Should You Play These Sports Games This Year?

If you’re reading this newsletter, it’s fair to say you’re into sports games — and likely regular sports. That said, you probably have your favorites in both realms, so you might not religiously follow a particular sport or video game year in and year out.

With that in mind, I’ve been kicking around the idea of a “should you play X game this year?” article because three “major” sports game have released over the last month: NBA 2K25, NHL 25, and EA Sports FC 25. Coming off the heels of Football Summer means those games can sometimes go under the radar (especially with college football coming back this year), but all three of them have been the best sports game of the year at various points in their existence.

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However, this is OS, and so I want to put our own twist on the “should you play it” concept by framing it around two ideas:

1. Do you closely follow the real sport?

2. How many years has it been since you last played this series?

I’m going to frame my “reviews” of these games around those two concepts before recommending them (or not) based on those ideas. Now, let’s get to the games.

Should You Play It This Year?

NBA 2K25

Starting with the heaviest hitter (at least judging by the amount of people who care about it on OS), NBA 2K25 has high name recognition even if you don’t play it. People know it has a good franchise mode, good presentation, and there have been multiple times where the gameplay was the best in all of sports games.

This year, 2K25 is a really fascinating game to me because there is such a split in the community when it comes to gameplay. I really like the gameplay this year — and I will be clear that I have played more NBA 2K in my life than any other sports game. Still, I didn’t like the last couple 2Ks, or at least didn’t stick with them all year. It’s still early, but I don’t see myself ignoring this game in the near future.

The general divide within the community seems to be a couple gameplay elements that grow in size if you play online a healthy amount. The first aspect is shooting. This one matters more for offline people, but the CPU’s shooting is crazy this year. And because a lot of the CPU teams feel relatively similar in how they play, you just get worked by off-ball screens and then average to poor shooters making a high number of shots.

This means you also need to make a high number of shots. This means “green releases” are still your savior, which is annoying because 2K has finally tried to correct the complaint many of us have had about green releases for years, which is that a green release shouldn’t be an insta-make. 2K has more options we can go to now where a green release won’t automatically mean a make, but you can still focus on trying to “perfect” your shot every time. It’s a good change, even if more options will make some question which ones to go with on the court.

Of course, sliders can manage this and all that, but it can still be frustrating. You don’t want to have to make 50-60 percent of your 3-pointers to compete with the AI on the highest difficulty levels. I agree with the community that CPU shooting is annoying and an issue.

The other gameplay component impacts online folks more, and it’s that paint points are out of control. Now, my PNO brethren on OS whine and complain a lot — and I can say that because I live among them and deep down they know their faults. But I will back them up and say that scrubs make too many layups in this game, and it’s most noticeable online where the difficulty levels are not as high.

Even if you can shoot, a lot of online games devolve into just trying to rush the paint at all costs and win through brute force. It’s not very intriguing at times — even if you clown on them — and it means your opponents are mostly very unoriginal. I always hope 2K waits as long as possible to start patching gameplay, but I do think they could do a little work here (as well as with the aforementioned CPU shooting).

Even with those two areas of concern (passing is also still meh), I’m having a great time. 2K has finally figured out fast breaks to some degree (even if chasedown blocks are still comically out of control), and so you can play with pace as well as various other styles and compete. There’s still plenty to like about MyCareer even if it’s full of microtransactions, and the graphics finally took a step back in the right direction.

So what’s the selling point if you haven’t played the game in years? Well, 2K’s modes move a lot faster than most other games, so if you have not played since the introduction of MyEras, then it’s a good time to at least check that mode out. The history of the NBA is truly appreciated in this series, and so if you’re a real fan of the NBA, that only sweetens the pot.

If you own a PC, it’s also the right year to get back into things because modders are going to have a field day with this game when it’s all said and done. So you’re going to find amazing presentation and even more fantastic MyEras work that is put out by that great community.

Verdict

If you follow the real sport: Play It. 

