awesome gameplay, but ootp20 servers are shut down and the client is barely functional. Don't spend money on this.

This is the best simulation sports game I've ever played. The statistical detail is absolutely amazing and players really perform to their ratings (unlike other games I've played that seem to have random results). I have been playing OOTP for several years now and will always remain a loyal fan!

If sports business simulation is your thing, there is no substitute for this game. I played Baseball Mogul from '98-'10, and was an extreme hold out, here. In 2014 I took the plunge, and have bought the new version of this game every two years, since. When I see the massive sale they always run on 'last years' model', I snap it up to covert all my old save files up the chains. I have several teams that have been going for ~ 100 years. Heavy recommend. You won't get to actually swing at pitches, but you can slow play the sim, control the decisions in the game. The granularity of business detail is quite astonishing.

I've been a fan of OOTP since OOTP 2, and this is easily the deepest and most accurate game (as far as baseball management goes) that I have ever played. I usually try to get the updated version a few years apart, as the new releases have very little improvements from the year before, which is the same for any sports game to be honest. The only aspect of the game I can legitimately comment on is the single player modes. I have absolutely zero interest in any online modes, including the stuff with the player cards and all that. My normal mode is GM only, which leaves the head coach of your given team to the day-to-day management of the team, while I focus on the financials and the roster moves, I.E. free agent market, trading block, waiver wire, and things to that nature, and these features go deep. I love handling the front office aspects, and if the manager sucks, then I can fire him! And there is the beloved amateur draft, which I normally suck at, but I still love it. I usually grab one gem and 10 busts!! Still fun though! One thing I will say is that the 3D mode doesn't always accurately portray what is going on during the current play. Trust the text play-by-play over the 3D presentation before you get too upset! Sometimes the 3D folks do some pretty wacky things! In summary, the game is as deep as you want it to be. Whether you want to handle only the front office, only the team, or the whole enchilada, you can do any of it. Historical leagues, current leagues, or even create your own; these options are there as well. If you are a sports management fan, this one is definitely for you.

A baseball sim wonder ... has all the components that make baseball itself so wonderful ... there will be times of joy and times of desk pounding frustration. Now, I've enjoyed playing this game for the last 7 years and my save game campaign had over 600+ hours in it. Unfortunately quite suddenly the game crashed, it disconnected from the data folder and reset to default and my league files disappeared. I swallowed hard and decided to start over, go fresh with a fresh install and all that but it continues to crash on startup looking for the league files in a folder that no longer exist. You can only change settings inside the game and you can't boot the game. Important to know, this is the only reason that I won't be playing this title anymore and will look into one of the newer versions of this title. Great game, will pull you in and let you do everything that a micromanger loves to do.