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[Wellington]

I think that without a shadow of the doubt, the best sports game to be released this year is:

Most accurate representation of any sport ever, IMO. Even with some of the cheeseball plays that exist in the game, it's still the best.

Honorable mention:

 

[KiNeSiS]

hmmmm I agree but to me it's reversed.

 

[KiNeSiS]

When it comes to innovation
Madden is Jersey Joe Walcott vs Rocky Marciano in his prime.
Note the blood on his trunks.

Madden just didn't have the innovations of fight night and that's why it lost.
Although fight night online sucks ass!
Curse you button mashers!
And curse EA more for saying you can see who is using the anolog or not before the match!

There's nothing I can't stand more than lying ass develpers.

Oh yeah and you forgot something.

RIP FALLEN SOLDIER! *POURS OUT A LIL MALT LIQUOR*

 

[GhaleonEB]

I think that without a shadow of the doubt, the best sports game to be released this year is:

Most accurate representation of any sport ever, IMO. Even with some of the cheeseball plays that exist in the game, it's still the best.

Honorable mention:

Dead fucking wrong.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

That's Joe Walcott (who was fucking great), not Louis.

Fight Night was my favorite sports game of the year. Damn, maybe I should have checked out Madden though.

 

[Amir0x]

Best by a mile:

 

[Mrbob]

As much as it angers me at times I gotta say Madden 2005 as well.

MVP Baseball probably would have been number one if the online play wasn't messed up.

 

[AniHawk]

Gaming-Age Forums says it's Winning Eleven 8, with Football Manager 2005 and ESPN NFL 2K5 as runner-ups.

 

[Wellington]

Dead fucking wrong.

Care to elaborate or are you incapable of doing so?

 

[Biff Hardbody]

I stayed away from Madden because NCAA was so dissapointing. EA did really good with Madden this year? I see you guys playing it all the time in the forums.

 

[MrPing1000]

PES4 (winning eleven 8 ) No contest

 

[Wellington]

NCAA was horrible. All of the drops seriously ruined the game for me, as did the completely unbalanced homefield advantage. Madden is a tried and true formula though. But as I said, there are a couple of offensive plays that are nigh unstoppable.

 

[DCharlie]

Winning Eleven 8 - although Konami can do one with this "lets release a new version every month or so" thing they seem to be peddling....

PUT IT ON LINE for godsake.

 

[Cerebral Palsy]

Madden sucked. ESPN sucked.

 

[pilonv1]

I know everyone will mention Madden, but ESPN College Hoops 2k5 is an awesome game (with some annoying random bugs, which I've yet to see).

Winning Eleven 8 - although Konami can do one with this "lets release a new version every month or so" thing they seem to be peddling....

PUT IT ON LINE for godsake.

It's already online for some of us

 

[DMczaf]

My Runner-Ups:

 

[shpankey]

I think MVP Baseball is my Sports game of the year, followed very very closely by Fight Night and then NBA Live & Madden. Madden is of course awesome, but I feel all of the other titles REALLY improved tremendously this year and I want that to be rewarded. If you looked at the titles just head on, without regard to anything other than their quality, Madden is the best game of the year, but IMO I like to look at just how much the title improved from the previous year, and a lot of Madden's charm and awesomeness was already in the title last year and before.

MVP made such an amazing improvement, Fight Night as well, and this is the first year I've been able to tolerate NBA Live since 2000.

I also give the nod to a much improved NFL 2k game. They have restored some of the magic that they lost after the amazing NFL 2k1 game and are certainly on the right track. Although they spent to much time and effort on worthless modes such as first person (I know that's been there since before this year but it's the point). Also, FIFA really made great strides this year as well. But still have a ways to go to catch Pro Evolution IMO.

 

[keeblerdrow]

Noooo contest.

 

[DCharlie]

"It's already online for some of us"

arghh... teased with the Xbox Europe version...

trust Konami to region encode it

WE PSP can't come quick enough

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

madden is pretty clearly the sports game of the year. 4 months after release and we still have a nice following here at GA. i also enjoyed MVP baseball, espn nfl, espn nba and espn ncaa, but none of them are even in the same league as madden. ALL HAIL KING JOHN!

 

[Socreges]

I don't even need to play the other games!

 

[FightyF]

Well...I think it's obvious what I pick.

ESPN NHL features total control over a player, implemented to a greater degree than all other sports games.

The reason is partially due to the developers, but also to the sport itself. In hockey you have to do many things...like checking (there's hooking, slashing, elbowing, and tripping for the illegal ones, and there's body checking, poke checking [where you can do 3 different kinds!] and holding opponents against the boards. Then there's blocking shots (2 different ways), taking shots (3 different ways, slap, wrist, or one timing loose pucks), and then there are dekes (5 different kinds). And then there are fights, which have a completely different control scheme that compares to a simple fighting game. And then there is the fact that you can skate backwards too...and that has it's own controls.

Can football match it? Nope. Soccor? Nope. Baseball? Nope. Golf? Nope. Again, this goes back to the point where it has a lot to do with the sport itself.

