Do Sports Games Receive Too Much Criticism?

[Cebby]

Re: Do sports games receive too much criticism?

Absolutely not, especially when it comes to Madden, NCAA, and 2k baseball.

Fact is, they get released every year, for full price, and are the only options (with exception to The Show on PS3). Not only that, but with 2k5, NCAA 2004, and MVP, we've seen that there is absolutely no excuse for not putting out a great game with tons of improvements. It's not all EA, since NHL has apparently been hot, and MVP was very hot, and with 2k, their baseball has been lacking, their college football games sucked, and NBA 2k8 was pretty lacking compared to 2k7.

Halo, MGS, and GTA are so far removed from sports games it's not funny. Since 2001, they've released 3-4 games, all of which were top notch except maybe Halo 3, which you can at least tell they tried very hard.

With CoD, maybe you missed it, but there was a pretty big backlash on 2 and 3. 2 was a "yeah it's similar but still great", but 3 was "seriously, we're tired of this". Then CoD4 was the 2k5, MVP 05, or NHL 07 of the series.

You can bet your *** that if Bioshock 2, Mass Effect 2, or GTA 4's sequel come out in September with the exact same engine, same weapons, and was promising us features like voice acting, usable weapons, and textures, people would say "what the ****, those have been standard in games for 2 generations of systems." No games get criticized like sports games because no games continue to not improve like sports games.

[countryboy]

Re: Do sports games receive too much criticism?

let me ask this Solider to your repsonse in regards to GTA, Halo, & MGS. Do you think those games would make the big improvements they do, if they were to be released on a yearly basis?

[Cebby]

Re: Do sports games receive too much criticism?

let me ask this Solider to your repsonse in regards to GTA, Halo, & MGS. Do you think those games would make the big improvements they do, if they were to be released on a yearly basis?

Obviously they would not, but I think they'd do a hell of a lot better than NCAA 08 or NBA 2k8 did. Vice City was made in a year.

While they have time constraints, they also haven't made a new engine in 6 or 7 years. Again, we've seen what can happen as with NCAA 2004, NFL 2k5, MVP 05, and NHL 07 (or whichever one they improved), so clearly it's possible to revamp a game and make it great.

The additions to NCAA 09 have clearly been a joke, and it's not like 08 was a God send of a football game.

[countryboy]

Re: Do sports games receive too much criticism?

Obviously they would not, but I think they'd do a hell of a lot better than NCAA 08 or NBA 2k8 did. Vice City was made in a year.

While they have time constraints, they also haven't made a new engine in 6 or 7 years. Again, we've seen what can happen as with NCAA 2004, NFL 2k5, MVP 05, and NHL 07 (or whichever one they improved), so clearly it's possible to revamp a game and make it great.

The additions to NCAA 09 have clearly been a joke, and it's not like 08 was a God send of a football game.

[umd]

Re: Do sports games receive too much criticism?

let me ask this Solider to your repsonse in regards to GTA, Halo, & MGS. Do you think those games would make the big improvements they do, if they were to be released on a yearly basis?

Or, (just posing this not attacking you) do you think that given it has been about 3-4 years into next gen that certain games have really "jumped ahead" in quality since the last generation?

I'm saying, take the 3 years total spent on 3 yearly versions of the same franchise and compare the last version of this gen (360/PS3) with the last version of the game from last gen (PS2/xbox)? Is there a huge leap - like GTAIV or COD4 size in quality?

It's an apples and orange kind of argument, but we should be seeing a more significant cumulative improvement - even if versions are being released along the way at yearly intervals. I don't really think we are seeing that improvement for any of the sports titles, which has made next gen sports gaming overall pretty disappointing. Especially when compared to many great non-sports releases.

[rm217]

It's not about expecting perfection. It's more about sports games getting stagnant by either not changing much from the year before or in some cases going backwards and actually making a worst game a year later. With so much money invested in exclusive licenses it's no wonder why these companies don't have much money left over to actually make a true next generation game. Stop relying so much on the exclusive license and you'll see an expotional improvement in our sports games.

[countryboy]

Re: Do sports games receive too much criticism?

