ports games were always beyond me. I understand the appeal to the fans of those sports, and I did have my time with games like Rugby League and WWE, but for the most part I would much rather play the sport IRL than a boring simulation of it. There's certainly an appeal to playing a top tier athlete, especially online competing against human intelligence. Or if you were past your prime or unable to play for another reason I'm glad these games exist even for that reason alone. But in general they're not for me. On top of that a lot of the games don't seem like they've really changed much since the PS2 era, which seems to be reflected as the biggest complaint in their reception. Most have a mid 6/10 or less with excerptions like NHL24, MLB, Grid and F123 which are both by Codemasters and have surprisingly enjoyable well voiced campaigns even if a little melodramatic.
Tennis World Tour 2
This game didn't have a lot going for it considering out of all the sports Tennis interest me the least. I wasn't wrong in this regard, it's boring as fuck. You serve, they hit the ball, you run and hit the ball back. Like a lot of games on this list I wouldn't be surprised if there's a level of mechanical depth I'm missing, but I didn't care enough to find it. The basic character customisation is very bare bones but still cool. They even let you choose serve and stance style which is a nice touch. Playing my first opponent I noticed I could equip 3 green basic cards, 2 of which duplicates. While the opponent had five epic rainbow gold cards. My first thought was oh boy, here we go. But to my surprise it appears they can only be earnt, unless I just missed it or perhaps they intended to add it and got gun shy. The career mode is cool, where matches give you XP and fatigue. You need to metagame and make sure your player gets RNR. I don't think this goes far enough however and should go full second life. Let me visit the physio or massage parlour. Hell take it a step further and have the player balance initially small income, by having to choose by cheap options that worsen performance or premium RNR such as a remedial massage. Then when I make it big I can spend a lot, hit the bars, purchase a bunch of stuff for my crib and pick up. Fulfil that fantasy of struggling to breakthrough. This one gets hidden.
NHL24
First impression was the settings are insane; especially the difficulty options you have. The presentation was phenomenal, the crowd, music, the sponsors, commentators, advertisements and visual noise all combine to create an atmosphere that really adds to the experience which is often missed and creates a much more dull experience in other games usually with a barebones commentator. The game is very easy to control with twin stick shooting (right analog to hit pick in a direction). Yet its difficult to master with a surprising amount of moves you can do with just one stick, such a deke, a feint maneuverer. This was the only game I played the teaches you as you go, which is fantastic as you can just jump right in without overbearing text or an extensive tutorial. The replays when you actually score are absolute fire as well, really adding to the presentation and hyping up the joy you get from scoring.
There are an insane amount of modes on display here like team manager and franchase, where you make a team, trade players, manage morale and owner expectations all while it full simulates play. It'd be cool to combine this mode so you could actually play the game or maybe even a hot seat mode where you play and a friend or stranger manages your team; or vice versa and you can send feedback. Perhaps they can spectate during the game and you can get into blues. Speaking of, the fact that you actually get into a fight and have moves for this is just perfect. You might think this is an obvious essential part of a Hockey game, but I thought it might be missing in the new world of PC cotton wool. The career mode is cool as well, setting up the fantasy of a new up and coming player perfectly. You start in the snow mountains while your coach sells you to some industry commentators. As the career goes on you have to give your input and balance your comments to favour your team, manager and the fans; adding an RPG factor. You get XP for doing actions which is cool. I never played a team sports game as one player before and its a unique feeling to have to consider passing and setting up your team. This is definitely one I could see myself playing again. Ice Hockey is something I always wanted to play as a kid and being an Aussie that wasn't really a possibility, also its not a cheap sport to get into. But at least here I can get a taste of what it would have been like. This one remains in the library.
FC24
It's just... Soccer, just as boring as I remember. It honestly feels like the PS2 version, especially in terms of graphs and detail. Pass, pass, shoot, repeat. I'm sure there's more depth in the types of passing, feints, etc and when you get into the action it gets complicated especially online but it was jut not interesting me. It has the same career and franchise mode as NHL which is cool. This one gets hidden.
2K23 NBA
Same feeling as soccer tbh. Just pass, pass, shoot. Presentation and graphics are a little better but nothing special here. It probably has a high level of complexity and depth in moves, especially in multiplayer, but didn't interest me enough upfront to dive into that well. Same career and franchise mode again, I'm starting to think this is the standard. Both this and soccer got slammed by user reviews so I get the sense that this might be the norm for these games, probably why they were free on PSN as well. This one gets hidden.
2K21 PGA
I always joke that Golf isn't really a sport, or an old man's sport, but this was actually very enjoyable. It's pretty Zen and I could see myself playing this again. Perhaps a novelty version instead like Mario Golf. There is immediately a lot of depth in this game in how terrain factors into it. You can see the topography in hills, breaks, etc with the green and red grid they show you. There's also an insane amount of clubs and they balance it really well by choosing the best club for you on lower difficulties but advanced players can choose for themselves. Career mode is here but no franchise obviously as a non-team sport. However to compensate they do give you a course creator which is pretty darn cool. NHL is the only one that has in built tutorial but so does PGA to an extent. It does force a short tutorial at the start, but that might be necessary. I'm starting to think there could be a pattern here for the most enjoyable sports games. Instead of just sucking for X amount of games, or make the AI so bad to compensate the game becomes boring, it shows you the ropes in a effective way. This one remains in the library.
