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Top 10 Sports Games (All 3 Major Sports, 30 Total)


BayRaider

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This is my opinion, as I have been an avid sports video game play since the Late 90's.

For this list, I have two rules:

1) Must be 2000 or later. This will rule out some SNES and Sega classics, but those aren't exactly simulation anyways.

2) Must be a "simulation" style game. This eliminates NBA Street Volume 2, which is an iconic arcade game, probably the best arcade sports game of all time in my opinion. Perhaps the best Basketball game of all time actually. Also eliminates NFL Blitz, as NFL Blitz 2000 for N64 was definitely a GOAT level Football game.

- Also, these do not take into account "good for the time". I legit think these are the best games right now.

 

Football:

Football is a little weird, as it mainly goes through the same exact time period of 2004-2007. Many people call it the "Golden Era".

1) ESPN NFL 2K5 (PS2/XBOX)

2) Madden NFL 2005 (PS2/XBOX)

3) NCAA 06 (PS2/XBOX)

4) ESPN NFL 2K4 (PS2/XBOX)

5) Madden 06 (PS2/XBOX)

6) Madden 2004 (PS2/XBOX)

7) NFL 2K2 (Dreamcast)

8 ) ESPN NFL 2K3 (PS2/XBOX)

9) NCAA 07 (PS2/XBOX)

10) Madden 07 (PS2/XBOX)

Honorable Mention: All Pro Football 2K8 (PS3/360)

Thoughts:

I'd say the Top 6 of these games are all right there in the mix as the best football sports game of all time. I give the nod to NFL 2K5, but people forget Madden was right there stride for stride, we just forget because we are so mad at EA these days. We have not had a great NFL or College game since Madden 07/NCAA 07. 14 years. The last "average" games were Madden 12 and NCAA 14. NCAA 14 does get some hype, but only because it was the last in the series. NCAA 10-14 on PS3/360 were just average games in my opinion. Not good, not bad.

Recommendations:

- If you want to play a standalone NFL game, I recommend NFL 2K5. Still as fun as ever today and destroys Madden 21.

- If you want to play a standalone NFL but game but prefer Madden, I recommend Madden 07. It's pretty similar to the 06 installment, basically the same game, but more updated.

- If you want to play a standalone NCAA game, NCAA 06 is absolutely the greatest college football game ever made.

- If you want to use a Madden and NCAA game together (play and draft classes), I recommend Madden 07 and NCAA 07. This is what I'm currently doing.

 

Basketball:

1) NBA 2K11 (PS3/360)

2) NCAA Basketball 10 (PS3/360)

3) NCAA College Hoops 2K8 (PS3/360)

4) NBA Live 2005 (PS2/XBOX)

5) NBA 2K13 (PS3/360)

6) NBA Inside Drive 2004 (XBOX)

7) NBA Live 2000 (N64/PS1)

8 ) NBA 2K1 (Dreamcast)

9) NBA 2K16 (PS4/One)

10) NBA Inside Drive 2002 (XBOX)

Thoughts:

- NBA 2K11 is the GOAT Basketball for many, played great, had a ton of things to do. Just a great overall great Basketball game.

- The next two are both College Basketball Games, and both are fantastic games. Some like NCAA Basketball more, and some like College Hoops more. I actually give EA the nod on this one. But it depends what floats your boat. Do you want better gameplay, slightly better graphics, and better recruiting? College Hoops is for you. Do you want a better franchise experience and miles better presentation (weird saying this about EA)? Then go with NCAA Basketball 10. Presentation in NCAA Basketball is great, great presentation graphics, many scoreboards at the bottom to choose from, and two commentary teams to choose from.

- NBA Live 2005 was a fantastic game. Better than 2K at the time for sure. This had extremely good gameplay, good graphics, so many options, great franchise, everything. This is the best PS2/XBOX Era NBA game. NBA 2K started blowing EA out of the water on next gen with NBA 2K7, but NBA Live at one point was a respectable series.

