Owen Good
An arcade sports video game for the ages, worthy of the likes of Tecmo Super Bowl, NBA Jam, Mutant League Football and Backyard Baseball. No sports video game of 2014 approached its subject with as much imagination as Super Mega Baseball. In such a rigid genre with high barriers to new ideas, this game is a legitimate breakthrough.
This is the first time since Madden NFL 10 where I've had that a-ha moment where all I want to do is go play Madden, and it's not because of some role-playing device in the career mode, or a nifty collection of throwback uniforms, or the fact there was a military flyover before the Super Bowl...It's because the gameplay is focused to raising my knowledge and skill rather than accommodating or minimizing the lack of it.
This sequence is the story of FIFA 16, from its participants, to the tools used to deliver the goal, to the cathartic payoff that sent me leaping from my seat. Sports video gaming is at its best when you're fighting your ass off and the miracle comes through. And when it does, no game rolls out the TNT like FIFA 16.
Madden 16's hard-earned successes feel that much more satisfying.
Madden NFL 17 does so much it's hard to speak of all its appeals and improvements
FIFA 17 feels like a reintroduction to what makes this series great
I've never been more charmed by a racing video game and I could not recommend any other more than Dirt 4, to anyone of any ability. Dirt 4 is a joy.
FIFA 18 is still seductively deep and delivers excitement. It gave me the feeling that there is still so much to learn about what appears to be a rather straightforward sport, and that the game would gladly help me understand. This is always the time of year when I ask myself why I don't just spend all of my time playing FIFA, and FIFA 18 poses the question more forcefully than ever.
I would much rather play soccer in this game than in FIFA 15.
FIFA 15 is what fans have come to expect, but it wears its changes well
MLB 16's appeal lies mainly in tried-and-true features
EA Sports UFC 2 is easier to understand without being easy
For Honor is worth the work you have to put into it
Time will tell if the changes to MLB the Show 17 establish a new foundation for what is enjoyed five years from now. In the present, though, it is still a richly illustrated, seductively appealing depiction of the National Pastime.
The first chapter's conflicts and outcomes may be conventional, but so were the the ones in the weird comic books my best friend's older brother stored in bread bags, which we'd read as fast as we could before he got home from football practice to terrify us. The feeling of wanting to read the next issue is just the same, too.
Madden NFL 18 doesn't shake up its gameplay but the new story mode is a success.
F1 2017 is a game that's as much fun to think about as it is to play, and as intriguing to plan out and strategize as it is to race. And it is a lot of fun to race, because so much of F1 2017's enjoyment comes from things built up over time, not the year-to-year bullet-point features of video gaming.
NASCAR Heat Evolution brings the white-knuckle last lap, even for 24th place
Walking Dead fans looking to jump back into Clementine's story with this new game should temper their expectations. The player only takes control of her in flashback chapters that do not affect the overall arc of the story or any relationship with a character in it. Her retrospectives are nonetheless harrowing.
The no-frills quality of NASCAR Heat Evolution meant NASCAR Heat 2 had to show a little more than just great racing this year, and it does in spots. There's a lot of variety in NASCAR Heat 2, it's just more immediately seen in things like the one-off races or online multiplayer.