MLB: The Show 19
I put this in the same department as Soccer and Tennis, pretty boring. Pitch and hit, and run. There seems to be a lot of depth in both actions but unlike NHL or PGA they don't do a good job of explaining it at all. For example I have no idea why my character doesn't run to next base after I hit the ball. Not really sure what the rules are beyond the basics and this is the only one where I didn't actually finish a match. Leave this one to the baseball nerds, because for filthy casuals like me it holds no interest. This ones gets hidden.
AEW: Fight Forever
Just. Superb. No campaign, just pure wrestling and I'm here for it. I love how intense and savage the moves are. Wrestling is pulled back or orchestrated but here no punches are thrown or held as blood splatters from each hit. The signature moves go hard, where you drop peoples spine into your knee or leap of a ledge and coat hang someone so hard it would have snapped their neck if this was real life. The taunts are fantastic as well and do a great job of making the wrestlers feel distinct and not just muscly reskins, but also have mechanical benefit by adding to your Signature move meter. The game is exactly how I imagined my eight year old self viewed wrestling before he realised it was all "fake". The outfits and presentation of AEW go ham like WWE and yet it all feels like real wresting. The game has the basic modes but also a few novelty like Ladder (climb and grab coin) or exploding barb wire for the laughs. Though to honest they'd be better as a 4 player free for all. Imagine trying to climb the ladder and constantly being knocked down or throwing each other into explosive barb wire. For this reason battle royal is my favourite, four teams with each having a rotating tag team of 4 players. This would be fantastic in local coop, one I'll be returning up for exactly that with the boys. Also its the best because unlike the 4-player fre for all its last man standing, and not the first knockout wins, which befuddles me why they did that. This one remains in the library.
F1 23
It's somewhat simulated for a casual audience to fulfil the F1 fantasy. This is no more apparent then the breaking point mode which is F1 + Soap Opera, which has some great voice action and soap opera level melodrama. Not actually a bad idea, and helps justifying the annualization of the series, each containing a new season of the soap. The career simulation is cool as well, with plenty of drama as you blow up on social media and news, which you can read between races as the days go by and you mark races off your calendar. Gives you a good taste of an up and coming driver, same as every other career mode. That being said that actual gameplay did not appeal to me at all. As far as I could tell it was mostly cock pit view, go round and round on a track and get penalties for any corner cutting. This one gets hidden.
Grid Legends
Now this is pod racing. It's immediately apparent to my tastes are arcadey. I love the flash back mechanics that you can use when you make a mistake, it's a novel idea and adds an extra dynamic of resource management. Especially for causals like me or someone going for that perfect run and they make that one mistake that puts them in last place. Gameplay reminds me of NFS Most Wanted but genuine racing and the campaign has less cheese, presented well as an up and coming professional new racing team on the block and the protegee leading the charge (you). Not my style though, I prefer underground racers like Midnight Club or rally games like Motor Storm. This one gets hidden.
Dirt 5
It's in the name, you start with a pristine car glistening with awesome decals which by the end is covered in grunk. This is actually a satisfying feel as your "own that dirt". Driving feels great, tight, not clunk but a touch arcadey. Campaign is cool, no story, just unlocking cards as you progress like MotorStorm. The commentary is a night touch as well, adding an element of story, especially as you can choose your own nickname and they refer to you as such. This adds a degree of personalisation and investment, as you improve I'm sure you'll go from rookie to legend. I certainly like it more than the others but I think it's a bit of a fence sitter for my tastes still, I'd much prefer OnRush or MotorStorm. Reading online it doesn't seem prior games are like this, more dirt sim and fans hate 5 for that reason. Between this and Grid there also seems to be a trend of give away season 1 or on PS+ and then sell 2-5 as DLC. Actually a smart way to monetize the game via something via Gamepass or other subscriptions. Reading up on MotorStorm I noticed that after Driver Club most of Evolution went to Codemasters and you can certainly see that DNA on display here and in OnRush. As it turns out I'd been playing Code Masters games for years, as they made Micro Machines V3 for the original Playstation. They also made Colin McRae Rally 2.0 which would become the ongoing Dirt series, which I remember seeing around. This one gets hidden.
Descenders
Probably the coolest game of the bunch here. BMX simulator with a lot of physics and cool tricks. Very sandbox and Zen campaign, just descend down hill and don't stack with very chill music. The level of creativity on display here is indie AF and I'm all for it. Steam certainly agrees with an overwhelmingly positive status. They also give you a certain amount of lives and if you lose them all you have to restart the campaign, which is an interesting choice to keep it challenging. It's just not for me though as I'd much prefer my four wheels in Pro Skater, Session or Skate. This one gets hidden.
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