For innumerable hordes around the world sports have been and always will be the beating heart of life. From the packed masses cheering from Goodison Road Stand to the snow bowls of Green Bay, from a Saturday afternoon in sweltering Georgia heat watching the Bulldogs face off against Tennessee to InfoCision Stadium in Akron, each caters to fans dead-set on the dominance of their team. Even more than fan obsession, however, is the debate between college and professional sports. When it comes to videogames, the argument mirrors that in real life as both have strong merits.
American Football and basketball are the two sports which offer a real contrast between the collegiate and professional arenas; other sports, while they have representation (baseball, hockey) at both levels, aren’t as widely-played. Personally, I’ve experienced more yearly iterations of the iconic American sports than I care to divulge, and while each is little more than a patch and roster update for $60, the experience provided by each is money well spent.
That experience is what cleanly divides collegiate and professional sports: variety. In Electronic Arts’ annual Madden franchise, the same thirty-two teams are represented each and every year, with a minor adjustment every half decade or so (for example, the Texan’s entry into the league, or in basketball the great Seattle exodus to Oklahoma City). Top-tier pros remain prominent players for their respective teams for over a decade, and while various supporting members rotate in and out, the big name players everyone wants to play are utterly stagnant. With the college American football game, there is a five year maximum that players might remain at a school, accounting for a non-playing redshirt year, although the best often depart after three. This high turnover rate allows each yearly release of NCAA Football to be a new and invigorating affair.
This equation of variety is even more contrasting in basketball games, where teams are smaller and professional players have a much higher degree of exposure. With the collegiate game, over three hundred NCAA Division I schools are represented which allows a nearly-infinite amount of replayability. New players can be scouted, recruited, trained, and assimilated into the team atmosphere. Recently I turned up a dusty copy of College Hoops 2K7 for the PS2 and took control of the Dartmouth Big Green program, an ailing team in the Ivy League. After winning a brief season-opening tournament against various bottom feeding Mid Majors, I butted heads with Indiana University, my alma mater. This specific team was, in the pre-Kelvin Sampson fiasco days, ranked in the top twenty-five and sported the one year wonder Air Gordon with dominant inside man D.J. White (both eventual first round selections for all curious parties); as an Ivy League team, my strengths were perimeter jump shots and I soon began systematic assassinations of the Indiana zone en route to a slightly-unrealistic final score of 92-56.
This type of variety is sorely lacking from the professional experience. Everyone who even vaguely follows the National Football League knows Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Randy Moss, and the Giants defense will put up incredible numbers each season. There is negligible space for creativity unless linked with NCAA Football and your draft class is imported. Of course, assuming control of superstars and clashing with other high-profile players is entertaining in itself, so the lack of variety inherent to the professional level isn’t all bad. In fact, since more people are aware of these players, it could even be beneficial in the end. It’s really a matter of personal preference; do you enjoy steering the most winning team of the decade (that’s the Indianapolis Colts, by the way) against the Super Bowl champions or would you rather take a MAC team to a BCS bowl game?
Atmosphere is also a powerful separator between the two tiers of athletic competition. NBA 2K10 features realistic, close-range crowds which enthusiastically react to on-court action while popular music blasts during play stoppages; conversely, in NCAA Basketball, fight songs and wild student sections keep the energy level at extreme highs during the entire game. Little is more epic than a packed Carrier Dome in the last minute of a heated game versus Georgetown. There is a distinct lack of urgency in the professional game, even while playing in the finals as the Thunder against an overpowering Celtics team on the road.
In my experience, only one professional sporting game offers the same level of intensity, variety, and atmosphere: FIFA. During each match, the crowds chant and boo and cheer, the stadiums are packed to capacity, and a real sense of immersion is portrayed. There is also a great degree variety, with teams from the major national Association Football leagues across the world available for play, and on higher difficulty levels the flow of the game itself is enough to provide tension and excitement.
Like most rhetorical arguments, the conclusion of college versus professional sports games boils down to personal preference. Personally, I’ve always enjoyed the collegiate games more since the level of variety, customization, and immersion is fantastic each and every year. There is something to be said for pro sports, naturally, and I enjoy them too, but it’s undeniable that each release is little different than its predecessor.
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