EA Big rips off itself for lackluster 'NFL Tour'

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"NFL Tour"Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3Genre: SportsPublisher: EA BigESRB Rating: E, for EveryoneGrade: 2 stars out of 5When a game company has one game that fills a niche, why would it make a similar game that is worse than the one it already has?If you buy "NFL Tour," you'll be scratching your head thinking about this while you curse yourself for not keeping your money and just playing that "NFL Street" game you already own."NFL Tour" is a cheap way for EA Big to make money, because all it did was take its "NFL Street" title and move it into more arenalike settings. Beyond that, there's so little difference that you wonder how the developers pitched this without being laughed out of the room.But then again, some people who like Midway's "Blitz" franchise might like to buy a new NFL arcade game, where defense is pointless and being the last player with the ball means you'll most likely get to score and win the game. The game play is fun and the controls are good, but there's little else to warm you to this.Player models are not impressive at all. And if you can make it through three games of Trey Wingo's gawd-awful announcing, then you should get a gift from EA (like a refund).It's one thing to crib ideas off a rival's game, but for EA to steal from itself to make a competing game just smacks of taking advantage of the consumer."Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity"Platforms: Wii, PlayStation 2Genre: RacingPublisher: SegaESRB Rating: E, for EveryoneGrade: 1 starMaybe it's time for a radical change. Like "Sonic: The Death Fight." Or "Sonic: The RPG." Wait, maybe "Sonic: The First-Person Shooter."I make these suggestions because "Sonic: The Race That Never Ends" is getting old and tired. Fast.In "Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity," there's a plot that's not worth explaining, and some characters that are not worth discussing. Basically, you have to solve a mystery, and somehow racing on a hover board will make everything OK. Trust me, it doesn't.I didn't always dislike "Sonic" games, but the franchise has not made any attempts to stay fresh -- as evidenced by the lack of ingenuity in "Zero Gravity."There is a pretty cool slingshot gimmick that makes the races fun for a brief moment, but beyond that it's "been there, done that."The levels are all glitzy and lovely, as one can expect from a "Sonic" game, but that doesn't offset the fact that after you beat this game in about three hours, you'll wonder why you dropped full price on a game this thin."Swashbucklers: Blue vs. Grey"Platforms: PlayStation 2, PCGenre: SportsPublisher: AtariESRB Rating: M, for MatureGrade: 1.5 starsDarn tootin' this has to be one of the most blatant rip-offs of another game in recent memory. When you hear the word "swashbuckler," what do you conjure up? A pirate, right? Well, if you're in for a good laugh, get two laptops and load up "Swashbucklers" and "Sid Meier's Pirates!" and watch the mirror images play off each other.Except for some new window dressing -- like costume changes and some environmental alterations -- there's little difference between these two. Except that "Pirates" was fun to play and "Blue vs. Grey" most definitely is not. Most of the good elements of "Pirates" have been stripped away.The game play consists of making shipping runs from port to port, making money and trying to capture enemy ships and loot. It's all tedious and useless, because it has no bearing on your overall progression and success. Making money is easy, be it through open sea warfare or mini-games. There just doesn't seem to be a point to any of it.Go play "Pirates!" and leave "Blue vs. Grey" at the bottom of the ocean where it belongs.(Contact Chris Campbell at game_on_games(at)mac.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)