Are Sports Games Doing Enough? - johnprestonevans's Blog

johnprestonevans's Blog

Are Sports Games Doing Enough?

Posted on February 22, 2012 at 10:10 AM.

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There comes a time in every development cycle where things plateau as the technology is pushed to its limits. With the next generation of consoles on the horizon, developers are certainly preparing, if not working on engines to power their franchises forward. In this last year or so of Xbox360/PS3 (debatable), where does that leave upcoming games for our current consoles?

I have been an avid sports gamer for generations of systems and have thoroughly enjoyed most - if not all sports series on 360 and PS3. But lately I've had that ho-hum feeling that I've seen the best of what's capable on today's hardware. Graphics for the most part will not progress beyond what currently resides in our beloved sports franchises. Outside of a few game play fixes, feature tweaks and animation additions, the core sports game (on all accounts) has not done enough to warrant spending $60 a year.

I think almost all sports games as they stand now are excellent. I owned Fifa, NBA2K, MLB The Show, NCAA Football and Madden in 2010. Watching video this morning of MLB12 The Show left me feeling underwhelmed. I'm not saying it looks poor. In fact I think the series is the best baseball simultion ever made, but I haven't seen anything outside the desire to have the newest, shiniest version to really excite me. Watching and comparing videos of MLB 10 and 12 side by side are a strain to find differences. I feel the same way about NHL - which has not improved its visuals, commentary or presentation in the past few years. Yes it still plays great, but is that enough to prompt the yearly upgrade? Im not excited about NHL anymore because they havent improved areas outside of gameplay features and modes for a very long time.

I know it's difficult to re-invent the wheel when it comes to sports games year after year. Many of the "improvements" appear to be small gameplay tweaks and mode additions. I guess its just hard to be impressed with the same engine for 5 or 6 years running. I'm still waiting for a sports game to blow out some excellent broadcast presentation. MLB and NBA come close, but not quite there where I want it to be. And so I'm left feeling like Ive seen it all before. This is the first year I'm considering passing on all MLB (and most likely other sports games) because I think developers are putting more effort into next-gen than they will be with the remainder of this generation.

What are your thoughts? Are developers doing enough to keep you excited about upcoming sports games? Are you a loyal annual buyer to a sport that you love? Do you have that been-there-done-that feeling?

Comments

# 1 Jadakiss88 @ Feb 22

I think they are doing too much. Honestly my favorite NBA Basketball title is Live 02 (that's the one with Jason Kidd on the front) it was simple and the control scheme was simple. There weren't all the animations and extra buttons to press. You want to cross someone up flick the right stick...SIMPLE!! Now you have to hold this button, rotate the stick in a counter clock-wise motion, press another button, and then your locked into an animation.

Gameday 98' one of the best football titles to hold the NFL license was simple. Games like that are fun to play. I honestly think the developers are trying to hard to cater to the Hardcore fans demands, they honestly just need to sit down and watch the game in real life and see it's all about simplicity. Some people enjoy the crazy control schemes and like myself some don't.

# 2 earp4530 @ Feb 23

How could you be underwhelmed with the best baseball series if not, the best sports series of all time? I know i'm in the majority here, that Madden is the title that leaves you feeling underwhelmed.

# 3 johnprestonevans @ Feb 28

I agree that this is the best baseball game out there, and one of the best sports franchises on the market. I just don't see much of difference between this year's game and the past couple of entries. It looks about the same. It sounds the same. I think they could do more with textures, presentation (around the league stuff) and alternate commentary teams to spruce it up a bit. I guess I just dont see a need to spend $60 other than getting those slick new Blue Jay uni's.