Sports
The best sports games... Note: This does NOT include racing games, as there will be three racing games categories (car, animal, other), nor does it include "fantasy" sports such as BloodBowl.Just missed the cut:
Also nominated:
This category did not appear in 2002, so there are no comparison results.
The Apple Pickers (including yours truly) prefer the original En Garde to the "dumbed-down" newest version, Duell. (However, it's easy to retrofit the older/better rules to the nice new pieces & board... you should do that!)
Labels: Theme
posted by Mark (aka pastor guy) at 8:50 AM
5 Comments:
Here's the deal... En Garde was just a few votes behind StreetSoccer - and both of them were 10+ votes ahead of the rest of the field. (In fact, there was a three-way tie for the 4th/5th/6th spot... photo finish!)
With the exception of Olympia 2000, the games in the top 6 are all lousy simulations (as opposed to something like Dynasty League Baseball, one of my nominees.) OTOH, they manage to capture the "feel" of their sports:
- StreetSoccer is backgammon-ish, but it encourages players to set up shots just like a real soccer game
- En Garde has the give/take feel of a fencing match
- Harry's Grand Slam simplifies managerial decisions down... but they're still there
- Pizza Box Football uses a simple matrix to make football play-calling a lot of fun
- Strand-Cup feels like playing beach volleyball, only without the sand & the bikinis
LOL, and Olympia 2000 is a *good* sim in what way?
Don't get me wrong, I voted for the game, once again assuming that mine would be the only vote. I really like the simplified look-ahead planning and hand management going on with this one, and since I can never seem to get a game of this going (okay, almost no one has a copy, which doesn't help), I figured I was in the minority.
But a better sports sim than StreetSoccer, HGSBaseball, En Garde, or the others? I don't see it at all.
Wow... did I screw that sentence up or what?
What I MEANT to say was that the other five games were lousy sims but got the feel of their sports dead-on. OTOH, Olympia 2000 is a sports game in theme ONLY... it's basically a nice hand management game that more people need to play.
Sheesh - thanks for pointing out how bozo-headed I am, Dave.
Here's the funny thing--I love sports, but only managed to vote for three of the finalists. I guess I just don't like the way sports are usually portrayed in games (either as a dice-rolling simulation or as a guessing game). StreetSoccer is my clear cut favorite, with Strand-Cup being a solid second place. The former captures the *feel* of the sport with very simple rules, but makes no attempt to be a simulation, and the result is an excellent two-player game. The latter has a unique feel and captures the excitement and fun of volleyball--however, it's been quite a while since it's seen any table time. My third choice was En Garde, which I enjoy, but not as much as many other players.
I just don't have too much fondness for the other games. Many I haven't played, but those that I have fell into one of the sports game traps I talked about earlier.
The only game I'm sorry didn't get nominated was Tennis Masters. This tiddlywink-type game does an excellent job of reflecting the play of tennis and requires a good deal of skill.
Clearly we aren't the "sports simulation" crowd. When I think of sports games I tend to think of simulations. I know folks who have played Strat-o-Matic Baseball for years; which tells me there is a lot of replay value found. I've played Football Strategy and Baseball Strategy; and could see where sports fans could get into them.
But I'm not that much of a sports fan. So I am in line with our choices, such as I know them. I have not tried Grand Slam Baseball or Pizza Box Football yet.
En Garde is a cool little game. It really is a minimalist sort of game with barely any components. I think it captures the feel of (at least watching) a sport fencing match. A derivative game of this is SUMO! It plays similarly and has amazing sumo wrestler figures.
StreetSoccer is an all-time favorite. My only surprise is to see that Larry Levy likes it. The randomness of the die roll is often complained about, especially by players who crave lots of control in their games.
One favorite of mine that missed the entire list is Golfprofi. It's a dice game with handicapping. The allure of the system is that as you improve your handicap you acquire better clubs (other dice) giving you better ability to achieve parr.
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