Ea sports game time

Full review: NHL Hitz It took developers forever to get simulation basketball right, but it sure was sweet once they did. Full review: NBA 2K The original NHL Hockey was a stroke of brilliance by EA, with responsive controls and simple depictions of hockey physics. Then it took them just two years to refine the gameplay and strike gold with this, one of the most celebrated sports games ever. After years of engine overhauls and subtle improvements, the FIFA series grew into a soccer sim that captures the spirit of soccer, yet manages to be a fun video game.

Over time, The Show basically became the perfect baseball sim. The game logic is deep and realistic, allowing you to play baseball intuitively and be rewarded for smart strategy. It feels unpredictable and wild and organic, but still contained and easy to handle. I never went crazy for college football video games until I played this one. This game just gets video football right. The engine is fair and realistic, without being unnecessarily tricky.

The game favors smart tactics and deliberate actions, so the chess match of football is placed firmly in your hands. This extremely well-tuned hockey simulation captures the frantic, gritty nature of hockey and uses the most brilliantly intuitive control scheme ever. Still want more?! Check out the B list, 14 games that just missed the cut. Skip to content. Welcome to my list of the best sports video games ever! Some games represent the whole series on a given console.

I made an exception for NHL 94, 95, and 96 because the games each have distinct gameplay. Off we go! Full review: NHL 2K6 Full review: World Series Baseball 2K3 Full review: FIFA 99 The NHL games are some of the best representations of their source material and have been beloved by hockey fans for a long time.

Like Fifa and Madden, these games have faced many infamous changes over the years and in recent years have also been plagued with microtransactions.

Even if you aren't a fan of hockey these games are an absolute blast. The graphics are top-notch, the games feel extremely lively and who doesn't like a good fight? These games have everything and more, and their more contemporary titles have received less flak than the Fifa and Madden titles. It's a shame these games went away -- although the extreme mistreatment of NCAA athletes obviously goes first and foremost.

You'd think that these games would be a rehash of the already wildly popular Madden games, but not only was that not the case, these games were, in a lot of ways, even better. Like college football the games felt so fast and so fluid and were a heck of a lot more fun to play then the tiresome formula of the Madden games. The games still hold up in a lot of ways although you likely won't recognize most of the players unless you're a huge college football head.

The Tony Hawk games were dying, if not already dead by the time the Skate games broke onto the gaming scene, and boy were they the best skateboarding games this side of the Mississippi. These games reeked of style, were a heck of a lot of fun to play and like many of the Tony Hawk games, had one banging soundtrack.

You could just free skate for hours without getting bored and it definitely turned many onto the real sport of skateboarding. It was definitely the last great 3D skating game to come out.

Speaking of games that were the last good titles of its genre. Sure, they are passable snowboarding games today -- Steep does a fantastic job of showing the grandeur of the sport and Shaun White wasn't too shabby either -- but none are SSX.

The third game is pretty great and there were a few good titles here and there, but Tricky is the GOAT. It's one of those games that you can pick up without having any interest in snowboarding at all as it's just a blast from the opening cut scene which aptly blasts Run-DMC's "Tricky. From there you raced around the world on some truly bonkers courses like Alaska, Tokyo, and Hawaii. Moreover, while you raced you could perform insane tricks on you board that were based on the character you played.

A character like Eddie would breakdance on his board while someone like Simon would spin his around his neck like a saw-blade.

And yes, that includes any of the trite 2K games that fanboys continue to support year after year. Back in the mids when EA Sports games focused on the street-side of sports, things were great. We were introduced to an entirely new series of sports games that blended both sport and video games perfectly.

Instead of going the anal-retentive route of making sure every detail is perfect in the game like 2K the street series had fun with its source material. We were able to do things we only dreamed of doing in sports like basketball, football, and soccer. Unfortunately, the street series is long dead, but NBA Street: Vol 3 remains its crowning achievement. The FIFA series is full of games you can pick up and play with anyone across the world.

Moreover, the controls are simple, teams always recognizable, and the games do a great job in blending in realism and video game-style fun.