I mean for so many years Madden had been the number one game, and NHL wasn’t even popular. Now it is completely different, NHL is the most popular game in the world, and the legendary Madden is fighting to just stay in the top ten. Everybody loves Madden NFL, it is one of the greatest games of all time, and no gamer can wait for the new one to come out each year, but is it still the best sports game out there. In the last two years NHL 09, and 10 have been voted the best game by the gamer world. My one question for you is how did this happen. games in the world.
Now when I read about this in Sports Illustrated Kids I first thought (being a huge NHL fan) that it was about time that NHL got some credit. Then after I thought about it a little bit, I realized that NFL had been untouchable, and I began to question how NHL defeated Madden, but it really didn’t take long. All NHL did was make the game more realistic.
In the past games could get away with not being realistic, because people would just say it’s just a game. Not anymore, what gamers look for now is realistic features in a game. The more realistic a game is the more popular it is. The problem that Madden is facing is that their game is much harder to make realistic. The truth is that football is so much harder to make every aspect of it realistic in a video game. When you play as the quarter back, you can’t control his arm speed, the moves he makes, or the way he throws (over the top, side arm). However in NHL it is much more complex.
The best thing that the NHL makers did was add the skill stick. This is where the right analog is used as your stick, and the left as your skating direction. This allows you to control your players stick chandelling, power of shot, placement of shot, and now even foot control so much better. You can now make real life deaques in a game, along with real snipes, and amazing puck control. Even with all of these advances the thing that makes the game so good is the little details. I’m talking about stick, glove, helmet, skate, and other equipment models, jersey tuck, and player profiles. The bottom line is that NHL is the best game because of how realistic it is, and I think it will stay above Madden for a while.