ESPN NFL 2K5

"Another average sports game from Visual Concepts"

Madden 93 is widely considered by many people to be the best edition of Madden ever made. It was made by a small company called Visual Concepts, who went on to make other games. Such as Floigan Brothers, Ooga Booga and all of the 2k franchises, including the NFL2k franchise. However, while most of these games are good and have brought them success, they have never been able to topple to franchise they helped make so popular.

Last year, Madden 2004 was the best selling game of the year. That's best selling game, not just sports game. It launched earlier than ESPN did, and received better reviews. It was just a better game. This year, SEGA is pulling out all of the stops to make sure they have some advantages this time around. For starters, ESPN is a budget title right off the bat. $19.99 is all you need this year. While many people are praising SEGA for "catering to the fans" and "charging the 'right' price for sports games", it should be said that the title is only $20 because Take-2 is co-publishing it this year, thus lowering costs for Sega and allowing the cheaper price. The game also launched July 20th. In comparison, last years game didn't launch until September 2nd. That's a huge difference, especially considering Madden isn't out until August 9th. So not only is ESPN the cheapest football title this year, it's also the earliest pro title out.

Welcome to SportsCenter
A few years ago when SEGA announced they were partnering with ESPN, I didn't really think much of it. Last year the partnership wasn't emphasized too much either.

This year is a completely different story. Playing a game of ESPN NFL2k5 is exactly like watching a game of ESPN Sunday Night Football, complete with two moronic announcers. The camera angles, cut scenes, stat layouts, etc… all mirror ESPN's actual games perfectly. It adds a whole new sense of realism to the game.

Other areas of the presentation aren't up to par though. The menus are horrible, particularly menus once you get into franchise mode and the online modes. SEGA always has problems with menus. You'd think they'd have it down by now but apparently not.

Graphics
The last few years, the 2k games have been developed on PS2 and simply ported over to the XBox. This year the game was built from the ground up for the XBox console and the game looks much better than it ever has before. The player models shine, the animations are just beautiful and everything has that next-gen look to it. NFL2k5 has done to football graphics what NFL2k did years ago; taken them to a whole new level.

The best visual area of the game is its animations. They are all very fluid and realistic. There are also great weather effects and wonderfully detailed stadiums. There are a couple of small problems though. There's loads of clipping and the game bogs down a bit sometimes. Not often but the slowdown is kind of severe. Overall though, this is the best looking football game ever made. Madden only wishes it could look like this.

Sound
In a football game there are only two real areas in which sound is important. Commentary and music, because those are the two things you'll be hearing most. SEGA still has the same two jackasses commentating games, Dan Stevens and Peter O' Keefe. And they still have the same old lame ass one liners. Thankfully this year, they repeat themselves far less. They also keep up with the action for a change this year. In past versions of the game, they would lag behind the action far too many times. Now they always stay with the current play. They put Madden to shame. The music though, pales in comparison to Madden's variety of up and coming breakout bands.

Once you start a game, the sound is very nice. Player chatter is more active than ever. You even hear players yelling things when the chain gang comes on the field to measure for a first down. You'll even hear your QB mutter some angry words as he walks towards the bench and throws his helmet down after losing the ball or throwing an INT. ESPN has the most realistic and immersive sound of any football game ever made.

Gameplay
The 2k series has always had gameplay that set itself apart from the Madden franchise. While in Madden players were always restricted by realistic momentum and physics, the 2k games always utilized arcade like movement, 10 yard player dives and a chargeable power meter enabling players to pull off more effective special moves. It was like a mix of Madden and NFL Blitz. Over the last few years though ESPN has slowly begun incorporating Madden style features into the gameplay, such as toning down the length of dives and adding momentum.

This year feels like a completely new game. Running the ball actually takes finesse and skill now rather than just running around tapping triangle to break tackles and stopping to turn on a dime. Now if you take a back and try to run around Blitz-style, your player is going to trip over himself and you won't be getting any yards. The game takes it one step further too and bases it all on speed and weight. A guy like Clinton Portis can make cuts and jukes like nothing. A guy like Ricky Williams though, will have to rely more on his power and a "north to south" running game.

