Mobile gaming has yet to really “take off” for sports gamers. We want full, in-your-face control of the team and finances, so a quick, unfulfilling smart phone version with a $5 tag doesn’t get many people excited. However, there are always exceptions that break the mold (to an extent). 

In previous seasons, iOOTP has been highly regarded as one of our favorite mobile sports games each year. However, with the release of Out of the Park Baseball 15's little brother, iOOTP Baseball 2014, OOTP has fallen on its face a bit -- failing to meet the high expectations we have of anything bearing the name OOTP.

iOOTP 14 is a good game, don’t get me wrong.

Everything is there; It has all the necessities: accurate rosters for both the major and minor leagues, historical seasons (though you have to purchase extra ones without the cost being displayed), true trade logic, etc.

But iOOTP Baseball 14 is lacking one very important piece: improvement. OOTP 14 failed to improve on anything apparent or obvious in its mobile version. The new desktop version has added a new interface with 3D graphics on their way, but the iOS version plays and looks much like last year’s version. It’s truly upsetting.

OOTP is one of the few, if not only, games that gets constant praise here at OS from the staff. It’s always the “guaranteed” high score because we know the development team cares just as much as we do about the immersive experience that comes with the purchase of the text-simulation – it’s a wanted review amongst our staff.

Last year, I dove into the iOS version for the first time and absolutely fell in love. I still preferred the desktop version, but for a quick, on-the-go game, iOOTP 13 was the first mobile game I’ve ever truly been addicted to. It made the DMV feel like a pit stop rather than the Devil’s dinner table. It was true greatness. iOOTP 14 was bound to make enough improvements – especially with all of the positive publicity from OOTP 15 – that would keep giving sports gamers a reason to go mobile with the franchise.

I was wrong.

iOOTP Baseball 2014 released with the same $5 price tag as last year’s, but after playing a few seasons I found myself wanting more still. It’s hard to knock a game that feels great, but it feels as if iOOTP is a game with an upgraded icon and a new logo – that’s just a bad move. I’m not a believer in the “don’t fix it if it isn’t broken” mantra. It can ALWAYS be better.

The small improvements to the AI and in-game commentary are very subtle additions to the game. However, neither create a big enough differentiation over the prior year's experience to recommend upgrading to the new version of iOOTP. The changes otherwise feel so incremental that you really do feel like you are playing a similar title to last year's release.

If you’ve yet to make the jump into a successful mobile sports game, then I do recommend making this purchase. But if you’ve been playing the past few versions of iOOTP, save yourself $5 a go buy a couple more historical seasons instead. The quality is here, the features are there, but the changes don’t exist. I don’t expect much within a mobile game, but I do expect more than an icon change when a new version is released to the App store.

I hate puns. In journalism, they don’t belong. But iOOTP 14 has struck out looking, against OS-CEO Steve Noah, with an 0-2 count.