Ranking The Best NFL Video Games Of All-Time

10) NFL Blitz

The leading arcade effort in NFL gameplay, NFL Blitz was clunky in parts, it was imperfect, but it was a fun experience.

This was no accurate NFL betting simulator, but it provided gamers with hours of entertainment. It also attracted criticism for unnecessary violence - particularly those trademark late hits.

What was a popular option faded when EA took the exclusive license. Midway, the developer of NFL Blitz, tried a couple of games with fake teams, but neither sold well despite largely positive reviews.

EA took over much of Midway when the company went bankrupt, however, giving Blitz fans hope. EA released NFL Blitz in 2012 PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – they have not brought out another game since.

9) Troy Aikman Football

Chaos is the best word for this game. Some might see it as glorious chaos, others might find the music and menus enough to bring on a headache.

The gameplay is better than the initial impression and the graphics are fine. It’s not spectacular, and reviewers were not kind at the time of its 1994 release.

Praise is given for the ability to create your own plays and having full licenses, but there were plenty of two-star grades floating around.

Perhaps most off-putting was the player ratings. A lot of teams were flat out unplayable, with Aikman’s Cowboys by far the best team on the game.

8) NFL Gameday

Sony swung big on getting into the NFL video game market. They held their own for a short while with this arcadey effort in NFL Gameday, but they, like so many others, were flattened when EA acquired exclusive rights.

In truth, NFL Gameday was already struggling by that point. It started solidly, with fans enjoying its different look.

With Madden outselling them, though, Sony’s subsidiary 989 Sports drifted towards realism as they tried to compete. It didn’t work.

It wasn’t all bad – NFL Gameday briefly held the record for bestselling PlayStation game and sold over 300,000 companies following its first release in 1995.

7) Madden 18

Madden 18 saw EA dive into the storyline mode with Longshot.

This was a similar venture to MyCareer on NBA 2K and FIFA’s Journey mode, an attempt to put the gamer in the shoes of a young player on their journey to the NFL and it was generally well-received.

The gameplay was hit and miss, and the introduction of the frostbite engine didn’t change the game as much as some had hoped.

Any Madden with a significant new game mode is pivotal in the history of the franchise.

6) NCAA Football 2014

Okay, this is a bit of a cheat. NCAA Football obviously isn’t an NFL game, but let’s run with it anyway.

It’s still American football, and many of the star players on this game went on to get drafted into the NFL. This was the last in the NCAA series – it’s bizarre that college football fans cannot get a modern video game.

There’s a nostalgia element to the long-running love for this game. It was still a great game, though, with an already deep dynasty mode built on further, allowing gamers to take an irrelevant program all the way to the title game.

The recruitment was as in-depth as anyone could have hoped for. It can’t be long until they bring NCAA Football back in some form.

5) NFL 2K1

NFL 2K1 was absolutely adored. Critics loved this one, giving it a whopping 97 score on Metacritic, making it one of the best-reviewed sports games in history.

The online feature was a major breakthrough in NFL gaming, and the intelligence of the AI drew plaudits.

Released in 2000, this game has stood the test of time. It continues to get positive reviews two decades after it was first played.

4) NFL Street

FIFA Street was a massive success. NFL Street didn’t land the same attention, but it was just as good a game.

The player creator was ahead of its time for the 2004 release. The gameplay worked well despite the unusual settings and NFL players in their virtual street clothes didn’t look as strange as we might have expected.

The GameBreaker allowed gamers to pull off extraordinary plays. There was room aplenty for ingenuity and flair.

Without the pressure to keep up to date year after year, NFL Street would provide a good evening’s entertainment even now.

3) Madden 11

EA have rarely nailed games. Madden 11 was no different. The offensive line was so-so and there were bugs that irritated gamers.

A fresh kicking meter and new animations made for a sure fire improvement, however, and the introduction of Ultimate Team was as big a game changer as there has been in NFL gaming history.

It was only a shell of a mode compared to what we have in the recent editions of the game, but it was the start of something that has become the main component of each Madden.

2) Madden 2005

The best effort from EA to date, Madden 2005 had Ray Lewis on the cover, bringing a massive defensive change to the game. They did the unthinkable: They made defence enjoyable.

You won't see many of the Madden 2005 players involved in our NFL expert picks but many legends do appear in the latest version of the EA game. To this day, it is widely regarded as the benchmark for the Madden franchise.

Madden 2005 is EA’s strongest game in their lengthy NFL series so far. Others have had bigger, bolder introductions, but from a pure gameplay perspective, 2005 was their peak.

1) ESPN NFL 2K5

A story of what could have been for NFL gaming fans. ESPN NFL 2K5 is universally regarded as the best NFL video game ever, but it was the last in the series as EA and the NFL reached an exclusive long-term agreement.

NFL fans are left crossing their fingers for the 2K partnership to be restarted. This was the benchmark for NFL video games, a game that brought a revolutionary first-person mode and aced everything about the aesthetic elements of the game.

Terrell Owens had the honour of being cover athlete for this gem. Metacritic gives NFL 2K5 a rating of 92, an historically good mark for a sports game.

Every NFL game since has been looking to receive as positive response as NFL 2K5 got. EA’s Madden series is still waiting to produce such a perfect game.