Sports games have been subjected to a lot of criticism in recent years. Many fans have grown tired of what they believe to be a lack of innovation and new features between yearly releases, while modes like Ultimate Team have frustrated players who are against microtransactions.
This hasn't always been how sports games are perceived, however, as, throughout the 2000s, this genre came on leaps and bounds, producing some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful releases in all gaming. According to Metacritic, what are the best sports games of all time?
10 Madden NFL 2004 (94)
Impressively, Madden NFL 2004 is one of three Madden games to make the cut. The Madden series is owned by EA, who released a plethora of excellent sports games in the 2000s across their Madden, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and FIFA franchises but are now considered to be the source of many problems in the sports genre.
Madden NFL 2004 is best remembered for letting players control a franchise as an owner for the first time, which has become an ever-present feature since.
9 Madden NFL 2002 (94)
Madden NFL 2002 didn't introduce too many new features, but it did make huge strides in visuals and animations for the series. The game was a launch title for the GameCube and Xbox, and although it wasn't the first to release on the PlayStation 2, it was the first that felt truly next-gen.
Madden NFL 2002 was nominated for GameSpot's Best Xbox Game award but understandably lost out to Halo: Combat Evolved.
8 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (94)
Like the Madden series, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater franchise impressively has three games among Metacritic's highest-rated sports games.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 was originally released in October 2002 and was the last game to use the Pro Skater name before the disastrous Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 in 2015. Pro Skater 4 significantly changed the series' core gameplay by removing time limits from levels, giving players all the time in the world to find the best spots for tricks.
7 ISS Pro Evolution (94)
ISS Pro Evolution was the third entry in the ISS Pro series and was released exclusively on the PlayStation 1 in 1999. The game was developed by Konami, who would go on to create the Pro Evolution Soccer series. Recently, Konami replaced PES with eFootball, a series that may struggle to recover from its debut entry that received a brutal Metascore of just 29 on PlayStation 5.
ISS Pro Evolution was a notable entry from Konami as it was the first to introduce the franchise's signature Master League mode. Unfortunately, this release highlights the issue of licensing in the sports genre as the game is filled with intentionally incorrect team and player names.
6 Super Stickman Golf 3 (95)
Super Stickman Golf 3 is a fantastic golf game that sticks out like a sore thumb on this list for a handful of reasons. Rather than being a home console AAA release from a major studio, Super Stickman Golf 3 is a mobile game from indie studio Noodlecake Studios.
Like its predecessors, Super Stickman Golf 3 has simple gameplay but is very addictive with its well-designed and unique levels that entice players to perfect them with a hole-in-one.
5 Madden NFL 2003 (95)
Madden NFL 2003 is the third and final entry from the Madden series to feature in this article. The fact that the three games were released in consecutive years exemplifies how impressive EA Sports' form was in the 2000s and why consumers are so disappointed by the company's recent releases.
Madden NFL 2003 was the first game in the series to have EA Trax, and it also introduced Mini Camp mode.
4 Out of the Park Baseball 2007 (96)
Out of the Park Baseball differentiates itself from Metacritic's other highly-regarded sports games as instead of putting people in control of the player(s), the series puts them in the shoes of a team's General Manager or Manager.
The text-based management game has many similarities to Sports Interactive's immensely popular Football Manager franchise. Sports Interactive signed OOTP Developments in 2004, though the companies split just two years later.
3 NFL 2K1 (97)
NFL 2K1's 97 Metascore puts it on par with all-time great video games like Super Mario Galaxy, Grand Theft Auto 5, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
NFL 2K1 was released exclusively on the Dreamcast in September 2000 and was developed by Visual Concepts. The game won numerous awards upon release, including GameSpot's Dreamcast Game of the Year.
2 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (97)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was released on both the PlayStation 1 and PlayStation 2 in October 2001 before coming to numerous other systems in the months and years that followed.
It's the PlayStation 2 version of the game that earned the whopping Metascore of 97, as Neversoft made great use of the console's improved hardware to make the Pro Skater series feel like it had well and truly made the next-gen leap. Pro Skater 4 implemented a range of new features, including reverts and online capabilities.
1 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (98)
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2's 98 Metascore is only matched by two other games, Grand Theft Auto 4 and SoulCalibur. Furthermore, this sports game has only been bettered by The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which has a near-perfect score of 99.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 took the excellent foundations of its predecessor and improved upon them in almost every way while also adding a handful of new features, including a level editor. The first two Pro Skater games were recently remade in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, which is the best way to play the classic games today.