For those who like a little bit of challenge, and don’t care about the story in the game and sometimes graphics, sports games are a really good genre in that case. On top of that, most sports games offer licensed teams and players from your favorite sport or league, so it’s, even more, fun when you control your favorite player and score a goal. Sports games are now widely popular and some of them are introduced in E-Sports competitions, played on a world basis, from all around the globe. Another interesting fact about sports games is that they aren’t sold that well, compared to FPS or RPG games, but that doesn’t mean they are bad. That being said, let me remind you how great sports games are, on our list. Here are the best sports games for PC.
1. FIFA 18
Year after year, FIFA continues to amaze us with its stunning graphics, great gameplay, and smooth controls. This year, it’s the same case. EA Games FIFA 18 is, at this moment, the most popular soccer simulation, offering brand new gameplay, with fully licensed teams and players, and phenomenal graphics. It’s very good optimized and works well on PC, and if you decide to buy it for your console, you’ll get a continuation of the story from the last FIFA game. With 52 fully licensed teams from 12 countries and some new stadiums, I’m sure that you’ll be satisfied with this football sports game, even after the release of the new FIFA next year.
2. Pro Evolution Soccer 2018
Right after FIFA 2018, PES 2018 is the second most popular soccer simulation. While FIFA embraces the more realistic approach, PES has always been known for more of an arcade approach to the gameplay. This year, however, PES 2018 brought very realistic gameplay, offering many licensed teams, although some of them aren’t, as it’s known for PES games. Gameplay-wise, PES 2018 is buttery smooth, and it’s even available for PS3 and Xbox 360, so you can play it wherever you want.
3. Project Cars 2
Project Cars 2 is an epitome of sports racing, offering stunning visuals and a great, rather complex gameplay. The visuals here are amazing and let me discourage you-you’ll need a strong machine to run this game properly, I’m sorry. Aside from that, this racing simulation is very realistic, depending on the difficulty you set, which means that you can drive in some sort of arcade mode, or simulation mode, which is just for professional racers, and the steering wheel is recommended. Overall, this is a very nice game, whose price has recently dropped a little bit, so you’ll maybe want to get it.
4. WWE 2K18
WWE 2K18 continues where the older titles in the series left off. It’s a professional wrestling game in which you can choose your wrestler and fight with other wrestlers. However, the graphics are improved, along with swift controls introduced here. The interesting mode is where 8 fighters can participate in a single match, which results in the complete and brutal carnage. It’s cool, and I recommend trying it! WWE 2K18 also supports multiplayer, and if you like to play a career mode, you can do it in the MyCareer menu. Good luck and fight well!
5. Football Manager 2017
Football Manager games have always been played by a small group of people, as these games require patience and are generally more complex. Football Manager 2017 is the newest installment in the series and offers the same gameplay as the older ones, but with slightly improved graphics. There really isn’t anything special about the game, as it’s the classic, old-school manager game, which I recommend to hardcore Football Manager lovers.
6. Virtua Tennis 4
I know that Virtua Tennis 4 isn’t the newest tennis game, but wait for a second; when did we get a solid tennis game after this one? Well, never. Virtua Tennis 4 is the last great tennis game, that offers quality tennis gameplay and popular tennis players like Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Roddick (retired), and popular women tennis players. The new camera system was also introduced here, so players will always be at the bottom of the screen, aside from being on the upper side, which can be very difficult to play. You can get Virtua Tennis 4 almost for free now, it’s that cheap.
7. Rocket League
It’s not strange that this small and simple game is always at the very top of the sports games list. Rocket League offers great car soccer (if I can call it like that), where you can play soccer using your car. It’s the game I’ve always dreamed of, and now it’s here. There aren’t penalties, goal outs, and similar, but a pure carnage on the field, with cars colliding and driving to the ball. It’s insane how this game manages to attract the attention, keeping it until the very last moment of the match. What an intense game!
8. NBA 2K18
NBA 2K18 doesn’t bring anything new to the table, aside from better graphics, but why fix it if it’s not broken? This game works well, and the gameplay is simple, so it’s good for newbies to the NBA simulations. Aside from some exhibition matches, you can play, there are modes like MyCareer, where you can play with the player you created, or MyGM and MyLeague modes where you can create your own custom league. However, the game is a little expensive, so think about whether it’s worth your money or not.
9. Steep
For fans of extreme sports, Ubisoft Annecy released the game called Steep. The game is set in an open world environment, in which the player can fully explore (from the TP or FP perspective) The Alps and Denali. There are four main activities here; wingsuit flying, paragliding, snowboarding, and skiing and the player can participate in whatever event he wants. Steep can also be played online, and this is an even better experience, offering unforgettable moments.
