Sports Gaming News Weekly Wrap-Up - Madden 22 Underwhelming Franchise Update, MLB The Show 22 Franchise Details & More

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Monster Energy Supercross 5 reviewThe new physics system goes beyond the track interaction with the bike. The jostling between riders while in a pack has seen some dramatic improvements and is just as impressive as the improvements to physics anywhere else found in the game. In prior efforts from Milestone, the pack physics were not “broken” or anything, it just always felt like the interaction between individuals in the pack had a high level of rigidity, both in feel and visuals. Now when launching from the gate and shooting for the hole, you can feel the little nuances of each rider making contact with you, bike components cracking against each other, and riders fighting for position with a violent approach.

How to Improve Season XP in NBA 2K22If you’re someone who turns on NBA 2K22 on a daily basis and focuses pretty much exclusively on playing the MyCareer mode online, whether in the Neighborhood on current gen or The City on next gen, you might feel like it’s not all that hard to reach level 40 over the course of a season. But for more casual players like myself who might have other games they want to play or even just other modes within NBA 2K22 that they want to enjoy, they are likely going to find that the rate of progression to ascend levels is akin to a snail’s pace. Even if you do devote a fair share of time within MyCareer, you still could find yourself getting virtually nowhere in your quest for the next level thanks to certain areas of the mode being worth more in the pursuit than others. With that in mind, I want to talk about some ways to improve Season XP in NBA 2K.

MotoGP 22 previewWhat is a racing game without good AI? For me, it’s usually not much of anything without that, and in general, the AI will make or break the game’s longevity for offline racers. In MotoGP 22, the AI has been fun to compete against. I’ve seen AI riders fighting for position, taking different lines, being aggressive, and best of all, making honest mistakes that either cost themselves position or take them out of the race for good. The AI has fought me fair and was willing to race inches apart with me, all while understanding proper spacing while racing me. For me, the AI stood out because the MotoGP series requires such finesse and concentration that if the AI were erratic, it would be extra alarming and annoying.

MLB The Show 22 franchise mode trade logicThe fifth Feature Premiere for MLB The Show 22 was the hotly anticipated franchise mode and Road to the Show presentation from SDS. Last week’s commentary and presentation Feature Premiere was well regarded and heavy on details, and there was hope the same would ring true today. On top of that, franchise mode has been taking body blows from the community the last couple years, with it only intensifying when some key features (year-to-year saves and Sounds of the Show) were left in the past. We knew year-to-year saves would remain out for ’22, so today was more about restoring some faith in the longer term outlook for franchise and MtO. Coming out of the Feature Premiere, is faith restored? I don’t think it is at this point, but I think it’s fair to say we got more than we expected today. It’s just less than we wanted considering that — like commentary — The Show had fallen so far back that there was a lot of catching up to do. That said, there’s plenty to cover so let’s get to it.

Madden 22 franchise mode broken promisesThis year was supposed to be different for Madden 22 and its franchise mode. With over a year to respond to the growing outcries from the community that saw #FixMaddenFranchise become a trending topic on Twitter, the hope was that Madden 22 might finally be the entry in the series that would address some of people’s top complaints and concerns. But with the recent release of an underwhelming update that only added some superficial scenarios that could potentially pop up over the course of a season without touching any of the fundamental issues that need attention, it’s becoming harder now to see any light at the end of this tunnel. While EA may technically be fulfilling its promises by continuing to make updates and additions to franchise mode, it’s readily apparent that these are lagging behind the innovations of other (more lucrative) modes. In other words, these late updates are ending up as the developmental equivalent of lip service.

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Steve Noah
Steve is the Editor in Chief at Operation Sports. He's been here since the year 2000 posting news, features and interviews, along with keeping the hardcore sports gaming community alive and well for over two decades. He covers almost every game related to sports but enjoys basketball, football and baseball games the most.