Madden NFL 21
If you’re looking for a realistic football simulating video game that gives you a half-way authentic NFL experience….keep looking. This year’s installment of the annual abortion that is Madden is BRIMMING with impactful bugs, scarily consistent crashes, and (assuming you’ve successfully navigated thru all of that) an entirely bland and unsatisfying simulation of the typical NFL game. Not only has this game been horribly adapted to PC, but it is entirely consistent with it’s long line of predecessors. The gameplay can only be described as “The Game of Football” according to what a native resident of Bangladesh heard of American Football was like from his Pen Pal in Saudi Arabia. Yes, you are technically running and passing the football against some character models that vaguely resemble (that’s an understatement…there’s really 0 resemblance among all of the players) NFL athletes, but the comparison to how a normal game of football plays out stops there abruptly. Without wildly changing the “Gameplay Sliders” (yes you can literally alter everything about the gameplay which to me is the Devs admitting “hey we really don’t know how impactful any aspect of this sport is so we’ll let you figure out that little detail) the game is wholly inauthentic. Adjusting the sliders makes the game a tad more realistic but overall this title is the epitome of why Madden is one of the shining examples of bare minimum effort put into a game for the sake of raking in annual sales. If you’re not one of the chumps like me who bought this game I implore you not to. The only way these games can become even halfway realistic is if EA takes a hit to their sales and recognizes that minimal investment will yield minimal return.
– Real player with 347.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Competitive eSports Games.
For years, football fans have yearned for a game with NFL licensing made by any company other than EA. The most cited competitor is generally 2K, who last made an NFL licensed game in 2004 - ESPN NFL 2K5 - one of the most well-received sports games of all time. ESPN NFL 2K5 was almost the nail in the coffin for Madden. The game received more critical acclaim than Madden 2005, while being priced $30 cheaper at a mere $20. I received the game as a Christmas gift that year, and played it for hundreds, if not thousands of hours. I can attest that its ambitions even 16 years ago were way beyond the scope of anything Madden has done since then. It is truly a tragedy for someone like me, who saw so much potential in football games back then, to see what football games have become today.
– Real player with 144.3 hrs in game
Bravery Network Online
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“Ok, I have the advantage here. My Digital Attack is strong against the fighter they have out right now…”
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“If they notice this, they will probably tag out into their other fighter with a high Digital Defense stat, meaning I won’t do much damage and they will have the advantage again…”
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“If I predict their switch, and switch to my other fighter in the back with the high Physical Attack stat, I’ll keep my advantage and then be able to set up the win”
If you like this sort of turn based, mind games type combat, then you’ll love Bravery Network Online (BNO) !! It has a good selection of available fighters (with more on the way) - all with their own pools of possible attacks and tricks they can use. You can build up your team of 5 fighters and fight online against other people in both casual and ranked matchmaking. There are some story and single player elements, but BNO is mostly designed around PvP and playing online - at least at this point in early access.
– Real player with 254.8 hrs in game
Read More: Best Competitive Turn-Based Tactics Games.
I wrote my first review when I only played 5.8 hours of the game, and even then, I had a blast with the game. Now, with 195 hours in and getting 3rd place in a community run tournament, and running a tournament myself, I came back to revise my review.
The gameplay is much like competitive pokemon, you and your opponent bring in a fighter, and you select a move without knowing the opponent’s selected move. However, what I find most interesting in this game is that it does not have the random effects that can happen in pokemon. Statuses are not applied by chance, a critical hit is not random, and neither are misses, which are parries in this game. However, other reviews will talk about this at length, so I’d like to focus on another side of the game.
– Real player with 248.7 hrs in game
Knockout City™
I haven’t been this excited about a game in a long time. The game developers did so many things right.
The game play is a ton of fun no matter how you play it - with friends in private matches or going solo in multiplayer. It’s been years since I wanted to go solo in a competitive game. Queuing up by myself has never been something I cared to do until this game. Now I find myself playing for hours with other randos.
The game mechanics simple to learn and there’s so many advanced tactics to discover and master. There are awesome moments in the game when you make good plays and even when you get styled on you can’t help but respect the other players for what they pulled off. Matchmaking feels typical 50/50, but I always feel like I can make an impact which is the biggest difference between other games.
– Real player with 117.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Competitive Third Person Games.
If you’re chilling at Hideout waiting for your ban to lift, do not, and I mean DO NOT think of riding those floating cars above you.
I’ve experienced the same fantasies you did;;::
"”" Perhaps if we ride those cars, they would take us to some mystery hidden spot that will unlock some achievement, or better yet, we would have a phenomenal ride around the city! I meann… There is no way the developers would have these periodically spawning cars above us that take us nowhere.. right??? WRONG!!!
– Real player with 69.8 hrs in game