Sports game aficionados had a lot to enjoy in 2011, with longtime series staples like Madden NFL, FIFA, and NHL getting relatively substantial updates. As EA Sports rolled out another soccer (football) game with its FIFA Soccer 12, we were amazed at the changes to the core mechanics just like we were pleasantly surprised that 2K somehow found a way to top last year’s basketball game with NBA 2K12. MLB 11: The Show proved baseball is still exciting, while Madden NFL 12 proved fans can embraces changes. This year, compared to many previous years, saw the sports game take some steps to evolve, to get better, but not to alienate devote fans.
The nominations for best Sports Game of 2011 are:
MLB 11: The Show Developer: SCE San Diego Studio | Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
FIFA Soccer 12 Developer: EA Canada | Publisher: Electronic Arts
NHL 12 Developer: EA Canada | Publisher: Electronic Arts
NBA 2K12 Developer: Visual Concepts | Publisher: 2K Sports
Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 Developer: Konami | Publisher: Konami
Madden NFL 12 Developer: EA Tiburon | Publisher: Electronic Arts
… and the winner is:
FIFA Soccer 12 with 19 out of 58 community votes
EA Sports’ FIFA 12 narrowly beat out NBA 2K12 and MLB 11: The Show this year, but it shouldn’t come as a huge shock since the FIFA series is quite popular here at PSU. While the game launched with a few hiccups in its new physics engine, the improvements were enough to catch the eyes of those who felt the series needed a boot to the net. EA delivered the goods this year and FIFA 12 was a stellar entry in the series.
PSU awarded FIFA Soccer 12 a 9 out of 10, while the community gave it a 5 out of 10 thanks to some very vocal opponents of some of its technical issues. Still, months later, the game was popular enough to clinch the best sports game award.
We would like to congratulate the team behind FIFA 12 for creating the best sports game in 2011 as voted by the PSU community.