10 word description: Baseball management simulation. Real 2013 rosters. Redesigned interface. Game Center.
10 word review: Detailed, deep and entertaining – even for me (not a baseball fan).
You will like this if you enjoy: Baseball. Sports management simulations.
The good news: Crazy amount of detail; truly impressive. Very realistic, much like Championship Manager, at least as far as a series of spreadsheets and lists of stats can create that impression of realism. The real players and historical accuracy will (I assume) make baseball fans very happy. Good performance on 4th gen touch. Clear and well presented screens. Addictive, once I started to figure out what the heck I was doing.
The bad news: I know bog all about baseball so I can’t really pick holes in this sim. It seems to do a great job of simulating a sport I know nothing about. Pedantic fans may be able to find things they don’t like, but then they will be getting a lot more out of this than me anyway.
Arcadelife verdict: The big difference between a simulation of a real sport and, say, a turn-based strategy game set in a completely fictional universe, is that the developers of the fictional game don’t assume that you have any previous knowledge of their game’s content. Coming into this game with no practical knowledge of baseball (ok, I have heard of Babe Ruth and I know about hitting the ball and running from watching Charlie Brown cartoons) I did initially find it overwhelming and a tad impenetrable. However, and this is a big complement so stick with me for a few more seconds, after reading some of the excellent online tutorial – linked from within the game – and experimenting with some random strategy changes, I started to become hooked on it.
From what I can tell, after playing through a season and messing about with this game on both my 4g Touch and iPad, iOOTP 2013 is pretty much an essential acquisition for any baseball fan who fancies playing a pure management sim of their favourite sport. The presentation is great; I liked getting personal emails from players, either whining that they’re being overlooked or haggling to get their contract renewed. It does feel very realistic and it managed to hold my interest and make me want to learn more about the game and keep playing.