When you have complete control over your player like in ESPN NHL 2K5...it makes other sports games look so basic in comparison.

 

[Socreges]

I fucking hate that I still can't love the NHL 2K series. I love the sport (maybe more than soccer - I waver) and I desperately want to love a videogame sim of it. But I still can't get over the scoring system. It's just too random for me. Not to mention that the flow of hockey, what makes it unique, still hasn't been properly captured in a hockey game, imo.

 

[Gaming-Ryu]

Winning Eleven 8 - the best and most accurately simulated football/soccer game. Looking forward to LiveWare Evolution.

 

[Truelize]

Yeah Madden gets my vote for sports game of the year too.

It has to be a pretty freakin good game for me to get killed everytime I play and not wind up hating it. :lol I actually look forward to playing, even if I know I have little to no chance in winning.
You guys all have gamesharks or something.

 

[Mike Works]

NHL2K5 in my opinion, but Fight Night is a great choice too.

 

[Shinobi]

This is a slam dunk...first time I've played a game in this series, and I haven't been addicted to a game this much since Sega Rally on the Saturn. Can't wait for WE8.

BTW, what's ESPN College Hoops 2K5 like on XBox? I heard there were some major bugs in it elsewhere.

 

[tahrikmili]

 

[Matrix]

My Runner-Ups:

Same for me.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I think when we had the GOTY thread, only non-americans voted for sports games...leaving us with all the soccer mentions.

 

[swander]

FUCK YOUR STUPID AMERICAN GAMES

Pro Evo 4, easily.

 

[Ghost]

Closely followed by PES4

 

[Solid]

Pro Evo Soccer 4 won GAF's own Sports Game Of The Year award. Thread over.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

pffft, madden would have won in a landslide if any of us were paying attention or had voted. this reminds me of that simpsons episode where bart runs for class pres against martin, and bart is a shoe-in to win but everyone just forgets to vote and martin wins. soccer should never win a game of the year award! there's only ONE kind of football that matters!

america, fuck yeah!

 

[Ghost]

"Get 'im lads!!"

 

[Solid]

:lol :lol

 

[Kon Tiki]

NHL2K5 in my opinion, but Fight Night is a great choice too.

I think you meant to say 'NHL2k5 is the best, and that is a fact'.

 

[tahrikmili]

pffft, madden would have won in a landslide if any of us were paying attention or had voted. this reminds me of that simpsons episode where bart runs for class pres against martin, and bart is a shoe-in to win but everyone just forgets to vote and martin wins. soccer should never win a game of the year award! there's only ONE kind of football that matters!

america, fuck yeah!

Football that's played with hands?

Oh yeah, I forgot, american sports are stupid.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

Oh yeah, I forgot, american sports are stupid.

 

[Miguel]

Madden 2005, followed by MVP 2004.

I played the hell out of MVP this year. If the lefty/righty batter thing can be fixed, and every stadium feeling like it's the Metrodome in terms of ground balls into the outfield, then it would compete (for me anyway) for best of the year. Maybe it's just cause I've wanted a really really good baseball game for so long now. ;p

 

[Fifty]

Madden 2005. The winning eleven games are good, but this year, the best version wasn't out in North America, and I can't praise a series too much when it doesn't even have freaking online play! Konami's following in a proud japanese tradition of developers stuck in the past. That series needs to be online. I've played both games (Madden, WE) this year, but at the end of the day, only the game that is online can provide me with long lasting value and a challenging experience (playing against real people, not the AI)i

 

[Ramirez]

Easily Madden & MVP.

Fight Night was good as well,but most people didn't use the sticks so that was lame...

The ESPN games are good doorstops,thats about it.I understand why most people here like them though,they're arcade games through and through and you can get away with stupid shit that you can't in Madden.

Oh and NCAA sucked balls,curse you EA.

edit-Forgot to mention that all basketball games were major dissapointments.

 

[Loops]

We8 and PES4 for me...

 

[jarrod]

 

[Prine]

Suck it down Musashi

Pro Evolution Soccer 4 is amazing

 

[Socreges]

Madden 2005. The winning eleven games are good, but this year, the best version wasn't out in North America, and I can't praise a series too much when it doesn't even have freaking online play! Konami's following in a proud japanese tradition of developers stuck in the past. That series needs to be online. I've played both games (Madden, WE) this year, but at the end of the day, only the game that is online can provide me with long lasting value and a challenging experience (playing against real people, not the AI)i

Get friends!

It IS online now. Just not for you. Or me.

 

[Fifty]

I've tried playing it with my friends, they all suck at it..Plus they're Canadian, so they only want to play NHL 2K5.

 

[Matlock]

ESPN College Hoops 2K5 by a mile--it forces you learn, to feel, to see everything that goes on, interpret it, and coach smartly.

 

[Ramirez]

^

:lol

We must be playin a different game :|

 

[Matlock]

I dunno, I get a nice sim experience out of it--instead of tap tap tap tap fast break repeat, the game forces you into its more realistic tempo and makes you feel out both the rhythm of the game and how to play it.