ESPN NFL 2K5

"Best.Football.Game.Of.the.Year."

What can you say about this game. For 20 bucks you get more than you paid for. This game is the best football game out. I was once a huge madden fan. I had bought the game every year since madden 64. I started to notice year by year that the game itself never changed. Ea just made some updates and tweaked it a little and just released another copy every year. As they did with all their games. Then my friend told me last year about Espn Nfl 2k4. I had not heard of the game but was a long time Sega fan. Once I realized that Espn was the better game and would only get better Madden would fall in the coming years. Let's get on with the review.

Graphics- The player models and stadiums look superb. The way the players move when you catch a ball or the facial expression when you zoom in on an instant replay and you can see their eyes following the ball. The best graphics for a football game ever. Score: 9.0/10

Gameplay- The controls take a minute to get used to especially the Def. Adjustments. The game play did get better from last year. Now you can make any Def. Player match up with any Off. Player. And double any players. Make your Cb's play inside, outside, tight, or loose coverage. You can assign any player to blitz or to do a delayed blitz. But sometimes WR are burning DB's that shouldn't get burned. SCORE: 8.5/10

Controls- The controls take a while to get used to. You use your right analog stick to juke and do different moves while running. Once you get used to the controls you fall in love with them. The only reason this gets a 9 is because i dont like the location of the stiff arms which are the white and black buttons. SCORE:9/10

Sound- Custom Soundtracks are the highlight to sound in this game. You can make any track in your custom soundtracks list play after first downs, td's, turnovers, etc.... SCORE:8/10

Online- The online is great. You can join leagues or tournaments any time. There are 100's you can join at any time. Its real easy to find a game with people of the same rank if you like. You can download a persons VIP file and see how they play. Such as if they use the wrap tackle more or they just do a regular tackle. See what their favorite hot route is and more. You can also use the ESPN messenger which allows you to text message your friends. SCORE 10/10

Overall- In my opinion, this is one of the best football games ever. If you have to chose between Madden or Espn. Take Espn. Do not rent this game, just spend the extra money and buy it. You won't be disappointed. Good job VC and Sega.
SCORE: 9.7/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/10/04