If you haven’t played NBA 2K since the introduction of MyEras with NBA 2K23: Play It (and if you plan on getting the PC version and modding, definitely play it)

EA Sports FC 25

EA Sports FC is a juggernaut, even if our community of OSers is relatively small compared to the global scale of EA’s monster footy game. FC 25 is an interesting game to me because I think there’s a wide gap between fans of the sport versus fans of the game. If you’re a fan of soccer and you’re on OS, I don’t think you’ll love this game on the pitch. However, if you don’t really follow soccer and just want a fun sports game, FC 25 kind of rules.

There are a lot of legacy issues in FC 25 that just have to be dealt with at some point. The biggest issue is that midfielders just don’t matter enough. They are the lifeblood of matches in real life, but they’re irrelevant in that they don’t really control play enough in these games. It’s not that great midfielders don’t stand out or create special moments, but this series is a track meet. It’s up and down and the middle of the field just doesn’t matter all that much most of the time. You can tweak things and use great sliders to make the most of it, but you can’t totally fix it.

But if you don’t really care about soccer like that, it’s pretty fun to just get out there and go up and down. Keepers have been improved this year so the scores are not as inflated during these track meets, and FC 25 is a beautiful game. It’s taken forever, but EA seems to finally have the Frostbite engine working right at least when it comes to showcasing the graphics in most of their games.

There are other issues for more hardcore folks, mainly that tactics work — too well. Players don’t deviate from their planned actions enough, and this means certain formations will just get destroyed by other formations because players don’t react to the game happening in front of them (instead they follow their tactics to a tee). I also think career mode doesn’t provide enough depth to those who want a true team-building mode.

But, again, if you don’t really understand the ideas behind a Youth Academy and all that, career mode will be relatively engaging. There’s a new Rush mode that is 5-on-5 that is also incredibly fun, and for all the microtransactions that do exist in Ultimate Team, it’s the most fun Ultimate Team mode to play for free because there’s so much to do within that mode.

Verdict

If you follow the real sport: Don’t Play It

If you haven’t played FIFA since it became EA FC: Play It (again, as long as you’re not a big fan of the real sport)

NHL 25

I think I’m higher on this game than the average OSer this year. I’ve been as big a critic as any about how stagnant the franchise has felt for years on the ice, and this year isn’t a “quick fix” that will wholly change the narrative, but there are some really noticeable changes that are hopefully starting to take shape.

The biggest change for this year is the pace of play is slowed down by default. Even if this was just the sliders alone, it’s still a big deal for the feel of the game. North-south play has been the predominant way EA NHL plays for as long as I can remember. This year, it’s not a total rewrite where now there’s tons more east-west play to balance out the chaotic pace, but it could be the start of a new era on the ice.

The slowed down pace couples together with some new mechanics and refined tactics to help create a serviceable hockey game for the first time this generation. If you’re a serious fan of hockey or had major bones to pick with EA NHL the last time you played, this still might not be the game for you. But I think it’s a good version to hop back in on as long as you’re not trying to make the game perfectly mimic the real sport — even with sliders I don’t think you can get there.

In other words, if you want to give this series another shot, this is the one to try so you can see if it sticks for you. If you still don’t think there’s hope after trying this one out, then you might just need to stop praying for a savior here.

Franchise mode is nothing special so that’s my other concern if you have not played in years because I still think that will seem underwhelming. On the bright side, World of Chel is so weird that you might get a kick out of it if you can stomach other humans. Like many other online career modes, you build your player through time or money, but there’s lots of sub-modes to scope out within the World of Chel, and it’s unique enough that it’s worth looking at if you’ve never played it before.

All in all, I may end up a little higher on this game than others in our community, but it might in part be because I’ve always accepted that this series is going to trend a little more arcade-y than other sports games because EA has never really succeeded at creating a “pure sim” hockey game.

Verdict

If you follow the real sport: Play It if only because if you don’t like this one, you’re probably cooked

If you haven’t played EA NHL in the last three years: Play It

Until next time y’all. And, as always, thanks for reading.

-Chase