So in between finally graduating from college after four long years of school and trying to decide on second and third prize winners for my contest (a winner has been picked, but not announced just yet), it's been hectic.
However, something's been on my mind for a bit, and I haven't written on it until now: where have all the fantasy-style sports games gone?
Back in the day, you used to be able to find these kind of games a lot easier, right along a lot of the traditional sports games, and they were fun. But why is everything now geared towards hyper-realism on the sports market? Some of the best games ever took the world of sport and blew it up into something bigger. NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, Mutant League Football, Super Baseball 2020... all among the best sports games ever made. All either fantasy games or exaggerations of the real deal.
There's a huge glut now, with the fall of the Blitz series and the failure of NFL Street to catch fire, for a more action-oriented football title to rise. Backbreaker from NaturalMotion seems to be as close as we're going to get in the near future because of the brutality of the game, and even that's supposed to be more realistic than games like Madden.
Is it just that the public has lost interest in these kinds of games, or is this a decision forced by EA's shift to realism? That's a shame, as EA was responsible for the legendary Mutant League Football and Mutant League Hockey, two of the best games in the fantasy sports field. All I know is I want more of these kinds of games.
So, I want to open the question to you guys and gals. Do these kind of games interest you? Would they interest you if done right?
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(# 0) on 05/03/2008 23:55
There is a market for them its just that, outside of the previous games that I have mentioned, there aren't too many high quality entries into the arcade sports game market recently.
(# 1) on 05/04/2008 00:01
My favorite sports game in the whole fucking world. Robots. Playing baseball. That fight each other on occasion. Fucking win
(# 2) on 05/04/2008 00:03
(# 3) on 05/04/2008 00:17
To be honest though, if a new fantasy themed sports game came out it would probably pass me by. I just don't pay any attention to sports game news of any kind.
(# 4) on 05/04/2008 00:49
(# 5) on 05/04/2008 00:57
Yeah, I miss the great arcade sports games of yore — my friends and I had some epic battles in NFL Blitz on the PS1. Hopefully EA’s new IP is an arcade sports game.
(# 6) on 05/04/2008 01:24
(# 7) on 05/04/2008 01:43
(# 8) on 05/04/2008 02:07
(# 9) on 05/04/2008 02:09
(# 10) on 05/04/2008 08:11
Also, Dexter has a good point... the Mario Sports series seems to be the only one putting fun over realism in sports games these days... maybe no one else thinks they can compete.
(# 11) on 05/04/2008 09:04
I love the NBA Street series and the first Blitz, and would welcome more games from those franchises if done well.
But I think the reason those types of games are taking backseat to the hyper-realistic ones is maybe because the developers have just gotten their hands on this (fairly) new technology and development tools and are eager to show off how well they can emulate real life sports. Maybe I dunno.
(# 12) on 05/04/2008 10:40
PROTIP: Pick the all-girls Miami team and substitute Tommy (the only guy) for the worst player, which I think is Barbara if I remember right. Tommy is the best player in the whole game...the Bo Jackson of the future.