10. F1 2017
Fans of the F1 game series will be happy to hear that F1 2017 is out. But is it any good? To be honest, it’s a damn good game! Aside from classic racing in your favorite F1 car, featuring various weather changes and conditions, F1 2017 now has an expanded team management mode. This allows the player to further research and develop car parts, which can later be used in building his own car. F1 2017 is now an E-Sports title, so you can play it multiplayer versus the other players.
11. Assetto Corsa
Out of all sports games, racing simulations are the most complex games to develop, and Assetto Corsa is a great example of such a game. Aside from stunning visuals, this game has tons of tons of options you can tweak and switch to make your driving more comfortable or harder, depends on you. The game has a dynamic weather system, so you can choose to race in the rain, sun, day or night. Also, there are over 100 licensed cars, and because of its open-source nature, users are still developing modes and additional cars for the game.
12. NBA Playgrounds
NBA Playgrounds is a great basketball simulation game, with cartoonish artwork and graphics, which looks great in the game. NBA Playgrounds lets players choose from both active and retired NBA stars and play one vs one in various modes like an exhibition or tournament. The players can be upgraded and there is a satisfying leveling system, which is great if you want to play it multiplayer, versus the other players.
13. iRacing
iRacing is an online racing simulation, based on subscriptions. That means that you’ll need to subscribe to the service, in order to play the game. Feature-wise, iRacing offers league races, special events, and practice sessions that are fun and enjoyable to play. The car tracks are realistic, racing events are real and the cars are licensed, for full enjoyment. However, as this is a sports game, you’ll need to embrace the racing rules which the game will set for you.
14. Super Mega Baseball
Super Mega Baseball might look a little cartoonish, with not that great graphics, but believe me, it’s one hell of a simulation! The game boasts some serious difficulty, and if you don’t know anything about baseball, now you’ll know. Aside from singleplayer mode, there is a multiplayer mode, but it’s a local-based mode, so you’ll need to play it using a LAN connection. If you like a fair challenge and don’t care much about graphics, Super Mega Baseball will offer you some quality, responsive, and swift gameplay that will satisfy all your needs when it comes to baseball.
15. 100ft Robot Golf
For a price that is three times cheaper than any AAA game, you can get 100ft Robot Golf and have hours of fun with it. It’s a mecha golf game, where you can choose your own mecha and play versus CPU or the other players online. The good thing here is that every mecha has different abilities and powers, so you’ll need some time to experiment with each and find which one suits you. Once you do that, possibilities are endless and the game becomes more interesting. 100 ft Robot Golf is a great game, but it’s heavily underrated; a pity!
16. MotoGP 2015
If you ever watched MotoGP races, you know they are intense, fast, and very dangerous. Well, you can now become the bike racer in the MotoGP race with the new MotoGP 2015. The game looks gorgeous and the motorcycles feel great, responsive, and sound very aggressive, although it’s best to turn off the background music to better hear them. MotoGP 2015 offers famous racers that you’ll race within your career or exhibition mode and you can upgrade, paint, or modify your motorcycles to have a better racing experience.
17. Pro Beach Soccer
I remember back in the day when I played this game with my friends and it was 14 years ago! Oh my god, time really flies. The core gameplay is an arcade, so don’t expect a heavy-duty simulation from this one. This game is the beach soccer at its best, offering tons of countries you can play with and some cool tricks to do while playing because beach soccer was always an attractive sport. There is an exhibition mode, as well as arcade mode which is bloody hard, especially the last match, so you’ll need some skills to play it. The graphics might not be great, but the nostalgia is strong with this one!
18. NHL 17
NHL 17 is the finest example of an ice hockey game, you can buy and play. All of the teams here are licensed, and the graphics are really gorgeous for a game of this type. Let’s face the truth, ice hockey games aren’t the most popular out there, and this is the only one that managed to capture my attention. The gameplay is smooth, and the controls are responsive, which I’m very glad. The AI will also challenge the players very well if played at higher difficulties, so try to start from the easier difficulty.
19. GRID Autosport
GRID Autosports comes from Codemasters, a company that’s been known for some pretty decent games. This game, however, is a mixed bag as I’m not sure whether to call it a simulation or arcade racing game. It’s really the best of both worlds, with the possibility of tweaking the settings further to suit your driving style. Aside from licensed cars, GRID also offers some licensed as well as non-licensed tracks which are really challenging and good for racing, so you’ll have a good time with GRID Autosport.
20. DiRT Rally
DiRT Rally makes a comeback to the old school rally racing, similar to the classic Colin McRae games. When it comes to features, DiRT Rally offers 17 licensed cars and 36 stages from the most popular rally countries like Norway, Germany, Portugal, and similar. The game will put you to the test by attacking you with various stages, from the snowy mountains of Norway to grainy, sluggish stages in Portugal and a pure asphalt in Germany. You couldn’t ask more of a rally racing simulation!