Best Xbox 360 sports games of 2011

We've decided that sport on the Xbox 360 is infinitely better than sport in real life. You see whereas normal sport is the same every year, barring the odd minor costume change, that simply wouldn't fly with sports games.

They have to get better every year, or we kick up a big old stink. If real sport was like Xbox 360 we'd have robot rugby players, rocket powered cricket bats and, you'd hope, goal line technology.

The prayers of a zillion rugger fans were finally answered when not one but two egg-chasing sims turned up at once. The lesser of the two arrived first, and with the more desirable license - Rugby World Cup was superficial fun, but unlikely to last you beyond your team tumbling out of the tournament. With its vast array of club sides, more sophisticated mechanics and even a decent approximation of the international tournaments Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge was a much more substantial offering. Sadly licensing grumbles meant it came out after the home countries were on their planes back to the northern hemisphere. Hopefully it was just about popular enough to warrant a sequel, with less artistic license on the fictional international kits please.

Golfing fans finally received the course they'd been waiting for ever since the click-to-swing golf game was invented all those years ago. The iconic August Masters tournament was recreated in the series formerly known as Tiger Woods, allowing you to pitch and putt your way around arguably the most beautiful golf course in the world. Sadly, Kinect support didn't make it into this year's instalment, but fingers crossed the course will be in next year's, presumably Kinect-enabled, iteration.

Motorsport had an excellent year with the official Formula One 2011 game building on its strong debut. Multiplayer was the focus this time around and licensed game or no, you won't find a more fully featured multiplayer racing game around. Up to 12 players can mix it up with the rest of the grid filled with AI drivers, meaning the first corner of every online race looks and feels as frantic as a proper F1 race. What's more, the co-operative championship is beautifully implemented and has us dreaming of a Forza Motorsport 5 with the same feature.

An honourable mention has to go to WRC 2, which in spite of ropey visuals managed to cling onto a seven out of ten thanks to a career mode that provide just enough to fiddle with in between rallies and the chance to progress to a World Championship drive. Don't expect next year's game to lean quite as hard on the official license if Milestone's new game MUD is anything to go by, though.

We were expecting Virtua Tennis 4 to wow with its Kinect support, but actually that was the limpest part of the game. Instead it was the bizarre World Tour mode that had barely-tennis-themed mini games to distract you from the serious business of a grand slam championship. If you're happy to let Top Spin 4 take care of the more simulation corner of the court - which it does so admirably - then VT4's more arcadey take is the perfect excuse to call for more balls, please.

The yearly clash of the footballing titles took a largely predictable route, with Pro Evo talking a big game and making genuine improvements, but ending up trailing the juggernaut that is FIFA 12. Still, how many football games allow you to attempt the equivalent of patting your head and rubbing your stomach by controlling two players at once? Well, not the other football game, at least.

Source: http://www.oxm.co.uk/37316/features/best-xbox-360-sports-games-of-2011/?cid=OTC-RSS&attr=OXM-Features-RSS

childish gambino camp drake take care tracklist drake take care tracklist dr murray trial take care drake cain accuser aesop rock