The best sports simulations in 2020!

This year has been tough for the sport. Due to the Covid-19 restriction measure was imposed in most countries of the world, and major sporting events had to be canceled, such as UEFA Euro 2020 and the Tokyo Olympics.

Luckily, this year we got quite a few solid, sporty simulations that could have filled that gap at least to some extent. What are the best sports simulations we had the opportunity to play this year, read the rest of the article!

 

F1 2020

Since their first release of Formula 1 in 2009, the Codemasters have slowly but surely improved with each new release of their next sequel to the F1 Games. Currently, F1 is in a place that is even above the place occupied by DIRT and it seems that for many years it will dominate not only the motorsport genre but also the entire sports genre, regardless of football, basketball, and other simulations.

Together with fantastic driving mechanics, F1 2020 continues the tradition of the series, providing an incredible depth of the Formula 1 management aspect. than enough content until the release of the new sequel, which awaits us next year.

F1 2020 is an indicator of how a quality sports simulation is done and something that a large number of other developers (such as Konami and EA) should pay close attention to when creating their Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA.

 

MLB The Show 20

While these aren’t games that can boast as much popularity as football or basketball, we’ve been able to see several editions of baseball simulations on the market this year, and the MLB Show is just one of two appearing on this list.

San Diego Studio and Sony Computer Entertainment have teamed up again for their latest annual MLB release; as a result, the game did not disappoint. Moreover, the exact opposite happened. Applying significant improvements in annual releases is never an easy task for developers, but San Diego Studio has succeeded with new and improved in-game field mechanics, which players have recognized and which MLB The Show 20 has brought fairly high ratings. 

Football Manager 2021

The football games of FIFA and Pro Evolution Soccer are in stark contrast to the Football Manager series, or football manager, a game launched by Sports Interactive, a company that still dominates the managerial side of sports simulations.

Sports Interactive has stopped, to the surprise of many, releasing sequels to its popular Championship Manager series, but that post only lasted a short time. The company merged with SEGA, and shortly after that merger, Football Manager 2005 was created, a more or less very successful series of football, managerial simulations.

There were fears that the simulation might slowly begin to lose on its success, after a poor release from 2015 to 2018. During that period, the Manager almost scored less than 80 percentage points on Metacritic several times, only to finally get things close in 2019. of old success.

Success continued at FM20 and lasted until FM21. The latest iteration does not offer extensive changes, but it does solve several pre-existing problems. Team conversations, press conferences, and individual meetings carry more weight, new statistics like XG give additional insight into the game. Besides, the game works better than ever before, with shorter load times and a smoother match-matching mechanism.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2

Reissue of two games, which together on Metacritic have a rating of 190 can never be a bad thing. Vicarious Visions did a great job with this reissue. Namely, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2 combines old and new in a great way, which means that the game attracted both old players, who enjoyed the legendary days of Tony Hawk on Playstation, but also new generations, eager for quality skate simulations.

Gameplay, music, tricks, it's all there, but in a "new guise", or adapted for new generations of consoles, so it's no surprise that the "remake" of the first two games of Tony Hawk again won very high marks on Metacritic.

What The Golf?

Much like the FIFA and NBA2K franchises, What The Golf is a game that also boasts very great success and reputation. The Tiger Woods series provided a host of fantastic golf simulations, including the 2003 Tiger Woods PGA Tour which scored an incredible 92 points on Metacritic. And then we have What The Golf, a game that few could have predicted would achieve such great success.

What The Golf came out for Windows PCs and iOS devices in 2019, before coming to the Nintendo Switch in May this year. The game has been nominated for numerous awards after its release and won the award for Best Mobile Game, or "Best Mobile Game," at the "Game Developers Choice Awards."

DIRT 5

As a programming company, Codemasters has been the cornerstone of the racing genre for several decades, which can be attributed to their DIRT series. DIRT has served and continues to serve as a sort of replacement for the Colin McRae Rally games, which ceased to come out after Mr. McRae’s untimely death.

The Codemasters didn't try to invent anything radically new with their DIRT 5 game, they just stuck to what they knew was going to work and that they could work again. The off-road racing game continued to offer more arcade play than its competitors, in a niche in which DIRT still stands out.

WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship

This year 2020 was a great year for auto-moto games, and the WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship was one of the best editions of such games. WRC 9 offers a sophisticated "Career Mode" that has surprising depths, as well as some of the best vehicle mechanics in the genre.

The game didn’t disappoint in key areas like a great sense of speed and enjoyable multiplayer, although it could have been better with sound and visual design.

UFC 4 (EA Sports)

Mixed martial arts are so synonymous with the UFC that, many people mistakenly consider the UFC to be synonymous with the sport. MMA has been known as the world’s fastest-growing sport for many years, although it has only recently reached its full potential.

Developer giant EA recently signed a ten-year contract to continue making UFC games, and with the success of UFC 4, it’s easy to see why. The latest game offered a great redesigned combat system along with a great new online mode “Blitz Battle.”