Last week, Out of the Park Baseball 15 was announced (unsurprisingly), as were some of its key new features.

Without any more information than what was presented, here are some quick opinions on this stellar series’ new additions.

2014 Opening Day Rosters

This is a no-brainer. While not terribly exciting, it is important to recognize the detail OOTP puts into their roster sets. Each year we are given detailed, statistically accurate rosters from multiple levels of play. New this year are the Dominican and Venezuelan Summer Leagues, which will add some nice depth to an already packed roster set.

3D Ballpark Support and 3D In-Game Ball Flight

This is the big one. While I don’t necessarily think OOTP absolutely needs 3D renders of parks and players, it will be a nice visual upgrade --the 2D game screens have certainly gotten stale. The 3D engine should enhance my enjoyment of the in-game simulations, which I sometimes take for granted.

I hope the camera can be adjusted to give various views of the action, sort of like MLB’s own online 3D gamecasts. I am also hopeful for the future, when players themselves might be rendered and animated fully.

While I’m excited for this addition, I need to temper my expectations. This is the initial venture into 3D for a game that has, for many years, relied on 2D animations. This is just the firststep, so things could be a bit rough.

 

 

Additional International Real Leagues

Two things about the addition of Asian, Central American, and European leagues have me excited. First, the refined cohesiveness and authenticity of the "OOTP world" adds to this product’s dominance in capturing the finer details of the game. To have a major leaguer exit to Japan, be able to follow him, and then watch him return is a real touch that makes this game all the more immersive.

Secondly, I love that OOTP offers us so many ways to play. They suggest starting in a small European league for a different challenge, adding to the numerous options already in place.

New Ratings System

The “old” ratings system never bothered me, but I can see how this new method of evaluating players relative to the league is appealing. I have a feeling this one may end up being more important than we realize.

Historical League Improvements

To be honest, I don’t spend a lot of time using OOTP to simulate past seasons; however, this new league wizard seems really interesting. It sounds like you could create a league full of the best teams of all time, just to see how teams like the 2001 Mariners would do against the 1927 Yankees. Or, maybe you’d like to “reset” baseball by creating a fictional league with the real players from the early part of last century.

Like many of these features, OOTP continues to add ways to play the game --essentially upping the game’s value and replayability.
 

A Banner Year?

 

These and many other features listed at the end of the press release certainly have me excited for Spring Training, and the release of the next iteration of Out of the Park. Each year, this is a game that seems to do everything right -- it improves upon the last version, doesn't cut features for the sake of reintroducing them later, and adds to the way you can play and customize the game. We’ll see if that tradition holds come April.

What are you most excited about in OOTP 15?