ESPN NFL 2K5

"A Must Own Football Title"

I picked up ESPN Football 2K5 due to all of the hype, and the very inexpensive $20 price tag. I always played Madden, but I always liked and respected the 2K/ESPN series. I am happy to tell you that I am a converted man. This year's ESPN is a complete blast. It has its faults like any game, but I feel the game is more addictive than EA's Madden.

First off, lets take a look at the graphics. ESPN completely blows Madden's graphics out of the water. The lighting effects are better, the player models a lot more detailed, and the cheerleaders do not look like multicolored clones. The animations a lot better this year too. For instance, the stiff arm animations are completely awesome. Instead of a player bumping into a stiff arm like Madden, this game's stiff arm will actually push the player to the ground. Little improved animations such as this really make a difference in ESPN. I feel the fields and crowds look a lot better too. Madden fails to really update their graphics much, and ESPN really beef theirs up. It looks beautiful.

Presentation this year is pretty good too. It resembles the ESPN TV show Sports Center, and looks quite authentic. The host of the show is a game rendered player model that talks to you and shows you various things. I love how the presentation saves all of the big highlights and shows them off during replays, half time, and end game presentations. I really enjoy watching the high lights on this game, unlike Madden's which bored me..

Next up is the sound, it's better too! The players will actually yell out taunts to each other before snaps. Whenever a cutscene to the side lines, coaches, and players on field, there is speech going on between people. Commentary also seems a lot less repetitive this year and more interesting to listen to. My only complaint is that the grunts and tackle noises sound a tad bit arcade-like to me, but this is a minor gripe.

This year Sega has added a feature where you can customize music for your stadiums. You can have Custom Soundtracks on your Xbox play during various moments within gameplay like touchdowns, interceptions, and before plays. The game features an audio editor where you can add sections of a song to play during the moments you want them to play. This feature is amazing and really beef's up ESPN's appeal. The only problem with this feature is that the custom songs have a really loud volume, and requires a bit of tweaking with the sound settings to correct.

ESPN has a great, easy to use control scheme that gives you full control over the players and game. If you are a former Madden player, this will take some time to get used to. Players of last year's ESPN shouldn't have much trouble learning it at all. I feel that the control scheme here, when fully learned, is easier to use than Madden. Button configurations are set perfectly. If you think it's not, then ESPN includes a few extra control schemes to choose from.

This game is packed full of great features to play. The Crib mode will motivate you to play this game more and more. The more you play and the better you perform in a game rewards you with points for your Crib. These points are used to buy various items and collectibles for your virtual house. Crib mode also has celebrity challenges that you get by phone calls. This lets you play against celebrities and their teams. They taunt and talk to you throughout gameplay as well, it's very cool. This is by far one of the most fun features found in a Football game.

Other features include a beefed up Franchise mode, which includes a new Weekly Performance mode that helps you practice and improve your players before games. ESPN Anniversary mode lets you play legendary game moments in football history in the form of challenges, it's a lot of fun. Situation mode lets you set up a certain situation and play from there. There are tutorials and practice modes to help you get better at ESPN 2K5 as well.

A feature presented in last year's game is the First Person Football mode. At first I figured this would be a dumb gimmick to push more copies, but to my surprise it's a lot of fun and quite intense. You can play the game completely in first person, making it feel like you are right there in the game. It plays easier than it sounds. Some people may be turned off on this feature due to the lack of complete view of the field, but it's a fun mode to kill time with. I enjoyed this feature more than I would have thought. The game also features an in-game manual that's more in depth than the one found inside of the case. One thing I really liked is the terminology manual within the game that helps novice players learn specific football terms and such (more sports titles need this).

One major complaint I have with this game is that the Create a Team mode sucks. You can only select a team icon (which each have assigned jersey colors), name your team, select a stadium, and pick your players. There is no customizing your stadiums, jerseys, or anything of that nature. This is quite a disappointment, and the only real problem I had with the game.

The gameplay is your typical football fare with some more advanced stuff pumped into it. This game isn't as simple as Madden, and really needs some practice at first. The passing plays are a little harder to pull off in this game, which results in a lot of incomplete passes. This is due to timing and the type of pass you use, which is a big part of ESPN's passing game. With a little practice and time put into the game, you should get this down in no time. The running game is fairly easy to use in ESPN and have no problems that I have seen. I really like how you pick defense plays in this game. You can select a defense type, then a formation, and select coverage on the field. It gives the defense more depth. I always had a hard time with defense in Madden and I feel it's easier to set up in ESPN. This game's AI also seems less cheap like Madden can sometimes get.

Overall, ESPN is a very addictive football game. I find myself playing this more than I did Madden when I bought it. I usually play a few games a sitting, unlike Madden where I would play no more than one game a sitting. For twenty dollars you cannot beat ESPN 2K5. It has great features, great gameplay, and a very affordable price. I hope Sega gets the results they were hoping for this year, because a lot of work was put into this title. This game really gives Madden a run for its money. This is a must own for football fans.

9/10

Pros:

+ Great control
+ Slick presentation
+ Tons of features
+ Addictive Crib Mode
+ Intense First Person mode
+ Stadium Music feature
+ Awesome football gameplay

Cons:

- Poor Create a Team mode
- Some odd sound effects
- Stadium Music incredibly loud volume (can be fixed)
- Learning Curve can be steep

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/04