Were EA sports games ever as great as I remembered?
(Typative mood today)
Been wondering this for awhile but this is a question mainly for Americans who grew up with EA Sports games. I used to love these just like I used to dream of working for EA one day. I grew up in Australia so I pretty much didn't have access to ESPN or much of the genuine article when it came to NBA, MLB, NHL etc. I mostly got the "experience" through EA games and to an extent their marketing. I remember being awed at the EA marketing in the early years of Jordan in Flight, Madden and especially with the specials that came with EGM because they looked exactly like what the sports mags and ads would look like. The thing that really amazed me was the collaborations with real athletes and competitors where they were actual collaborations on technical accuracy, ideas and not just endorsements. When I played an EA game thats what I felt I got (or maybe viewed through rose coloured glasses), it really seemed like they were living up to that motto of "if it's in the game, it's in the game".
Nowadays (and by the time I moved to the minor nation of US and A) EA Sports games are mostly crap, especially Fifa, all EA really stands for is having official licenses and rosters, logos and such. 2K Sports cleans their clock half the time when it actually comes to gameplay and other franchises are actually better to play like Winning Eleven, so my question is, was EA always this crap and it was just clever marketing? or did EA sports games at one point also strive for technical accuracy and hardcore specifics?
Madden really was a decent title way back. We played the hell out of NHL Hockey, and, IMO, up until NHL Breakaway 98 there was no competitor that came close. I've also been playing soccer games for ages and play soccer IRL - the very first FIFA Soccer was way ahead of its competitors. FIFA certainly ruled the scene until Konami released International Super Star Soccer (Perfect Eleven) on SNES.
Well that's what I vaguely remember, that EA games were waaay ahead in the early years. Even NBA Live 95 etc were way more fun than Live nowadays imo. I also remember Fifa had by far the best sports commentary for awhile. I also thought it was really cool that guys like Jordan, Madden etc would actually get involved with the design and not just collect their fee with a photo op. They seemed to have a genuine enthusiasm for what was surely cutting edge at the time. By comparison, sportsmen from other *ahem* minor nations
would mostly look down on video games as kids stuff, just slap their name on the cover and be done in most cases.
Early 90s Madden and NHL Hockey were sweet. EA used to stand for Electronic Arts. They used to put out original games.
Now they are more known as the Walmart or MS of the gaming industry. A big hulking corporation that is more focused on protecting its money spigots rather than the old maverick company that was a pioneer in the industry.
EA is now a place where good games go to die.
NHL Hockey rocked from EA.
Front Page Sports: Football was a far better simulation of football then Madden from the early to mid 90s. Too bad Sierra bought Dynamix and absolutely destroyed that company.
I am so going to quote that out of context.
I do have fond memories of the early Madden games on the Genisis, but IMO there's very little that has changed since then, except the rosters. Also I realized I don't like sports games, so I guess my opinion shouldn't really count for much.
I hate you soo much Phil Collins!
Pharacon wrote:
PSN = AmazingZoidberg
Remember kids, the classic 16-bit Maddens (Madden '94 and '95) were made by Visual Concepts - the developer of every single 2K football game.
They were also behind NHL '95, too.
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Blades of Steel was better than its EA NHL competitor.
Being fangoriously devoured by a gelatinous monster.
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dr-j-and-larry-bird-go-one-on-one
IMHO still the best sports games EA ever released.
I didn't know that, but it all makes perfect sense now. Madden 95 was the last good Madden game. I think I enjoyed 94 a bit more.
I still remember wondering just what the heck Madden 97 was trying to accomplish. It was a steaming pile of manure.
I agree 100%.
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Incorrect.
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Earl Weaver Baseball. 'Nuff said.
Can we please have a now-gen Mutant League Football? PLEASE!
I hate you soo much Phil Collins!
Pharacon wrote:
PSN = AmazingZoidberg
Ah... Visual Concepts, now it all makes sense
Was there a story behind that? falling out? or was it just a case of "we don't need these guys".
I remember buying every NHL game from way back, NHL 91 or 92, with what looked like Los Angeles and New Jersey on the cover, and the next version with the NHL players and not teams, something weird like that, up until NHL 98 with Colorado as the last version released on Genesis. Since then it's been NHL 2K for Dreamcast, and NHL 2K6 & 2K7.
EA's top-to-bottom scrolling NHL games were my favorite sports games. Since the jump to 3D, it's been a tough decision to buy NHL games by either EA or 2K. Mutant League Football and Mutant League Hockey were great one-off games, I would love sequels or re-imagining, but I don't hold my breath. Nothing at the time beat the sharks under the ice, the holes where players would fall in, with their shadows floating away under the ice in MHL.
MaxShrek .. looks like Jake.. drives like Elwood.
Never play that game again, because it will ruin your cherished memories with incalculable awfulness.
Mutant League Football is my definition of games that don't hold up. Such wonderful memories in the '90s, so painful when I tried to fire it up again years later.
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I have, and now I fear we cannot be friends.
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