OS Weekly Wrap Up, Getting You Caught Up on Sports Gaming News (Dec. 15 - Dec. 21, 2019)

For fans of football, the only thing you can rely upon as much as the release of a new Madden game each year is the accompanying disappointment when the game doesn’t live up to the kind of action on the gridiron that you’ll see across the NFL every week. For all the incremental improvements EA may make year after year in attempting to have their video game resemble the sport that we love, there are inevitably areas of the game that continually fall short when it comes to realism. These flaws constantly threaten to ruin the level of immersion one hopes to experience when playing the game.

From now until the end of time, the NBA offseason will likely be just as entertaining as the NBA season. I’m not sure when this switch flipped, but with shorter and shorter contracts being signed and ever-changing max salaries meaning less and less, it’s not dying down anytime soon. Each year there are so many possibilities, but it’s impossible to see them all play out. That’s where NBA 2K20 comes in.

To give credit where it’s due, coverage in Madden has improved quite a bit in recent years, with defenders showing more tenacity in trying to separate receivers from the ball whether in man or zone coverage. But there are still serious lapses that will happen from time to time, with players not patrolling their zones correctly or failing to hold up well in man coverage. This even occurs with those who are considered elite defenders at their position.

A hunting video game sounds like it could be a unique challenge for developers. To re-create a hunting experience there must be a high level of attention to detail. Detail in terms of small precise sounds, movements and AI logic. Expansive Worlds and Avalanche Studios have mastered this task with their title theHunter Classic. Initially released in 2014 on Steam, theHunter Classic has received multiple updates for both free and paid members.

If you are a fan of retro top-down racing games like Super Off-Road, Micro-Machines or Race Arcade, then developer Applimazing is looking at you as their demographic for their latest release, Ultimate Racing 2D. In an age of ultra-realistic graphics and experiences, sometimes the option to grab an old two-button controller and go retro is a treat if done right. So, does Ultimate Racing 2D succeed in conjuring up feelings of arcades and mini-golf on a Friday night? Let’s find out!

What separates FH4 Eliminator mode from other BR games is the fact that while still inside the circle any opponent can challenge another to a head-to-head race where the loser is, you got it, eliminated. The winner of the race also gets the option to upgrade their own vehicle or steal their opponent’s ride. This provides quite a bit of risk-reward proposition, but you can’t turn down a challenge either way. If someone honks a horn at you from a close enough distance, you have to race no matter what.

Did the first sight of the Xbox Series X — and the news about MLB The Show going multi-platform — get you excited about next-gen? Or are you still waiting for something to pique your interest?

One of the great joys I get out of Operation Sports each year is the wishlist threads for each of the games. I like them because there are some insane pie-in-the-sky things that have zero chance of happening but are still fun to read. And I also like them because a lot of the ideas are logical and consistent. It’s also nice to see which things come up time and time again because it makes my job easier when the next game comes out (or is coming out) because I can better understand what some OS peeps will be looking for in the game.