Or, (just posing this not attacking you) do you think that given it has been about 3-4 years into next gen that certain games have really "jumped ahead" in quality since the last generation?

I'm saying, take the 3 years total spent on 3 yearly versions of the same franchise and compare the last version of this gen (360/PS3) with the last version of the game from last gen (PS2/xbox)? Is there a huge leap - like GTAIV or COD4 size in quality?

It's an apples and orange kind of argument, but we should be seeing a more significant cumulative improvement - even if versions are being released along the way at yearly intervals. I don't really think we are seeing that improvement for any of the sports titles, which has made next gen sports gaming overall pretty disappointing. Especially when compared to many great non-sports releases.

I agree that some sports games have become stagnant on next gen, but the criticism of sports games goes back to the PS2/Xbox days and before that.

[sqeg]

It's not about expecting perfection. It's more about sports games getting stagnant by either not changing much from the year before or in some cases going backwards and actually making a worst game a year later. With so much money invested in exclusive licenses it's no wonder why these companies don't have much money left over to actually make a true next generation game. Stop relying so much on the exclusive license and you'll see an expotional improvement in our sports games.

Exactly. Nothing is ever perfect, NOTHING. Especially not a video game... especially not a sports video game. Any non-ignorant person knows this & honestly can't expect perfection. But, sometimes we come across the most obvious of bugs or imperfections & are left thinking to ourselves, they really went gold on this game in this state?! Where's the quality control testing?! I mean, we are talking about a multi-million dollar industry here. Consumers have every right to scrutinize the games to whatever extent they choose to, meaning legitimate issues & not just for the sake of bashing.

How can we say something like Madden for an example, has honestly made a great stride in the right direction as a next-gen football game, cuz frankly I honestly don't see it. Sure the graphics are pretty, but the gameplay?! I'd rather play a last gen Madden for gameplay. Franchise mode, same as gameplay, I'll take last gen. Just look at the poor frame rate Madden had on the PS3 last year. That was just sad...period. The frame rate drops with just going thru the menu screens on both consoles for crying out loud lol.... Sorry didn't mean to turn this post into a minor Madden dissection. Just needed an example & honestly it was the easiest target. :x

TheSoldier & umd have awesome points as well. I think GTA4 as made a huge leap in every aspect compared to its predecessor. While it as well is by no way a perfect game, GTA4 has gotten rave reviews for it's use of the new physics engine & it's honestly a thing of beauty. I don't think you can say that, cumulatively, any next-gen sports game has made that big of a stride in the right direction to making it feel like an actual next-gen sports game within the past 3 to 4 years that the next-gen consoles have been out for. Not when all we've been getting is the same engine just with more & more gimmick's every year.

[countryboy]

Re: Do Sports Games Receive Too Much Criticism?

I should've put quotations around the word perfection. I didn't mean it litterally.

[cdj]

Do sports gamers give games too much criticism at times? Yes.

Games like Halo, GTA, etc. have years between releases, so it's easier to see the improvements. If they were yearly, we'd be complaining about the lack of improvement.

Do most major media sites give the games enough criticism? No.

When was the last time a major media site went in and addressed if community concerns were addressed from one year to the next? Have they ever actually evaluated online play (for example) or do they just regurgitate what the press release on the game says for that feature? (Not to mention when some sites give the old 'they just changed the year on the box' joke.)

I'd say that sometimes fans are too critical and media sites are not critical enough. One party needs to be less critical and the other more critical. Then we may begin to see more changes from one year to the next, regardless of if we feel enough changes are already occurring.

Good article, countryboy.

[KG]

Re: Do Sports Games Receive Too Much Criticism?

It's not about expecting perfection. It's more about sports games getting stagnant by either not changing much from the year before or in some cases going backwards and actually making a worst game a year later. With so much money invested in exclusive licenses it's no wonder why these companies don't have much money left over to actually make a true next generation game. Stop relying so much on the exclusive license and you'll see an expotional improvement in our sports games.

Exactly, sports games are pretty much 1) updated rosters & 2) some new feature that will be gone or ignored in 2 years.