- NBA Inside Drive is an underrated XBOX Exclusive. Tremendous gameplay, and pioneered some things you see today in the 2K series.

Recommendations:

- For a standalone NBA game, I recommend NBA 2K11.

- For a standalone NBA game on PS4/One, I recommend NBA 2K16, but if you want something more recent, 2K19 is playable. Keyword, playable. 2K20 and 2K21 are unplayable garbage.

- For College Basketball, I recommend NCAA Basketball 10, but as I said previously, it all depends what you prefer.

 

Baseball:

1) MVP Baseball 2005 (PS2)

2) MLB The Show 13 (PS3)

3) MVP Baseball 2004 (PS2)

4) MLB The Show 10 (PS3)

5) MLB 2000 (PS1)

6) MVP Baseball 2003 (PS2)

7) MLB The Show 17 (PS4)

8 )MLB High Heat Baseball 2002 (PS1/PS2)

9) MLB The Show 09 (PS3)

10) MLB The Show 16 (PS4)

Thoughts:

- Finally EA gets on the board with the #1 spot with MVP Baseball 2005. Which was a fantastic game. Also have The Show making five appearances.

 

Can you imagine if we had the same effort and same EA Sports team from 2005? They released three spectacular games across all three sports in Madden 2005, MVP Baseball 2005, and NBA Live 2005. A really tremendous year for that company. They really have fallen off the map... they have not made a decent game since Madden 12. And there last great games were NCAA Basketball 10, Madden 07, and NCAA 07. The company just doesn't have it anymore. Such a shame.

Hope you guys enjoyed, thanks.

 

 

 

 

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Gonna have to disagree with MVP over The Show for the number one spot, batting was wayyyyy to easy in MVP....I remember I hit WELL over 100 home runs in a season multiple times, it was ridiculous. 

And if you're going to point out the good sports franchises EA has had in the past there are better examples considering they also had (or have) the best Hockey franchise (even when it did have competition it was clearly the best), the best Golf franchise (mid 2000s tiger woods games were the best golf games ever made), and the best Soccer franchise. 

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12 minutes ago, rob_shadows said:

Gonna have to disagree with MVP over The Show for the number one spot, batting was wayyyyy to easy in MVP....I remember I hit WELL over 100 home runs in a season multiple times, it was ridiculous. 

And if you're going to point out the good sports franchises EA has had in the past there are better examples considering they also had (or have) the best Hockey franchise (even when it did have competition it was clearly the best), the best Golf franchise (mid 2000s tiger woods games were the best golf games ever made), and the best Soccer franchise. 

I go back and forth with MVP and The Show. I think there are sliders for the game, but I remember being the best gameplay of any baseball game on both sides, in my opinion. 

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4 minutes ago, BayRaider said:

I go back and forth with MVP and The Show. I think there are sliders for the game, but I remember being the best gameplay of any baseball game on both sides, in my opinion. 

Oh I loved the game just thought batting was way too easy and I've mainly just always loved the show for RTTS

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16 minutes ago, rob_shadows said:

Oh I loved the game just thought batting was way too easy and I've mainly just always loved the show for RTTS

I will say The Show is the only playable sports franchise currently. Although has taken a hit since 17. Madden 13 and onwards and NBA 2K20 onwards are unplayable. 

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Just now, rob_shadows said:

Fifa and nhl aren't horrible these days... Not at their peak but not bad

Not really into Soccer and Hockey, so can’t really comment. I did love EA’s NHL series back in the PS2/PS3 days when I did play it though. Haven’t played it on PS4 but heard it took a step back. 

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5 hours ago, Lions017 said:

I feel like NCAA 13 or 14 should be on there. Those last couple of games were great. 

NCAA 14 was a solid game, but I don't know if I can put it ahead of NCAA 06, 07, 09, and 11 for PS2 which were all legendary games. Lot of people don't even know about 11 for PS2, great game.

Although, '14 is what I have popped in at this very moment lol.

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