Madden NFL 21

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


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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

Madden NFL 21 on Steam

Battle Arena Soccer

Battle Arena Soccer

Battle Soccer Arena allows you to play arcade soccer like never before, combining the best in new technology and classic retro games.

Face off against IA like you’ve never seen before.

This game comes with two modes:

  • Normal Soccer : 3 Players vs 3 Players with defined time to end the match.

  • Explosive Soccer : Same as Normal Mode but with bombs. The bombs can freeze you, can give you ultra speed (boosting your energy) or damage your character.

Play with or against your friends or versus the computer (AI).


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Battle Arena Soccer on Steam

Pro Strategy Football 2021

Pro Strategy Football 2021

Another excellent release for this series, and this latest one is a HUGE upgrade over last year’s version. The ability to customize - already a major feature and differentiator between this game and others like it - has been greatly expanded so that pretty much leagues of any size (up to 130 teams) can be used in Single Season play, and leagues up to 32 teams (and as few as 8) can be used in Career mode. A quasi-Free Agency feature has been added as well, that is optional to use. In addition, career stats are tracked, and stat files in text format can be exported from any season or career in progress. A player encyclopedia is included that tracks all players in a career over an almost infinite number of seasons. I have simmed through as many as 25 and the results remain believable and consistent.

Real player with 500.9 hrs in game


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TLDR: At bottom.

I love this game. Right off the bat I want to make it clear that this is more of a coach / match simulator than a management sim, as I think that is important to note before entering the game, incase you are expecting something different than what it is.

I would love to see more management mechanics introduced, such as mid season trading, roster changes etc, and I believe there are discussion threads saying new things will be looked at for the next version of the game. For what the game is though, its a very enjoyable sim, with realistic match outcomes. I currently play a sim only league with the NFL and Draft mods. So I haven’t even touched the real meat and potatoes of the game with the ingame play calling

Real player with 479.2 hrs in game

Pro Strategy Football 2021 on Steam

cross board soccer

cross board soccer

Cross Board Soccer is essentially 2 opposing teams with goals, similar to soccer, on an oversized checkerboard like checkers or chess, with predetermined placement of 14 pieces spread in groupings of 4 and 3 on the defending sides. What makes this game so exciting and strategic is that while only one piece is being moved each turn, the evolution of the board makes keeping up and remembering where lines of safety are. The planning ahead and the fear of your goal being scored on from any angle is what makes the strategy of this game feel akin to chess. In short you must preserve the safety of your goal but also at the same time set yourself to jump one of your pieces turn by turn, and hopefully get to a position to where the opposing team has left it open for you to score and win!

Real player with 3.0 hrs in game

Terrible

Real player with 0.0 hrs in game

cross board soccer on Steam

Madden NFL 22

Madden NFL 22

Do you like NFL Football? This game is for you. The blown calls by refs, the absence of gritty plays, the suspicion that it is all rigged. This game has it all. What’s that? Derrick Henry’s knee was down 10 yards ago and remained down but somehow the game doesn’t recognize it? BOOM WE CALL THAT A FEATURE HERE. Oh you don’t like that the guy you’re playing only runs exploited quick slants every down and spends all but 5 seconds of the play clock doing fake audibles? SORRY I GUESS YOU HATE REAL FOOTBALL. Oh you like the Chicago Bears and are excited about the new rookie QB (IDK HIS NAME AND NEITHER DOES MADDEN)? THAT’S COOL HERE IS A RANDOM COMMENT ABOUT THE 4TH STRING WR BEING AN OLYMPIC ATHLETE THAT’S THE ONLY RESEARCH WE DID FOR THAT TEAM. If all this isn’t enough to perk up your pricker then maybe try the uninspiring original soundtrack for the game! GONE IS GREENDAY, CHEVELLE, ANY GOOD ROCK OR CERTIFIED GANGSTER BEATS. WE GOT SOFT, FORCED FOOTBALL RELATED ORIGINAL BEATS. WE DON’T EVEN HAVE SAM SPENCE TRACKS.

Real player with 162.8 hrs in game

I enjoy Madden, I play the franchise mode specifically a lot. That being said after 20+ hours I’ve yet to be capable of playing more then one game at a time before the game freezes indefinitely, either as a head coach or a player. The only issue I’ve come across is the game freezing on me. Whether it be after choosing the first play of the game, while i’m loading into the game, setting up my weekly game plan or just navigating the menu. I wouldn’t recommend this game to anyone trying to maintain sanity until a solution to my predicament and to the other disabling issues other customers are facing is presented and put in place.

