SPORTS SIMULATION GAMES

Who needs live professional sports when there are so many great virtual versions?

I love NBA2K20. The gameplay was fun. The steady of stream of content was something I greatly appreciated once the lockdown happened. With nowhere to go, it became fun to try out new lineups and grind for G.O.A.T. Kobe, Bird, and Curry cards. It required tons of gameplay, but what else was going on?

Kal has been sucked into Conquest Maps in The Show. He is not called upon for 2K yet.

Madeline Vega

After the last blast of a full G.O.A.T. series (even though there is no way TMac, Vince Carter, and Yao deserved those top tiers), the new content slowed to a trickle and it became apparent that no new content would refl ect bubble gameplay. The game fizzled out. While searching for a new sports simulation to play, I remembered that I had MLB The Show 19 in my library due to it being free in October ’19 to PSPlus members. With nothing to lose, and it being completely free, I downloaded the game and instantly fell in love. The Diamond Dynasty mode was far better than I had remembered from previous editions. I even learned to love Conquest (a feature that had vexed me in the past) as it allowed for fun gameplay with Kal. The amount of free cards and content was staggering. You could build a highly competitive team in days. I was hooked.

As the real MLB season was just getting started in late July, I figured I could pick up MLB The Show 20 right at the beginning of August. I was so happy I did. It has instantly become my favorite game, and the best card collecting sports simulation I’ve ever played. SDS content team has continued to deliver new, fresh and timely content throughout the shortened season. The content and gameplay truly put 2K to shame. The grind in The Show is so much more rewarding. You can easily build a team catered to your likes and needs over a series of days. For a Yankees fan like me, I was able to have Mariano Rivera, Mickey Mantle, Don Mattingly, and Gleyber Torres all on Day 1... It was baseball nirvana. I find myself happily devoting so much more time to The Show (which originally came out in March) than I do to 2K (which came out 6 weeks ago). As 2K on the PS4 continues to be an afterthought as the content team gears up the PS5, I’ll continue to be all about The Show. —LV

Luis diagrams the Power I when talking about Madden. He does not do this for 2K yet.

Madeline Vega

A picture for the 2017 version of the video game issue that never happened

Madeline Strum Photography

Luis' list for Team Backup

Madeline Vega