At this point in sports games there aren't many new groundbreaking features that can be rolled out. Don't get me wrong, you have features like online dynasties but that's more of implementing something that is already there in a new way. I think the thing with next-gen sport titles that has so many of us OS'ers pissed off is the elimination of older features for the sake of better graphics. I'm all for visual enhancements but sacrificing aspects that made us love a particular series is not acceptable.

[mgoblue]

Re: Do Sports Games Receive Too Much Criticism?

I'm not totally convinced some sports gamers actually want to enjoy a game. I swear, with bitching and whining about sock colors, jerseys, every little thing...then tweaking the "eye blink" slider so the players blink correctly, I think some people just love nitpicking, whining, and just bitching about the current year's release.

I 100% believe that there are way more guys than any of you think who would see a theoretical "perfect" Madden release and go "It's not NFL 2k5, it sucks".

Personally I've stopped striving for the "sim" aspect a lot of guys go for, because after a while it stops making a game fun. I'm not a NFL level coach, I shouldn't have to watch hours of tape in order to understand defenses in Madden. I just want to have fun in games, I want them to be realistic, but I think sports gamers are overly sensitive to realism. Seriously, people don't bitch about Sonic's sock colors.

I know I'm in the drastic minority here, but it's just how I feel based on what I see here every year. No game will be perfect or even near perfect to guys here because they'll find some little issue and blow it way out of proportion.

[countryboy]

Re: Do Sports Games Receive Too Much Criticism?

I'm not totally convinced some sports gamers actually want to enjoy a game. I swear, with bitching and whining about sock colors, jerseys, every little thing...then tweaking the "eye blink" slider so the players blink correctly, I think some people just love nitpicking, whining, and just bitching about the current year's release.

I 100% believe that there are way more guys than any of you think who would see a theoretical "perfect" Madden release and go "It's not NFL 2k5, it sucks".

Personally I've stopped striving for the "sim" aspect a lot of guys go for, because after a while it stops making a game fun. I'm not a NFL level coach, I shouldn't have to watch hours of tape in order to understand defenses in Madden. I just want to have fun in games, I want them to be realistic, but I think sports gamers are overly sensitive to realism. Seriously, people don't bitch about Sonic's sock colors.

I know I'm in the drastic minority here, but it's just how I feel based on what I see here every year. No game will be perfect or even near perfect to guys here because they'll find some little issue and blow it way out of proportion.

this is the reason behind my article. Great post mgoblue

[countryboy]

Re: Do Sports Games Receive Too Much Criticism?

Do sports gamers give games too much criticism at times? Yes.

Games like Halo, GTA, etc. have years between releases, so it's easier to see the improvements. If they were yearly, we'd be complaining about the lack of improvement.

Do most major media sites give the games enough criticism? No.

When was the last time a major media site went in and addressed if community concerns were addressed from one year to the next? Have they ever actually evaluated online play (for example) or do they just regurgitate what the press release on the game says for that feature? (Not to mention when some sites give the old 'they just changed the year on the box' joke.)

I'd say that sometimes fans are too critical and media sites are not critical enough. One party needs to be less critical and the other more critical. Then we may begin to see more changes from one year to the next, regardless of if we feel enough changes are already occurring.

Good article, countryboy.

good post and thank you.

[stretch45]

I'm not totally convinced some sports gamers actually want to enjoy a game. I swear, with bitching and whining about sock colors, jerseys, every little thing...then tweaking the "eye blink" slider so the players blink correctly, I think some people just love nitpicking, whining, and just bitching about the current year's release.

I 100% believe that there are way more guys than any of you think who would see a theoretical "perfect" Madden release and go "It's not NFL 2k5, it sucks".

Personally I've stopped striving for the "sim" aspect a lot of guys go for, because after a while it stops making a game fun. I'm not a NFL level coach, I shouldn't have to watch hours of tape in order to understand defenses in Madden. I just want to have fun in games, I want them to be realistic, but I think sports gamers are overly sensitive to realism. Seriously, people don't bitch about Sonic's sock colors.

I know I'm in the drastic minority here, but it's just how I feel based on what I see here every year. No game will be perfect or even near perfect to guys here because they'll find some little issue and blow it way out of proportion.

I agree