OS Weekly Wrap Up, Getting You Caught Up on Sports Gaming News (Jul 5 - Jul 11, 2020)

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Every Sunday, we will get you caught up on the sports gaming news you might have missed, during the busy week. This includes the latest videos from our content team and featured articles from the staff.

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Steel City has made it clear the roster is still growing for this upcoming simulation boxing title, but Prince is back again with a breakdown of the boxers who are already confirmed for eSports Boxing Club. He also goes into his wishlist for some of the people he would like to see on both the male and female side.

We posted our NASCAR Heat 5 review today, courtesy of Bob. In addition, Brian has put together a video showcasing every driver, car and all the bonus paint schemes available for the official drivers in the game.

MJK decided to pull out a special one here today with gameplay from NBA Elite 11. For those who don’t remember, this was the NBA Live game that never was as the demo was so bad — and filled with so many bugs and T poses — that EA decided to pull the game before it officially came out.

Prince is back today with a quick WWE 2K Battlegrouds breakdown. He shows off the new trailer, mentions who is on the confirmed roster, scopes out the game modes and lists everything else we know so far coming off 2K’s announcement yesterday.

MJK is back today highlighting an NBA Jam mod for NBA Jam Tournament Edition that allows you to play with Michael Jordan, among many others from the past and present eras of the NBA and pop culture. The Roaring ’90s Double Z mod comes via NLSC, which is a never-ending goldmine for basketball mods.

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As my time with the beta came closer to ending, some other elements in the secondary became more obvious as well. The new zone drop mechanic is well done and a strong addition to the defensive arsenal, but zone work still needs some work before the final release. The running game feels good from movement to weight, but it has before in betas and has then later been destroyed by patches.

You have to give credit where credit is due, and crea-ture has done a great job in implementing so many of the little things we love from previous skateboarding games. Some of those things include realistic gameplay, an intricate control scheme, and the ability to move objects around to create the perfect skate set up. But there’s still some fine-tuning that can be done.

On the most basic level, the argument is basically that people want to see more than 2-4 plays called per game. They don’t want to defend an inside run, an outside run and one rollout pass play all game. The most basic argument on the other side is “you stink if you can’t stop a couple plays.”

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Solid controls are a must for any racing title, but if the AI is subpar, then precision maneuvering becomes a lot less impressive and important. As good as the controls are in NH5, the tweaked and enhanced AI is even better. Long gone are the days where the ultra-aggressive AI would come down on you while racing like it wasn’t even aware you were there. Instead, the AI very much replicates the actions of another human who will push you but respects the boundaries of fair but competitive racing.

How often, particularly here at OS, do we as sports gaming enthusiasts clamor for properly done remakes and remasters? Whether it is Def Jam: Fight for NY, NBA Street, MVP Baseball or NFL Blitz, the list is seemingly endless. Countless decade-old dormant franchises (the original NFL Street would be getting its driver’s license this year) are not just exclusively nostalgic, but also arguably play as smooth or even smoother than current-gen titles. Whether it is an article, roundtable discussion, or just a message on the OS forums, we daydream about rebooting our favorites all the time around here, often just begging for the exact same game to be re-released with practically nonexistent upgrades.

From the outside looking in, F1 2020 may have the same look as previous titles. However, when you factor in the My Team mode and the casual assist options, the game is still much better off this year and could grab a new demographic of people as well. The biggest gripe about the F1 series has always been that it’s too technical for most people to squeeze the juice out of it. Codemasters has done an excellent job of trying to eradicate that problem by making the title more accessible to the masses, and the improvements here should accomplish just that.

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There were two things that really stood out to me. The first was how interesting it suddenly was to play defensive line. By adding a set number of possible attempts and returning pass rush moves to the right stick, there was an element of intensity there that simply hasn’t existed in a long time. On some downs, it may actually become a viable choice for many players who have been locked on middle linebacker for years.

Yes, EA made minor improvements to the pass rush and zone responsibilities, but the defense still feels like they are at a disadvantage each and every time the ball is snapped. Defensive backs and safeties look lost in coverage, and I frequently watched them struggling to cover even the unlikeliest of wide receivers. Linebackers look even worse in coverage. It shouldn’t be nearly impossible for a defense to cover Mecole Hardman or Miles Boykin — I mean no disrespect to those two either.

Karl Malone? Seriously, 2K? You delay and build up the Prime Series 3 reward for nearly a month, and the best you can come up with is Karl Malone (plus Banana Boat crew card duplicates)? You’ve got to be kidding me.

If you’re unfamiliar with tactics, they are a fairly simple concept. Simply put, tactics are just a set of instructions set forth by the manager and ultimately carried out by players. For example, getting your team to institute a high press (your attackers attempt to win the ball back from the opposition higher up the pitch) is a fairly common approach in the modern game. It requires your attackers to close down on the opponent while they have the ball in their half. Doing so effectively requires the midfielders to push up — as well as your defenders — in an attempt to compress the space (areas in which there aren’t many players in close proximity). It’s a team-based approach where everyone needs to be on the same page or else you will get shredded all-the-while expending valuable stamina chasing down your opponents.

This week I’m back with my third and final NHL 21 wishlist. You can read part one of my NHL 21 wishlist here and part two here. I also want to reiterate before diving back in that my biggest gripe — and this has been the case for years — relates to the arcade-style gameplay. I personally would much rather have an excellent playing but poor looking game rather than an exceptional looking game that plays poorly. So with that tidbit of information in mind, my wishlist will not include any gameplay features. Instead, I will release a full in-depth article specifically focusing on my frustrations with its gameplay in the coming weeks.

At the end of May, WWE 2K’s new executive producer, Patrick Gilmore, did a Reddit AMA about the future of WWE 2K games. The good news off the bat is the series is still very much alive, and it’s looking like the next version is slated for a 2021 release. During that time off, 2K is pivoting to a WWE arcade game to hold fans over until the next WWE 2K release.

If there is anything else you would like to see in the OS weekly wrap-up, feel free to let us know in this post. Otherwise, we will see you next Sunday.

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Steve Noah
Steve is the Editor in Chief at Operation Sports. He's been here since the year 2000 posting news, features and interviews, along with keeping the hardcore sports gaming community alive and well for over two decades. He covers almost every game related to sports but enjoys basketball, football and baseball games the most.