Game Reviews
Detailed analysis from our experts of sport manager games
Review of DDS Pro Basketball 2018 – For a basketball franchise, no game does it better
I have been a member of the sim gaming community for about twenty years now. In that time, I have been fortunate to see several games, most notably Out of the Park, where I have been a member of the beta team for several years, grow from a smaller game with several good ideas into a global game that, at some points, tries to do too much for a broad audience. (This is ...[Read More]
Review – An immersive, intuitive basketball game in DDSCB18
It’s been awhile since I reviewed a game. Often, life gets in the way. Adulting happens. If you’re like me, your ability to play games becomes somewhat scarce. As a result, your collection of games may shrink as well. Therefore, you may become more critical about the games you choose. This is true of any genre. In the last decade, the prevailing thought in the sim gam...[Read More]
Review – How do you improve on perfection? OOTP 18 found a way.
One of the hardest things I do every year is write a review for the latest edition of OOTP. I’ve written on a number of occasions that they just keep improving on what was already perfection, and that’s again the case with this year’s edition (OOTP 18), which is absolutely incredible after I took a year-long hiatus from writing reviews. To that end, it has to be even ...[Read More]
Review of DDS Pro Basketball 2017 – Wolverine Builds On The Best Game Nobody Knows
Several of the major players in the market have offered strong games this year, with a bounty of games coming out within the last two months. Wolverine Studios have been at the forefront, releasing several games (and with a couple of more in the pipeline, rumors say). Gary Gorski has positioned his company well as a one-stop shop for sports games going into 2017. But ...[Read More]
Review of DDS Pro Basketball 2016 – Beginning to shine under the hood
Gary Gorski, the man behind the Draft Day Sports series, may have unlocked the secret to an immersive, successful basketball simulation. When it comes to the genre, there are two main divides: Draft Day Sports, delivered by Wolverine Studios, and the Fast Break series, published by GreyDog. I have rather extensive playing experience with both, and both have their pros...[Read More]
Review of Out of the Park Baseball (OOTP 17) – Takes the throne and improves on it
March has come around once again. With real life baseball players reporting to camps and playing games for this year’s Spring Training, baseball season is looming. This means a new installment of Out of the Park Developments premiere franchise, Out of the Park Baseball, a franchise long storied as one of the best when it comes to text-based GM games. Start Menu...[Read More]
Review of Draft Day Sports: Pro Football 2016 – Is their first dance together a good one?
Reviewer’s Note: This game was reviewed using version 1.0.3 DDS: PF 2016 is the long-awaited American football text simulator from Wolverine Studios. The lead developer is none other than Brooks Piggott who decided to merge his Barcode Games’ Professional Football Simulator franchise with Wolverine Studios in 2015. The move seems to make a lot of sense as a seasoned d...[Read More]
Review of Pro Basketball Manager 2016 – Promising though not fully polished
Reviewer’s Note: This game was reviewed using a pre-release copy up to version 1.0.0.7 Pro Basketball Manager 2016 (PBM2016) reminds me of a pro prospect whose raw abilities are promising, but still are not fully polished. It certainly has flashes of brilliance, and its future could be really bright, but the question is: Do you want to take a chance on it now? But bef...[Read More]
Review of Franchise Hockey Manager 2 – What a difference two years makes!
After two years, OOTP Developments are back with a brand new release of Franchise Hockey Manager. Unlike the previous two iterations (namely FHM 2013 beta and FHM 2014), this latest version drops the year from its name and is simply called FHM 2. This might seem like a very minor thing, but it marks something more significant and very positive for hockey sim fans: Fin...[Read More]
Review of Fast Break Pro Basketball 3 (PC) – One of the deepest pro basketball simulators on the market
FastBreak Pro Basketball 3 (FBPB3) reminds you that a sports-text sim doesn’t have to be able to do everything in order to provide a good gaming experience. Like a dependable, gritty power forward in basketball, FBPB3 may not be flashy or even revolutionary, but what it does, it does well. Released in 2013, FBPB3 is the latest from Brian Nichols, the creator of FastBr...[Read More]
Review of MLB Manager 2015 – A game that’ll be a time killer
If you go into playing MLB Manager 2015 with the idea that you’re getting a stripped-down version of OOTP ‘16 for your desktop, well, that’ll tell part of the story. Sure, there isn’t as much details as a game that we gave a 98/100 just a couple months ago. And for an iOS game, of course that level of detail won’t be able to be condensed down into a version that’ll fi...[Read More]
Review of Front Office Football 7 FOF7 (PC) – The reinvigorated brainchild of Jim Gindin
Front Office Football 7 is out to prove that we should never judge a book by its cover – or should we say, “A text-sim by its user interface.” Underneath the reams of text and uninspiring-looking menus hums a beauty of a pro football simulator. Front Office Football 7 (FOF7) is the reinvigorated brainchild of Jim Gindin who first developed Front Office Football back i...[Read More]