Like a lot of gamers I love my Madden and my 2K. Sports video games have come a long way since the beginnings of 10 Yard Fight and the likes. As sports video games have come to the forefront of gaming the call has been stronger and stronger for a realistic simulation of the games. It seems developers like EA and 2K have answered the call and have tried their best to deliver the best simulations possible. I’ll leave it up to you on whether or not they nailed it, but will instead talk about another part of simulation, the fantasy.
Simulation leaves something to be desired
The more realistic sports video games get, the more glaring the flaws become. There are a lot of weird oddities in sports simulations that make the experience sort of a letdown, most of it has to do with physics and play mechanics. These small issues prove to be very frustrating over time and ruin the simulation experience.
Because it’s almost impossible to get a proper sim my feeling is why not go in the other direction to a certain degree.
Imagine your sports fantasy
In your sports fantasy are you the star of the game? Do you throw the game winning touchdown? How about the final strike out in the World Series? Something tells me that you don’t want to watch the game winning shot from the bench, or get busted on by Kobe to lose the NBA Finals. You want to be the star of the team and live out your sports dream of glory, and you want the games setting to match your vision.
What I’m getting at is simple; the developers are trying to make the perfect sim as far as how the game looks and plays, while I want perfection in how the game presents itself to the player.
Let’s look at the new game NBA 2K10, with it’s brand new My Player mode. The My Player mode allows the user to start off in the summer league and try and build a career as an NBA basketball player. The mode is very addicting, but leaves a lot to be desired.
First off, like Madden 10’s Superstar Mode there is nothing for your player to do besides play games. Previous versions of the mode offered fun mini-games and other challenges to go along with the simulation of an NBA/NFL season.
The other problem is that your character starts off at a skill level that is way too far below the league standard, basically making the games internal rating system useless. The game's internal grading system pretty much forces a certain style of play out of the player, taking away individuality, or at least making it difficult to develop a unique approach to playing the game.
While the game is incredibly fun, I can’t help but feel like I’m being herded along a predetermined path. Instead, what I want is the game to adjust and react to my presence better. I want the game to really immerse me in the idea that I’m a part of the association and the games just don’t really do that, in fact it feels like they barely try.
The ideal sports simulation
In my humble opinion the ideal sports simulation is less about gameplay and more about presentation. There are sports nuts out there that don’t play Madden because it’s too complicated but would gobble up a simplified version of the game that offered a robust single player experience. Madden 2006 had a radio station feature that was perfect for a football game, why that went away is a mystery to me. The fact that sports games don’t have any consistency when it comes to the single player experience has always been troubling because there’s nothing to improve or build upon from game to game.
What I want is for My Player to come back next year with lots of improvements, but I’m afraid that the mode will be scrapped all together for a different single player experience. It would be awesome if there were some fun mini-games to break up the monotony of an 82 game season that I can’t sim through. Pro athletes do commercials; go on TV shows, and do interviews, all of which could be translated into mini games.
If we could do anything?
The ultimate sports video game would simply break down the walls between RPG’s and sports sims. I want a sports RPG, where there is a story that coincides with my NBA/MLB/NFL/NHL season. What’s missing from sports games is the drama, and that’s because all there is to the game is crunched numbers and graphics. But if there was more going on than just the game…?
Just imagine creating your character and surviving the NBA with allies and rivals, putting greater impetus on winning the championship which seems kind of hallow within the current status quo.
In the end, what I want is a game that really creates the lofty goal of winning the championship in any sport as something worth attaining.
