Realism is Overrated - Fetter21's Blog

Fetter21's Blog

Realism is Overrated

Posted on March 20, 2009 at 07:28 PM.

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At Operation Sports the motto for most gamers has always seemed to be realism above all else. I�d say that I�ve always put myself into that same group, a sports gamer searching for a game that gives as authentic a sporting experience as possible, but now I�m not so sure.

This week the weather here in Phoenix has been beautiful and it got me in the mood for some golf, so I popped in Tiger Woods 08 (I know, how retro of me, but I don�t have 09). It had been a while since I�d played and the difficulty was set to �Tour Pro� which made me realize after a couple hours of trying to complete a challenge that this difficulty had been why I�d stopped playing the game over a year ago in the first place. I�d been tired of shanking balls, and coming close, but just short of accomplishing tasks over and over again. I know by far Tour Pro difficulty is closest thing realistic experience in the game, but it was just far more frustrating than fun. After bumping the game down to difficult and powering up my swing, and �cheating� by putting spin on the ball mid air it just became a much more enjoyable game altogether.

Football games are my wheelhouse, but am I really in search of reality there? I play with the Raiders and don�t mind the fact that I actually win games, is that realistic, unfortunately not really, these days. Sure I want aspects of the game to feel realistic, but above all for a game to get me back it has to be fun.

Thinking back to the game that I�ve had the most fun with, it very well could be Tecmo Super Bowl from way back in the day. It could very easily be said that it�s the least realistic football game of all time, but still oh so much fun to play.

So this just brings to mind the idea that while realism is something to strive for and good to have the option for it in the game, is that really what we�re searching for? Or does it just help on the road to our ultimate gaming destination, escaping from our day and enjoying ourselves.

Comments

# 1 Steve_OS @ Mar 20

Nice write up bro. I like the mix of games that are available. If I'm wanting some arcade type of sports gaming, there are alternatives. It sucks that there isn't more competition in the football genre, but there are plenty of fun games to be had in other sports.

I am having a blast w/ Tecmo Bowl on the DS, get it!

# 2 Fetter21 @ Mar 21

Unfortunately I'm 360 only, so I don't have a PS3 to play the show. I've heard really good things though. If they had an NFL version that'd be enough to pull me over to the PS3. Although it's unfortunate that it'll probably never happen.