Sports games: realism vs. arcadey.

[Captain Wrong]

i hate sport (except for racing) but I have a strange love for Neo Geo Sports games and NBA Jam type games. I don't know why, I just do.

Anyhoo, you do you like your sports games? Not talking racing here, but sports like basketball, baseball, football, hockey, soccer, etc.

[digitalpress]

Definitely a little of both. I still enjoy NBA Jam, Hat Trick and Mutant League Hockey, for example, but there is a certain manley appeal to a sports game that plays like you're watching it on TV, with real players and hopefully realistic results.

[bargora]

I only play Atari 2600 sports games. Do I need help?

[Kid Fenris]

I choose "Arcadey" in this case. My favorite sports title of all time is 2020 Super Baseball, if that says anything.

[scooterb23]

I like sports games...I usually buy one of each sport games for each system I buy. I'm going with a little bit of both columns, because my answer depends on the sport I'm playing...

Baseball - My favorite real-life sport, but modern games are too slow paced for my taste. If they could give me the statistical depth of a World Series Baseball Franchise mode, but the pacing of a NES Baseball Stars...it would be the last video game I'd ever buy.

Football - I'm not much into football, but I dig the Madden games, I like the speed of the game and the difficulty is just where I like it.

Basketball - NBA Inside Drive 2002 for the XBox...it's my favorite by a long shot...I'll probably buy the newer version if it has a multi-season Franchise mode...great speed, and easy controls...high fun factor!! (Plus having Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Scottie Pippen on my Pacers is such a kick!!)

If I could get that game engine in a quality college game though, I'd be a happy man :)

I think that covers it...

Oh yeah, I'd love to see an nice EA Sports Australian Rules Football game here in the States...

[buttasuperb]

Both

I've always been a big fan of the madden games, play a few season of a franchise each year. But I also like playing NFL Blitz once in a while, especially with the hilarious commentary while you're kicking the shit outta people after the play is over.

For basketball the Live series has kinda taken a turn for the worse recently, but the 2K series is pretty good, and would be great if the programmers would smarten up. Too many dumb glitches and such, including time starting as soon as you inbound instead of not starting until the pass is caught, which is how it should be. Kinda sucks when you're going for the last shot with 1.7 seconds left and time runs out before you even catch the pass. I mean what the fuck were they thinking on that one. For the arcadey side, NBA Jam is and always has been a lot of fun. BOOMSHAKALAKA!

As for hockey, I didn't really care for NHL Hitz too much, so it's all EA's NHL series for me. Too bad, the best one is still '98, although I havent tried '03 yet.

Baseball hasn't had a good game since the NES days with Baseball Stars and Tecmo Baseball leading the pack. I played the hell outta those games back in the day.

[dreamcaster]

Arcadey sporters definitely.

As an avid disliker of sport, my sports video games have to be filled with wild jumps and outrageous manuevers to keep it interesting. NBA Jam anyone?

Besides, why do you want a sports simulation? Go play the real thing!

[buttasuperb]

Besides, why do you want a sports simulation? Go play the real thing!

That's ridiculous.

With that logic what's the point of playing racing games? Just go to the local track and enter a race.

Why play Socom? Just join the army instead.

Plus it's kinda tough to find 21 other people to play a real game of football, or sometimes even just 3 other people to play 2 on 2 basketball.

[chadtower]

For multiplayers, arcadey. Gives you more fun.

For playing alone, simulation. More like the real thing.

[Arcade Antics]

I'm definitely on the "arcadey" side of this battle. The only exceptions that immediately come to mind are the Virtua Tennis series and Beach Spikers. But I guess purists might call those games more "arcadey" than realistic. ;)

[josekortez]

Arcadey all the way! NBA Showtime was the reason I traded in my first N64 and bought a Dreamcast. That, Hoopz, and the GC version of NBA Street are the only b-ball games I play. I don't really follow the sports, so I don't care about rosters. Just put Jordan in...

I like Virtua Tennis but I hate Beach Spikers, but I like the models/players in Beach Spikers. However, the control in that game is as stiff as...well never mind.

[Dobie]

A little of both. I prefer baseball games, and I agree with a post above... the modern games have a SLOW pace. I'd also have to add that the batting mechanics on modern games makes it damn near impossible to hit the ball too. Baseball is a case where I want the stats and feel of real baseball, but not the pace. I much prefer NES & 16 bit Baseball titles because of this--Little League Baseball, Baseball Stars, Bad News Baseball, Ken Griffey Jr Presents... they're ALL good!!!

When it comes to football and basketball, give me a good College sim-type game (NCAA Football 2003, NCAA Basketball 2K3).

Hockey--I really like NHL Hitz, but the 16 bit titles again are more fun for me.

[Ruudos]

My favorite sports game is International Superstar Soccer Deluxe, and that's realistic. However I also like Nintendo World Cup, and that's anything but realistic!

