Sports Iterated
15 01 2009The phenomenon of sports games and their complete abuse of and by a numbering system has become something of a pet-peeve of mine. By early October last year I could play FIFA, Madden, NBA, NHL and Tiger Woods ’09.
The Original and Best
Other than being in the wrong year and having the latest stats, these games always include one new “feature” to utilise during the simulation of your chosen sport. However, this much vaunted ability usually turns out to be both useless and unnecessary. Being a loyal sports fan and playing each franchise annually, I’ve now come to the conclusion that every sports game developer feels the requirement to release one game a year simply due to the numbering system they adopted in the 90s.
How crazy is that??
Our unstoppable rotation around The Sun has lead to useless such additions as “Game Face”, which allows you to put your very face onto a simulated competitor, and ones that essentially break the game such as “Tiger Vision”, which does not fill the screen with honey and bears but tells you exactly where to aim to get any putt in (apart from when it tells you wrong and you throw your controller at the wall in disgust).
The stand out difference from these WAS Pro-Evolution Soccer, which usually went through one normal version (Super Star Soccer X) then its Pro-Evo sequel (basically the same game but with another year’s polish) which would then be followed by a real sequel with N proceeding it (where N=X+1). This was fine, as there was no game without a significant update of the play system. However, this is sadly no longer the case, as Konami have begun to licence player names from individual teams and will soon be using real player names and stats as they acquire the rights.
I can understand a complete update being done for a new system, such as the move from X-Box to 360. Yes, a entirely new engine is needed to make the players look their best for my next thrashing of Arsenal, so I don’t mind paying out £45 for the pleasure of seeing Ledley King’s shiny head in lovely high res. textures for my HDTV. I do mind paying the same amount for the same game but with updated data and the ability control two players simultaneously, so I can make runs, bolted on… honestly, did anyone ever use that??
…apart from my good friend Dave “12 fingers” Chameleon of course…
I’m hoping this situation will end in the near future as developers realise that they can update the stats (which is the only thing customers really want) by use of the internet and micro payments. EA seem to have started down the road this year with their Live Season player update system (you even get one division updated free for a year with FIFA (just like a crack dealer…)) but I still expect FIFA 2010 to arrive in my local independent games retailer by the end of September.
I can understand that they do this so they can make more money out of us all, as we will buy these games simply for the new data sets, irrespective of new game play elements, but why hide behind this feature smoke screen?
It’s so annoying having to learn the slightly altered game mechanics every single time, plus having the yearly brain spurt from the work experience kid thrown in. Surely coming up with a new feature, implementing it and making other arbitrary changes to the game is less economically beneficial than updating the player information throughout a two or three year period and charging us a reasonable fee for this service…
9 Comments to Sports Iterated
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OPINION AHEAD, CAUTION!
Cry more, sports games have always sucked. Just like the sports they emulate.
HA!
With the obvious exception of Sega Slam Soccer, of course.
I tried to fall in love with FIFA 09, I’ve been playing the series intermittently since its inception in 1993. The last version I really enjoyed though was ’99 on the PSX. This generation really isn’t fairing well for Football games, the past two releases of Pro Ev haven’t been a patch on the original X-box release of 5. The last three FIFA’s have left me pretty cold. The only saving grace for this generation is the re-release of Sensible World of Soccer on Live Arcade.
Do Monkeyball be a sport?
@Neil – I guess it is a ball game…
I enjoy sports, playing in real life is infinitely better than the videogame counterpart but it’s not always possible, hence the need for sports games, but I have struggled to enjoy one properly since Madden ’07 or, like Ralph, Pro Evo 5.
With the exception of the swing controls in Tiger Woods, the innovation aspect does seem a little redundant, maybe it’s where I am going wrong in the games but I have never succesfully used the ‘tricks’ in the football games, AI runs rarely work, that is where a teammate fills the role much better and scoring from a freekick is more luck than skill. For me there are more obvious things to address before the ‘feature’ of putting your own face into a game. I’m sick of the shocking commentary and the frankly useless set pieces. Also I’d love to be able to have more in depth statistics for a given gamer, player, and team, the only thing I would import from US sports.
Poor little sports hater, I thought you’d like this kind though… you don’t even have to get off your arse Mr Neil… :o)
In reply Mr Ralph, they are very disappointing in this latest generation. I think my last really enjoyable footy game, when I felt in control and was having fun, was FIFA’03 on the Cube.
As for Sensi, I always think it’s less a football game and more a game based on the IDEA of football. When all the other games go the simulation route Sensi stands out because it’s just simple to play and fun, which is exactly what Footy is. All you need is a ball and away you go…
Me too, I guess what I really want is a better looking Sensible Soccer mixed with Football Manager.
Also, as an aside as I know you are in to US Football Mr Gazz, there is a game called NFL Head Coach which I randomly found the other day. It’s been through a few interations thus far but is apparenlty much better for it. This is one case where I will be waiting for next years game, as the gameplay has not yet got to a level where it levels out (as with EA’s other frnachises).
Think this will be better to play, as I always felt like I was losing games by controling the player in Madden. I’d rather just send the plays out and deal with the tactics/organisation.
And Speedball 2, although that was less sports and more 2d brawl that happened to have a ball and 2 goals.
Although on the point of updating games EA looks like they’ve started this (a little) with Fifa 09 and they’re Addidas Live(?) service, that updates player over the course of a season, one league is free, others cost. The next obvious update from this is 09/10 season pack from XBL, costing maybe £10 and updates all the teams, and adds any new players.
Makes sense, but we will see.. Buying a new Fifa/Pro Evo game each year to get, basically updated rosters and kit is annoying.