Yes, it's that time of year again. Stand by as the sports video games flood the market. Hayden Meikle checks out two of the heavy hitters.
From: 2K Sports
For: PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
Rating: (G)
Four and a half stars (out of five)
On the cover
Three superstars - Steph Curry, James Harden and Anthony Davis - are on three unique covers.
What's new
Movie director Spike Lee, a huge NBA fan, was enlisted this year to write the story for the My Career mode, and it's a very cool journey from high school to the big leagues.
There are some new classic teams.
And, most importantly, there are now 1500 - yes, 1500 - tattoos that can be applied to players you create.
I like
NBA 2K remains the gold standard for presentation of a sports video game.
Everything looks, feels and, I swear, SMELLS like basketball.
The player models are phenomenal.
And there are just so many hours to be lost to so many deep, deep modes.
If you only have the funds to get one sports game this year, make it NBA 2K16.
I don't like
Same old story: the overall difficulty level is often too high for any casual fans of the series.
It wouldn't kill 2K to dumb it down a little to allow some of us to actually be more successful.
Also, isn't it time the Australian league (including our Breakers) was included?
From: EA Sports
For: PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC
Rating: (G)
Four stars (out of five)
On the cover
Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi.
Plus, in this part of the world, veteran Australian Tim Cahill.
PLUS a third footballer - Australian women's (gasp) international Steph Catley.
What's new
Yes, you just read that correctly.
WOMEN.
In a welcome (if long overdue) move, Electronic Arts has included women's football in its biggest game.
Exciting stuff.
Pleasingly, developers did not just plonk generic women's faces on existing game models but actually brought in top female footballers to capture their movements and style.
There are just 12 national teams available, and no career mode or anything, but it's a great start.
Elsewhere, there is a new training tool that can be turned on or off, a couple of new passing buttons, and some pretty new graphics and presentations.
I like
Pretty much everything. On the field, there is significant improvement in the realism of gameplay, particularly on defence.
The game retains phenomenal depth thanks to the presence of so many modes.
Career mode is deep, whether you control a whole team or just an individual player. Ultimate Team has plenty of goodies to keep you interested.
And you can lose hours to online play if you don't mind being whipped by ridiculously good teenagers from Switzerland.
I don't like
The game pace is still too fast, and too pinball-ish at times.
And, lord help me, the colour scheme in career mode is sickly and makes reading emails almost impossible.