[Videogamerdaryll]

LOL "Little from column A, little from column B"

But I don't ( go both ways). :D

[zmeston]

Arcadey, and here's my reasoning for said preference in a review of of NBA Street Vol. 2 for GameSpy:

The Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman, in his book "Which Lie Did I Tell?", states that "Here is one of the main rules of adaptation: you cannot be literally faithful to the source material. Here's another that critics never get: you should not be literally faithful to the source material. It is in a different form... Here is the most important rule of adaptation: you must be totally faithful to the intention of the source material." I feel the same way about videogame adaptations of true life, sports included: they should keep the bits that lend themselves to an exciting videogame experience, and throw out the rest. Fun over realism, always. (This is why I don't review flight sims; I'm less concerned with accurate turn rates and stalling speeds than with having a good time.)

The brilliance of NBA Street Vol. 2 -- as with Midway's NBA Jam, released a decade ago and inarguably the prototype for the EA Sports BIG concept -- is that it retains the elements of the sport that translate well into the videogame world, ditches the ones that don't, and makes the entire experience into a great game instead of a mere simulation.

-- Z.

[RubbarDucklin]

Besides, why do you want a sports simulation? Go play the real thing!

That's ridiculous.

With that logic what's the point of playing racing games? Just go to the local track and enter a race.

Why play Socom? Just join the army instead.

Plus it's kinda tough to find 21 other people to play a real game of football, or sometimes even just 3 other people to play 2 on 2 basketball.

While we are at it, Why not become Italian...and a plumber...and go save a princess in a castle instead of playing Mario

[Neonsolid]

Gone.

[Cryomancer]

I say arcadey as I'm not a big sport game guy, but then I love the hell out of Deathrow. That game is massively underrated, they should make a more polished version with online play, that would be awesome...although i hear there's tunneling software you can use with it.

[tholly]

the poll is dead...but i hate sports game, so i would have picked that option

[pixelsnpolygons]

I hate sports, the only sports sub-genre I can stand to be realistic is racing - perhaps a little basketball. I much prefer arcade sports - if it is over-the-top and easy to get into I eat it up. Watching me try to play a game like Madden is like watching Zoolander get the files out of the computer.

[GarrettCRW]

While I thoroughly enjoy the current system of EA and Sega sports sims, I'm also a devotee of the Tecmo Bowl series-a series that had all the trappings of the NFL (and well before Madden, it should be noted) with healthy doses of unrealism and that old-time Tecmo Theatre action. So, both (though not both ways-I'll let my girlfriend do that :-P).

[devilman]

Depends on the sport for me. With football (soccer), I prefer realism every time, which is why I'm a big fan of the Winning Eleven series. Other sports, I'm not as fussed so I'll play the Blitz games and Super Baseball 2020 is one of my favourite games too.

[Black_Tiger]

I believe Arcadey is best because the most important thing is for a game to be fun.

My personal definition of fun arcadey however doesn't include NBA Jam or NFL Blitz. I like Sega's arcadey sports games like the original Worldwide Soccer for Saturn.

My favorite sports games of all time are still Hockey and Major League Baseball for Intellivision. Baseball in particular because of the controls: each catcher has his own button and the swinging/pitching concept.

And those two games are just about as unrealistice as it gets.

And pong is still the best tennis game ever.

[Black_Tiger]

I believe Arcadey is best because the most important thing is for a game to be fun.

My personal definition of fun arcadey however doesn't include NBA Jam or NFL Blitz. I like Sega's arcadey sports games like the original Worldwide Soccer for Saturn.

My favorite sports games of all time are still Hockey and Major League Baseball for Intellivision. Baseball in particular because of the controls: each catcher has his own button and the swinging/pitching concept.

And those two games are just about as unrealistice as it gets.

And pong is still the best tennis game ever.

[slip81]

I like both types. Most of the time I go for realism, but every once in a while (especially when I'm playing against someone) I like to have fun and go the arcade route.

[Pantechnicon]

I lean towards arcadey. I'm a huge fan of both 10-Yard Fight and Cyberball on MAME. I also have a real soft spot for golf games, particularly handheld ones. I'm starting to get a bit of a taste for more realistic stuff like EA's NCAA football series. Racing sims can be fun but imho only if you've got a driving controller of some sort. Lastly, I've got a couple of rugby titles now I'm eager to try out soon.

[bangtango]

I like realistic games. The stat tracking, fantasy drafts, franchise modes and more authentic gameplay always hooks me everytime.

The only sport that I feel translates well to an "arcade" style is basketball. Stuff like NBA Jam, NBA Jam TE, NBA Showtime, NBA Hoopz & College Slam are pretty fun, IMO. Part of the appeal is that there are no fouls in most of those games, aside from goaltending, which makes for fewer interruptions and faster games. When I play an EA Sports or Sega Sports/2K NBA sim, I turn the reaching fouls down at least a notch or two because most sims go overboard on the reach in.

For something like NHL Hitz, I don't really notice the difference between a sim or arcade title because in every NHL sim I play (the 2K or EA ones) I turn off all of the penalties because otherwise there'd be constant interruptions.

On the other side, I loathe stuff like NFL Blitz and MLB Slugfest. 30 yards to get a first down? Having the ability to tag a runner out because you can punch him (WTF!) and he falls off first base? Forget that garbage.