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General Information
Ah, springtime. A time of new beginnings, spring training, and most importantly, a new version of Out of the Park Baseball. What started out as a low-budget but terribly ambitious text-based effort has developed over the years into a towering, shining beacon for baseball fans everywhere. The gameplay has been expanded, fine-tuned and improved to the point where it could not only compete, but also surpass A-list releases in terms of sheer quality and entertainment value. As it stands, Out of the Park Baseball is all about giving fans the opportunity to take the reins of a given team and attempt to lead it to glory.

Naturally, this isn't nearly as straightforward as it sounds; you'll need to assemble your team's lineups, pitching rotations, depth charts, and more - or not, as you can also leave the dirty work to auto-generators and coaches that you've hired. On-the-field action is an integral part of the experience, as radio-style play-by-play conveys the action as it happens, and lets you see the effects of your decisions. If you'd like to take a direct hand in matters, give specific instructions your pitchers and batters with each new at-bat, and see if you can lead your team to win the game, the pennant, the championships. Of course, you've also got to keep an eye on the bottom line, with ticket prices, attendance, and fan loyalty all playing an important part in the financial workings of your ballclub. There is much, much, much more to Out of the Park Baseball; far too much to cover in such a small space. Curious newcomers should check out reviews of past OOTP titles, located here for OOTP 3 (here) and here for OOTP 4 (here), to get a more detailed overview of this terrific game. Series veterans, however, should read on for a look at what to expect in this year's version.

Hands-On
With every new version of Out of the Park Baseball comes an impressive host of new and sweeping changes, and this year's edition is certainly no different. Although none of these drastically alter the core gameplay, they further refine and add to the overall experience, helping to smooth out the rough edges while giving a wonderful spit-shine to the already gleaming surfaces.

One of the most interesting such changes is the much-discussed addition of a true Manager mode, which replaces the traditional "Challenge" mode. While you've acted as such in previous versions, OOTP 5 allows you to officially take the title of team Manager, and all the responsibilities that goes with it. That means that after creating your in-game persona, teams can hire you - and, if you fail to meet their expectations, they can fire you just as easily. As manager, you'll be able to develop your own set of statistics that may or may not make you appealing to other teams, and in an intriguing RPG-ish twist, you'll also be able to date, marry, and even have children, who may even grow up to have baseball careers of their own. As this was not fully active in the press beta, however, the full effect of this interesting addition remains to be seen.

One of OOTP's single greatest strengths has been its stoic insistence on reams of statistical details, something that this year's edition looks to build upon in terms of content and presentation. The report system has been drastically revamped, expanding the amount of information offered while providing a much slicker and more intuitive way of navigating and listing it all. Cruising through the News Section will easily demonstrate this fact, as numerous new reports are now at your fingertips; one small example includes the Top Performances page, which highlights the most fantastic individual performances within a single game. Listing the player, his team, the opposing team, the date, and a list of their exact stats for that memorable game, the Top Game Performance is simply one of many new reports that looks to add even more statistical depth to the proceedings.

Rankings also figure much more prominently here, frequently giving you the chance to see how your team matches up against the competition in virtually any given field. For instance, a summary of your clubhouse might include such details like homeruns allowed, opponents' batting average, total stolen bases, and exactly how all of these stats compare to those of the other teams. Report sheets are also much more informative and appealing, looking a great deal more like an Excel-style spreadsheet than a Notepad-style text file, as has been the case in past OOTP titles. What's more, you'll find that reports and player lists often include more detailed information, and offer you greater ways of sorting through them. Even something as simple as sorting through your roster is a new and surprisingly enjoyable experience.

Another item that fans will notice almost immediately is the new HTML, webpage type of approach that's been implemented into the very heart of the interface. Quick links are now an integral part of the game, and thankfully so. Virtually any instance of a given player's name - even within news reports, lineups, league leader lists, and so on -- can be clicked on to bring up a separate player card, which outlines all the individual's necessary information, such as his salary, stats, ratings, history, and more, all in one easily moved, scrolled and viewed window. In fact, the use of multiple windows are another example of the webpage style, meaning that you'll be able to scroll through the league's top 100 prospects, view a potential recruit's player card, and look at your team's finances to see if he might be a feasible addition to your team, all independent of the game interface tself. And because these windows are indeed separate from OOTP, you can actually ALT-TAB between them as necessary.

This is just a small handful of the changes that have been introduced with OOTP 5, though there are many other inclusions that are equally significant. For instance, the Player Tracker which worked so well within Tournament Dreams makes an appearance here, and to equally good effect as it enables you to compile a list of specific players that you can keep you eye on with but a glance. Individual players are now subject to a new star-based rating system that allows you to quickly gauge someone's general worth; it also provides a useful way of sifting through player rankings and lists, even within your own team and transaction screens. You may also back up and restore lineups, pick through a league almanac that keeps track of every conceivable statistic as the years roll by, and much more. Even the overall presentation is improved, with a much slicker visual package (including a new Team Management icon bar that allows you to rapidly jump to different facets of your team), actual sound effects and ambient noises, and support for mouse wheels. All this without even going through a list of items that weren't implemented in the press beta, such as team strategy screens, interface skins, a more developed Minor League system, and improvements in the areas of trading AI, player development algorithms, and play-by-play.

Every year, the Out of the Park Baseball franchise grows and matures into a more professional and entertaining experience, and it seems as though this year's edition happily sticks to this tradition. Even from the press beta, it appears that the crew at .400 Software Studios have been listening to fans with regards to what they want to see added, fixed, or simply just changed. With a stronger and more intuitive interface, a more robust and informative system of reports, a new Manager mode and improvements in every conceivable area, Out of the Park Baseball 5 looks like the sports game to beat this season - or any other, for that matter.

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