I’ve been covering sports games for more than a decade now, and I’ve been playing them for nearly three times that long. Whenever I talk to anyone about the latest middling entry in Madden NFL or NBA 2K, the first question I always receive is, “Should I buy this one if I already own last year’s?” I used to have to think more about whether I’d recommend a sports gamer pick up the latest iteration, but over the last several years, the games have felt just that way: iterative. Now, my answer is always, “How important is [this year’s tentpole feature] to you? How important is having the latest rosters?” If even one of those is wishy-washy, my answer is either “Wait for a sale” or “Just play last year’s game.” This song and dance has only become more noticeable as the years have continued.
My fellow Game Informer editor Kimberley Wallace recently wrote an…