Real player with 126.3 hrs in game

Madden NFL 22 on Steam

Pro Soccer Online

Pro Soccer Online

Very fun game to play, is nice to get involved with a footballing community from people either in Europe, NA/SA and Korea, is totally worth it to join the discord for either one to play with other people in a more organised way and more competitively. Is under development but is still totally worth playing.

Real player with 96.5 hrs in game

This is a very fun game that is great to play with friends. It is easy to get into for casual fun but has a high skill ceiling with can lead to some competitive games. The developer is great about listening to community feedback and updates the game regularly. There is an active Discord for pick up games in North America with 20-30 people playing at a time most nights.

Real player with 87.0 hrs in game

Pro Soccer Online on Steam

Pro Strategy Football 2022

Pro Strategy Football 2022

I came into this series last year with Pro Strategy Football 2021. A game which, for an old time gamer sparked a lot of nostalgia in the way it was presented. There were things missing like game keeping records for head to head etc I fixed that little itch with a spreadsheet and small things like not being able to navigate to a players career stats from any screen. Still the game was a little gem.

Those things have been addressed with this addition along with numerous other improvements and continued optimizations as the game feels tighter and slicker when loading if that makes sense.

Real player with 798.4 hrs in game

A tremendous effort by a lone indie developer with a day job. This game was created with love and passion for the game. Know what you are buying first, because it won’t be for everybody. Please read the description and feel free to ask things in the game forum first if you wish. The developer (Kerry) is very honest, open, and transparent - and very consumer friendly and a great guy! (plus it is a really terrific community too).

The game’s strength is the on-field gameplay - and in that department, it is unheralded, producing an accurate, realistic simulation of the game. You will not be controlling the players with a gamepad - it is focused on coaching, or if chosen, spectating games. In the coaching department there are thousands of plays that can be designed on the fly. This year many new formations (both classic and modern) were added and entire leagues (or individual teams) can be tailored to utilise them in ways that create their own characteristics or flavor (and there are mods done by really talented mod authors covering almost the entire NFL, USFL, and various other leagues too –- including fantasy leagues and teams).

Real player with 355.6 hrs in game

Pro Strategy Football 2022 on Steam

Supraball

Supraball

EDIT: I just can’t recommend the game right now due to the lack of players. When the playercount increases to the point where you can fairly easily get into a game with people at similar skill levels to you I’ll remove this edit. Just bear in mind the low playercount if you’re considering buying the game.

EDIT 2: Since the game is now free there’s really no reason not to try it. As of 10th September 2017 the playercount is such that you can pretty quickly find a game, and if there are empty spots the bots are pretty reasonable to play with.

Real player with 2001.6 hrs in game

Been playing the game since almost 5 months now. At first it’s difficult to get used to all the controls, but that problem disappears after a few days/weeks. Supraball helps with your aim, quick thinking and team game (well, only if you’re willing to play in a team).

The community is as much of a pro as a con: you can find friendly ppl and toxic ones too. The higher-lvl players know each other (at least by usernames), so it has that ‘big, dysfunctional family’ feeling to it once you advance to a certain lvl.

Real player with 655.0 hrs in game

Supraball on Steam

EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21

EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21

smelly

Real player with 421.9 hrs in game

SIUUUUUUUUU

Real player with 207.2 hrs in game

EA SPORTS™ FIFA 21 on Steam

Super Club Soccer

Super Club Soccer

Game is still in the thick of development, but a new patch was just released that allows players to form teams and compete in friendly matches which adds a huge amount of depth that was missing. Soon seasons will be added too.

When you read the negative reviews, keep in mind that this game is not meant to be played with bots. It really shines when you can get a team together and start building chemistry, and play against actual people.

If you haven’t played yet or had a bad experience, be sure to find yourself a team and hop on the discord.

Real player with 581.3 hrs in game

For people that like the tactical side of Football this is a great game to get into. The aim of the game is to play as a Defender, Midfielder or Forward and you control a player in a 11 a side game with the rest of your team being controlled by other players.

A 90 minute game lasts about 60 minutes and consists of turns where you control your player by moving, passing, defending and attacking.

When you receive the ball you have a option menu come up that allows you to run with ball or try a low pass or a high pass to a team mate.

Real player with 149.5 hrs in game

Super Club Soccer on Steam