Passing the ball is basically the same as in last year's game, as there have been little changes. Players actually catch the ball sometimes now, so that's always good. The passing game is great, requiring both the right timing of passes and just the right touch on the ball to get it to your player before defenders can get close and jar the ball loose.

Most of the problems on offense are AI. When running, far too often your lineman or fullback will simply run right by someone and leave you alone to deal with them. The momentum in the game is also a bit off. Sometimes you can be running one way and slightly touch the analog stick and your player freezes on the ground like he'd just jumped out of the back of a speeding truck. There are problems with the passing game as well. For starters there are still far too many dropped passes. Sorry SEGA, but these guys are professionals. There are plenty of drops in the NFL but when I have a starter wide open, he should catch the ball. Players also, for no apparent reason, like to dive for a ball that is easily catchable running. When they dive of course they miss it, big time, and a defender is almost always left wide open for the interception. Also, your players will get mugged quite a bit with no calls whatsoever. It just gets a little annoying watching a LB battle my TE across the middle a good 10 yards+ away from the line of scrimmage, and then hold him some more when I throw the ball, and get no call at all.

Defensively, this game is an absolute headache. For starters, all of the players are slow. Peyton Manning can scramble outside for 5-10 yards a pop easily outrunning defensive lineman. Troy Hambrick of the Raiders can consistently outrun the entire Denver defense. It's just completely unrealistic in most cases. The momentum throws you off a lot too. Sometimes you can make a cut fine and go for a tackle. Other times you can barely tap at the analog stick and your player almost breaks his ankles trying to stop and turn. Hell, I always control the safeties when I play and I cannot count how many times my safeties have tripped over themselves and left another DB alone in deep coverage because I, from a standing position reading the QB, tried to quickly go upfield.

Again, these people are world class athletes and it should look like it on the screen. It shouldn't look like a group of friends and me at the local park playing some football.

The passing AI in this game is offensive. It is far too easy to complete passes in double, even triple coverage. There are more than a few "money routes" that while not always successful, can be completed 70-80% of the time, which is good enough. Example? The post route ran by a good pass-catching TE. Or just watch when a deep ball is thrown. Defenders will sit and literally run around in circles waiting for the ball to come down. Also, why does SEGA always feel the need to make things needlessly tedious? Take QB spy for example. God forbid they simply write a QB spy assignment into some of the plays. Oh no, that would be too simple. You have to select a zoned defender, take him out of his zone, bring up his button and order him to spy the QB. And with the sluggish controls, half the time it won't even work.

Defending the run is even worse. Remember those 10 yard dives the 2k series was built on? They are long gone this year. This year we have 0 yard dives. In fact, you might actually lose yards when you dive this year. It's useless. If you are chasing someone down, forget about it. You won't be diving for any foot tackle. Once they are by you, they are long gone unless you are just leagues faster than they are. Also, pursuit routes in this game are laughable at best. Leave a CPU controlled player alone to make a tackle and you might as well start walking off the field because it's a TD. Also, since VC emulates so many other Madden aspects, why not add something to alert your secondary that it is a run play? It gets so old watching safeties and corners be fooled by the same run plays again and again. And just wait till you log online and play people that like to scramble with guys like Vick and McNabb. Fun,fun. The game is not entirely bad though. The animations again blow any other sports game out of the water, the passing game is pretty good save a few rough edges, and the gang tackling on defense is just incredible to see.

Now let's talk new features. I'll only talk about vital features and leave out the disappointing or useless ones like VIP and Maximum Tackling. For starters there's a new mode called "ESPN 25th Anniversary" where you relive the 25 best moments of the last 25 years. SEGA's math is off though, because some of the games you replay are much older than 25 years. It's still a nice little feature for hardcore NFL fans though and it's nice to see them finally incorporate something like that.

