Dumpster fires are pretty common in sports, and this decade had plenty of them. We laid witness to the second 0-16 season in NFL history courtesy of the Factory of Sadness, otherwise known as the Cleveland Browns.
Liverpool fans cringed when Steven Gerrard slipped, handing Manchester City their second Premier League title. Well, these dumpster fires existed in the virtual realm too.
Usually, fans can escape to these games to reverse their team’s fortunes in career mode, but these games did nothing to help with that. From heinous micro-transactions, lack of content, bugs, and glitches galore, fans of all sports felt duped by playing these games. To make matters worse, these licenses are often released yearly.
Here are the 10 worst sports games of this decade. The focus will be on yearly titles, rather than one-off games like Fighter Within or Hulk Hogan’s Main Event.
10 Madden NFL 19 (User Score: 2.1)
Let’s start with a hotly debated one. It’s no secret that the Madden series has been stagnant, if not declining, for the past few years. Madden 19 has been seen as the epitome of this stagnation.
While it boasts nice graphics that are honestly expected at this point, it houses countless bugs that were never fixed. be it players teleporting from one side of the field to the other, freezing, or being launched like rag dolls, it is honestly surprising how many bugs were uncovered.
When compared to the PS2 era Maddens such as Madden 07, Madden 19 looks barebones, especially for solo players. Then look at NFL 2K5, a game that prioritized immersion with its presentation thanks to the ESPN license.
With all of these issues, it’s no surprise Madden 19 ranks low on the fan Metacritic scores, scoring a 2.1 (PS4).
9 Rugby 15 (19)
Despite being the 9th most popular sport in the world (tied with American football) with strong ties to England, Australia, and New Zealand, rugby has never garnered the trust of any developer.
A very barebones game, Rugby 15 relies on individual matches and strong gameplay, the latter of which it doesn’t have thanks to terrible animations and tedious controls. It doesn’t have a dedicated career mode, player customization, or even online matchmaking for that matter. There is literally only one in-game stadium that is shared by every team. Both fans and critics bombed this game, with a critic score of 19 and a fan score of 3.5 (PS4).
8 Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 (32)
The late ’90s and early 2000s were dominated by Hawk, with the first four games reaching holy levels of praise for their creativity, skillful but casual gameplay, and straight-up fun features.
Sadly, the fifth entry is a far cry from those happy times. The game was released into the public literally unfinished. The game required a day one, 8GB patch that was essentially the full game. Countless bugs plagued the game, frame-rate issues bogged down the experience, levels were bland, and the graphics were relatively boring despite being so cartoony. Fans and critics alike bombed this game on Metacritic, with a critic score of 32 and a fan score of 1.5 (PS4).
7 ESPN Sports Connection (31)
ESPN Sports Connection for the Wii U is a straight-up imitation of Wii Sports. With pointless ESPN jingles littered in to remind you who sponsored this Ubisoft game, the game is just boring and forgettable. Menus are bland and the gameplay is littered with technical issues such as abhorrent loading times.
The game modes are either copies of the Wii Sports versions such as tennis or just sad affairs such as racing. Fans and critics both agreed this game was bad and the scores on Metacritic show. A critic score of 31 and a fan score of 3.3 tells the whole story.
6 NBA Live 14 (36)
Even though NBA Live 10 was generally liked, the series went on hiatus for 4 years. When the E3 2013 trailer released, fans were excited to see the series return and the graphical transformation it went through. Well, safe to say that excitement rapidly turned to disappointment.
Gameplay was hit and miss, with physics and animations being really wonky. Although the presentation was nice thanks to the ESPN license, the whole package was just inferior to 2K14. It received poor scores on Metacritic from fans and critics, getting a fan score of 3.1 and a critic score of 36 (Xbox One). With NBA Live 20 getting canceled, it’s fair to wonder if the series is dead.
5 MLB 2K13 (48)
Always in the shadow of SIE San Diego Studio’s The Show, 2K had the niche of being a baseball game for Xbox fans, but it didn’t always produce the goods.
2K13 was an obvious carbon copy of 2K12, with no additional modes. Some select online modes such as leagues were cut due to the fact the game was developed in 4 months. The reason for such a short time? The MLB-2K license was bound to expire.
Usually, last sports games end with a bang (MLB 05: The Show, NFL 2K5, NCAA Football 14) but MLB 2K13 ended with a whimper. On Metacritic, it received a fan score of 3.5 and a critic score of 48 (Xbox 360).
4 RBI Baseball 17 (38)
When 2K stopped releasing baseball games, someone else had to step up to the plate. And that someone was old ’80s and ’90s friend RBI Baseball. The games were immediately met with immense negative reception, and RBI Baseball 17 is no different.
RBI focuses on being arcadey and simple, and well, at least it achieves that, perhaps to a fault. The main game itself feels like a mini-game. Tons of issues weigh the game down, such as bad fielding mechanics and really dull presentation despite trying to be flashy and fun.
Like all the modern-day RBI games, 17 was torched by fans and critics on Metacritic.
3 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (PC) (43)
Usually, the EA Tiger Woods/PGA games are pretty solid, fun enough for the standard golf fan, so what’s the deal with this one? And why specifically the PC version? Well, EA had never really concentrated much on the PC for the series. Before this game, the last CD-based PC Tiger game was back in 2008. The main game that fans had to deal with was a clunky, browser-based free-to-play game called Tiger Woods Online. It was infested with micro-transactions and PC fans craved a mainline entry.
Well, EA listened, somewhat. Based on advertisements, it sounded like a great port of the already solid console versions of PGA 12. However, that was not the case. The game was a slightly “improved” version of TWO but animations and graphics were subpar. The icing on the cake was that this game offered a free 3-month subscription to TWO. Because of this, fans and critics blasted this game on Metacritic, giving it a fan score of 2.1 and a critic score of 43. Double bogey.
2 FIFA 20: Legacy Edition (Switch) (43)
FIFA had a strong start to the decade. Sadly, in the past few years, EA’s franchise hasn’t been seen in the same light. Gameplay has shifted to being hyper-realistic instead of a blend of arcade action and simulation. The game tries to be arcadey by introducing House Rules in FIFA 19 but the core gameplay, especially online, became one-note and sweaty.
The series has gone stagnant. The perfect example of this stagnation is FIFA 20 on the Switch. Called “Legacy Edition,” it’s essentially FIFA 19 on the Switch but with a roster update, while still using the same engine and physics as FIFA 16.
While critics and users do not always agree when it comes to FIFA, this version is an outlier, as both fans and critics agree this game is a waste of money.
1 WWE 2K20 (43)
The WWE series has always been a solid, albeit unspectacular sports series. One of the main reasons people have loved the WWE series is the sheer customization in the game, an element WWE 2K20 mostly neglects.
The launch of this game was one of the worst in recent history. Bugs and glitches were literally everywhere. People were able to create some Frankenstein-tier monstrosities due to the glitches. And when the game lost control, it let everything loose.
Beyond the hilarious bugs, the game is a downgrade from WWE 2K19 in nearly every way. Fans and critics were quick to bomb this game on Metacritic, as it scored a pitiful 1.4 fan score and a 43 critic score (PS4).
NEXT: 10 Hilarious WWE 2K20 Memes Only True Fans Understand
