With the arrival of each new academic year, a real phenomenon occurs that is awaited by tens of thousands of sports fans. When September arrives, most of the annual releases of the most important sports games on the market land on the shelves of the main stores, trying to meet the needs of all those who want to enjoy their favorite sports through their consoles.
In a year like this, it may be a less popular option for many people. The reason is that 2024 is one of the best years we can remember, thanks to major releases such as Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Diablo IV, Final Fantasy XVI, and Starfield, among many others. This has meant that “free” hours for other games have been reduced in many cases.
Speaking of free time, sports games belong to that group that, without requiring a large investment of time, end up consuming dozens and even hundreds of hours throughout the year, especially for sports enthusiasts such as basketball or football. The reason? In addition to the passion that unites them to these sports, we must add the amount of content they offer, with modes such as Ultimate Team or the classic manager mode.
Although the undisputed leader of the season will be EA Sports FC 24, which seems to have arrived with an unexpected revolution under its arm, other sports games are capable of offering us entertainment for many hours, and that will surely manage to satisfy the desires of sports fans until the release of a new installment. Therefore, below, we are going to talk about six sports games to enjoy on consoles.
What to consider when buying a sports game?
When it comes to getting into the digital counterpart of any sport, there are several factors that we must take into account. The number of hours to invest, the intention to offer a realistic or arcade experience or the graphic finish are some of the elements that must always be present before opting for any game of this type. Therefore, we will talk about some aspects to consider before buying a sports game.
What sport do I want to play?
The most important thing to keep in mind before choosing any sports game is, precisely, the sport you want to play. Although it is true that in the past the offer of this type of game was limited to the most important sports on the international scene, in recent years it has become increasingly easier to find games for all types of sports, such as cycling or even F1 simulators.
For this reason, all those who are fans of a particular sport will likely find an alternative within the options offered by the market, beyond the classic football or basketball games. However, there are indeed other sports that have a somewhat more modest popularity, which makes it difficult for them to adapt to video games. However, in general, the market can cover almost all demands.
Simulator or arcade
One of the main factors we must consider when purchasing a sports game is the gaming experience we expect from it. To quickly differentiate them, we could categorize the different titles into realistic experiences (simulators) or arcades. However, we must be aware that, even within these, there are differences that can be decisive when choosing one or the other.
First of all, when it comes to simulators, we can find games that offer realistic gameplay. In this case, we are referring to games like EA Sports FC 24, NBA 2K24 or F1. However, some options do not necessarily put us in charge of the players or drivers, but rather in charge of managing the club or team, such as simulators like Football Manager or F1 Manager, which focus on much more technical aspects, and therefore designed for the most enthusiastic about these sports.
As for arcade games, the best thing about this type of title is that they are so fun that they can even be enjoyed by those who are not big fans of the sport they prefer. Games that feature popular licenses stand out here, such as Mario Strikers: Battle League Football, which brings the king of sports to the world of Super Mario, with a different experience to that offered by games like those mentioned above.
In search of a photorealistic finish
Intrinsically related to the previous section is the graphic section that we can expect from the game. Those games that choose to offer a simulation experience always tend to accompany the experience with the highest degree of photorealism possible The perfect example is again in cases such as the games from EA Sports or 2K Games, which year after year try to achieve a higher degree of visual fidelity.
However, arcade games often tend to opt for much more casual graphics, even using cartoonish finishes This is the case that we discussed earlier in games such as those offered by the Super Mario franchise, but that we can also find in titles such as the well-known NBA Playgrounds, which are more geared towards children.
Content is crucial in every sports game
.When choosing one type of game or another, there is one element that must always be present in any sports game: the variety of content It is of little use that the gaming experience is tremendously fun if, as the hours go by, we feel that there is no variety in what we are doing. That is why having different game modes is essential for many titles. What would a football game be if we could only play quick matches?
This diversity of content is indeed more important for a certain type of game than others. However, it is also possible that games like Football Manager do not offer a great deal in terms of game modes, but they make up for it with a huge depth in the few that they do offer Therefore, here again, the type of game we want to enjoy will be important.
A more than justified investment
As we have already mentioned, all sports games that meet some of the requirements we have mentioned are capable of offering endless hours of fun In addition to the number of options for a single player, we must also add everything we can invest online with our friends or rivals that we meet.
Many people believe that the investment they make in a game should be justified based on the number of hours it will be able to offer. Well, there is no doubt that sports games are capable of providing hundreds of hours glued to the screen It is not even necessary that, in some cases, they offer multiplayer experiences, since with just the base content they offer, they allow us to enjoy a large number of hours.