There is a lot of talk about the franchise mode being improved but honestly... I just don't see it. And this is coming from a guy that eats, sleeps and breathes football franchises. If a game has a franchise mode, I will buy it. ESPN's franchise though is average at best. SEGA has always trailed the competition in this area… this year is no different. The main new addition is the 'weekly prep' feature. Essentially you control your team's workouts, practices... basically their lives. However, this process takes a very long time and you will usually gain no more than a few points for some players, if any at all and often times you lose points. The feature is just tedious and confusing. There are plenty of FAQS out for it now online, but what about the many people who don't come online? What are they supposed to do? That's not all either. Try signing a free agent in franchise mode. Again, while other football games go for the simpler, more straightforward approach, SEGA makes things needlessly tedious and very annoying. You offer someone something, then you have to proceed the day and see if they like it. 99% of the time you can't even tell if someone else gave them a better offer and you really never have any clue if they are going to sign with you or not. And in a multiple-user franchise holy hell, it is even worse. Say you and two buddies are going through it together, all 3 of your FA targets are piled into one menu area and you automatically offer them all contracts by looking at one. Many other aspects of the franchise just make it too unrealistic to play. There is no easy way to rank rookies. You must log all the way out of the off-season menu, into the EPSN.com section and cycle through emails, usually having to re-read an email a few times before the "new rookie report" email comes in. Then you go back and forth, back and forth ranking people and seeing who is best for you. Madden ranks them, ESPN puts them alphabetical. One game dominates sales charts, one game does not. You do the math. What is up with player salaries being directly related to their rating? I know a 99 rated player will likely make more money than someone warming the bench rated 69, but a 99 rated safety should not be asking for as much money as a 99 rated WR or HB; completely unrealistic. Rounding out the problems with the franchise is a lackluster progression system. Stats and success seem to have no impact on a players rating. But it doesn't make sense. Take Clinton Portis for example. He is rated a 93 in the game after rushing for 1,500 yards+ in his first two years. Well, you can draft a RB and put up 1,800yds+ 2 years in a row and not even have the guy crack 80. How are you supposed to build a team when players don't progress much at all?

Naturally online is the other area where the new features come in. However, at the time of this writing, SEGA's servers are extremely unstable, very laggy and basically just ass altogether. Logging onto the game and having it not freezing is something I celebrate now. Records are almost always showing up 0-0-0-0, so playing someone online is basically a crapshoot. Hey, this person might be legit. Or then again, he/she might 'no-huddle 5 WR Culpepper scramble/Hail Mary Moss quit with 4 minutes left' on me. You never know. SEGA doesn't even have any lobbies online this year. So much for a sense of community.

The biggest draw online this year are the game's leagues, which no longer require a PC.

However, SEGA even found a way to screw those up. While there are plenty of options like teams, trade deadlines, playoff format and season length, the leagues are missing the most basic, common features. Want a real schedule? Too bad. Want real NFL divisions, conferences and playoff format? Too bad. We want to give you an awesome league setup with real-time stats and rankings and standings... but we can't really make it anything like the NFL. The biggest plus in leagues this year are trades. Online trades. No. Don't even work. I am in 5 leagues right now and yet to see a trade I have made and have had approved by the commish actually go through and work. We're almost 2 weeks past release here. Ridiculous. You can't even REPLACE an owner if they drop out of your league. Has SEGA never actually SEEN how a league works?

Overall
Wow, did SEGA drop the ball on this one or what? Launching three weeks earlier than Madden at less than half the price, this was their chance to gain some ground but they blew it. This game is a big hit or miss. If you can overlook the AI, bugs, its many rough edges and lackluster online offering, then be my guest. Those wanting a change of pace from Madden might enjoy it. While the passing game is great, the defense is a bore to play and there aren't really any modes or features that set it apart from even Madden 2004. The franchise is a waste. The online play is not even worth it right now. SEGA is supposedly fixing it but hey, that's what play testing is for.

Just remember when you see the $20 price tag. You get exactly what you pay for. For a below average price, you get a below average football title.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/18/04