For sports gamers, late March/early April means baseball season. For PlayStation gamers, that time of year also means Sony’s MLB The Show. For fans on the PC, it’s Out of the Park Baseball . OOTP Developments announced Friday Out of the Park Baseball 18 will be released on March 24.
“Our recent success has been an overwhelmingly positive experience,” said lead developer, lifelong baseball fan, and Out of the Park Developments CEO Markus Heinsohn. “As always, our passionate community has driven us to continue improving every aspect of our game. We’re confident they will love this year’s title. The huge infusion of new fans last year has also fueled us to think bigger for the future, and we’re incredibly excited about what we’re building to dramatically expand our community and delight a new generation of Out of the Park Baseball players.”
What make this game different is OOTP is a text-based game. On screen during games is a background of the stadium your game is taking place, with scrolling text informing you of the play on the field. Out of the Park is a management based game so the fun isn’t really on the field, but it’s the business part of baseball that really grabs you. The historical stats and sabermetrics that goes into modern baseball is at the disposal of players of OOTP. That makes it one of the deepest games in terms of management on the market ever.
Out Of The Park Baseball 18 will feature all Major League Baseball teams and their minor league affiliates, along with the inclusion of the Negro League. Players like Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and others from the legendary baseball league will be featured in the game. Having the Negro League in OOTP 18 gives players the ability to set up potential fantasy matchups between current MLB players teams and historical players to see how your team stack up against the amazing players from yesteryear.
Other features that will be included in Out Of The Park 18 are as follows:
- Improvements to 3D mode, including: Even more ballpark detail; better on-field player models and enhanced on-field decisions; and the ability to save all 3D highlights and watch a highlight reel, whether the game was played out or simulated.
- Custom and real world tournaments for all the teams included in the game. National and international tournaments are a breeze to create, as is the ability to import historical teams.
- Extensive AI improvements, including roster management, trades, and in-game decision-making.
- A redesigned injury system that features detailed injury histories for all players, little nagging and long-term injuries, and more.
- A beautiful new interface
- Improved game recaps
- An upgraded player morale/team chemistry system
- Enhanced play-by-play text and league news
- A sophisticated system for team relegation and promotion between leagues
- The ability to retain player salaries in trades
- The incorporation of many 2017 rule changes
- Faster import speeds of historical minor league seasons
Out Of the Park 18 runs on PC/Mac/Linux and there are many options for pre-ordering the game. From now through January 27, fans can pre-order OOTP 18 for $31.99. From January 28 to March 23, a pre-order of OOTP 18 will go up to $34.99. All pre-orders purchases will include access to the Gold Master version of Out of the Park 18 on March 20, which is four days ahead of the game’s official launch on March 24.
Are you a fan of OOTP? What are your thoughts about Out Of The Park 18? Let us know in our comment section.
