In the age of realistic graphics, sports games have kept a consistent aim at portraying the action we see on our televisions and internet streams down to a tee. Whether it’s a basketball rainbow shot, a backwards running back hurdle, a beautiful soccer free kick, or a Swanton off the cage, they pride themselves on being a staple of physics and simulation.
While this might’ve been everyone’s fantasy at the start of the millennium, every year these releases get lambasted for the same reason they were once praised: realism. Bringing the game’s rhythm down to a snail's pace, adding notable stamina-related animations, and making the game feel more real than ever have made it less fun than ever.
Now, character models drag, controllers feel heavy, and the initial arcade shenanigans that made the instalments fun are nowhere to be found – some even argue that gameplay cheese has been intentionally added to these engines to make them feel random and exciting, only tilting the diehard followers and players of their sport.
So, if realism isn’t the answer, what is it? Well, first we have to look at the question. Why did we ask for realism in Sports Games? And why isn’t simulation the answer? Let’s dive right in.
Sports Game Presentation > Simulation
Fans of all sports wanted the real feeling, a message constantly misinterpreted by developers in the last decade and a half. Sport gamers meant the emotion, not the sensation. Of course, professional football players can’t run up and down the pitch at the same pace for over an hour. Wrestlers can’t hit the ropes at top speeds for a full 30-minute match. It’s natural. But we don’t play video games looking for reality, we play them to fantasize on the what-ifs.
Take FIFA-turned-EA Sports FC, for example. Go back and boot up any release before 2019 to feel the ball, the players’ movements, and the touch behind each command. There was a lightness to it, so subtle that you thought you could control it.
Today, sports games are riddled with heaviness. In the players’ stride, passing, shooting, turning, and even goalkeeping. What once was a pick-up-and-play title with a moderate skill ceiling has become a complicated slider battle to find the nostalgic balance between fun and challenge.
Only then could developers focus less on adding more net physics and more on making the product play like the product consumed — score bugs, announcers, athlete likeness, and establishing shots. There was a time when commentators even got their 3D models shown before the match started. Now, we are grateful to even find six or seven different types of fans in the auto-populated crowd.
Pushing for a real feel rather than simulation physics will give players back the power to create their own fantasy worlds and bring them to life in these juggernaut titles with billionaire licenses.
If I wanted to know what it feels like to get winded, I would practice the sport on my own. Gamers want to feel like they’re playing in the Super Bowl, not just read it in the schedule. Mimicking official broadcast shots, channels, and – I don’t even care anymore – ad reads, and sponsors would do huge things for player immersion after taking realism gameplay down a notch.
Frustrations rise with every new drop, and the only way to stop the nosebleed is to trace your steps back and find the simulation sweet spot between real and feel. This, combined with a presentation overhaul, could kick off another hot streak of yearly instalments across all sports and studios.
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