Top 5 console sports game series ever

The Gadget Show  Monday 23 January 2012

FIFA 12 from EA has just been confirmed as the highest-grossing sports video game in the UK ever, notching up five consecutive weeks at the number one slot. With that in mind, we got to thinking about our favourite sports game series ever.

It’s a surprisingly tricky list to come up with. By their very iterative nature, most sports-based video game series have been going on for years – even decades – and very few have managed to stay consistently brilliant. The following five have both stood the test of time and managed to make a lasting impression, whether lighting up our childhoods or ruining our relationships.

FIFA

We’ll start with the current king off footy titles, the imperious FIFA. While EA’s blockbuster series has managed to sell like hotcakes ever since its debut almost twenty years ago, it hasn’t always had the playability to match. A propensity for style over substance led to a bit of a critical mauling at the turn of the millennium, but that’s been rectified in recent years. FIFA 12 is the best yet, with a solid defensive game, dazzling offensive play and a solid multiplayer mode.

PES

We’ve mentioned FIFA’s (relatively) lean years, and it was Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) series that ruled the roost during this period – at least for the footy game purists. While FIFA always had the edge in terms of real-life licenses and presentation, PES games used to nail that indefinable feel of a real football match far better, with unpredictable ball movement and a fluid passing game. The series has been on the back foot in recent years thanks to a resurgent FIFA, but the signs suggest future seasons could be a two-horse race once again.

Virtua Tennis

Stepping away from the game of overpaid, egotistical man-boys for a moment, let’s consider a video game series based on tennis. Which is also played by overpaid egotistical man-boys, but we digress. Virtua Tennis from Sega has been one of the most consistent sports game series ever, churning out ridiculously playable approximations of the great racquet sport for over a decade. The key to its success is its perfect balance between instant arcade playability and realistic match play, and it’s also one of the best offline multiplayer games ever.

Madden NFL

FIFA isn’t the only massively popular football series produced by EA. The Madden NFL series takes on football of the American variety – you know, the one that hardly involves any kicking at all. The Madden series predates the FIFA series by five years, yet the general standard of play has been remarkably consistent, with the full dizzyingly complex game of grid iron always accurately represented. Arguably the biggest tribute to the series we can give is that it’s responsible for everything we know about the US-centric sport.

Football Manager

We’d hazard a guess that no other game – whether sports-related or otherwise – has been responsible for more pub-based anecdotes or relationship break-ups than the Football Manager series. Originally operating under the Championship Manager moniker, a ‘quick game’ of this footy management sim invariably leads to alarming degrees of sleep, food and daylight deprivation. Even real football managers have been known to use it for scouting purposes, so comprehensive is its world and accurate its stats.

Got a favourite sports game for the console right now? Let us know what it is in the Comments below.