Sports Games I've Played
Sports games are categorized by a primary gameplay loop of playing matches where someone wins. I've played 6 games in this genre so far.
Each game is scored on my 4-point rating system.
⬅️ You can also go back to all genres
Golf Story
Very fun old-school RPG vibes. I wish there were more exploratory quests, but the core gameplay was great. Very detailed golf game, even if I didn't really appreciate some of the details. Great writing, music, and art. Pretty relaxing, all told.
Retro Bowl College
Quite fun and good for short bursts of games. Great controls which make playing on mobile very natural. Difficulty was inconsistent and basically all of the special events are bad, but it makes for a satisfying play (especially once they smooth out the curves)
Retro Bowl
The controls are great (especially for a mobile game) and the actual gameplay is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, a lot of progression is balanced around being able to pay to win, so playing it on apple arcade, some things were just prohibitively expensive. Also, the dynamic difficulty, while good, made it less rewarding to have top-tier players (because the defenses got good to match your success). Once I realized that was happening, I had less fun with it. But, I played it a ton and it's a great way to spend 5 minutes.
Pyre
This game does a lot of really interesting things. Everything is totally dynamic and there are no "wrong answers". Any character can be sent on, any basketball game can be lost, and any combination of characters can work. The gameplay itself really grew on me as I got better at it. I think my biggest gripe is that it can be a little slow between basketball games (a lot of the same series of clicks/menus). I also didn't personally connect with the characters that much, which is important for a game that relies so heavily on writing. It's good, but for some reason just didn't quite click for me. As per usual, art and music are unparalleled.
Ridiculous Fishing EX
Neat concept, but gameplay didn't keep me hooked (pun intended). I liked the progression well enough, but the shooting was tiresome and there wasn't enough variation in the fishing. But, it's a cute concept!
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2
Fun to jump back into a classic, but I feel like there's not enough there in the gameplay to keep me interested. Exploring the levels is cool, but the goals are a little thin for a gameplay loop. It's no SSX, but I'm glad it got made.