kjell1979's Full Review: ESPN NFL 2K5 for PlayStation 2
I am my many accounts an EA apologist. I don't consider myself a fanboy because I am not afraid to lay into what I consider a bad title or two. However frequently I find EA sports games more enjoyable football experience. While I don't consider it to have the best player modeling or presentation, I come away entertained, and isn't that what counts the most? The only Sega title I played was NFL 2K3 and it really didn't sit well with me as far as gameplay balance and other various aspects that EA titles have down pat. Now it's come full circle. While Madden hasn't been released yet I have to say now, as an EA apologist, they will have a hard time topping this game. It is hands down the most complete football experience I have ever had from a video game, and that includes NCAA Football 2005.
Features
One of the most notable features of ESPN NFL 2K5 is the VIP profiles. The VIP profiles allow the game to keep track of your habits from playcalling tendencies, to which player you control, right down to how often you expand the screen before the snap of the ball. As you play more and more games, the game starts keeping track of what you do in certain situations. Do you punt when it's 4th and short around the 50? Which side of the field do you pass or run? Do you prefer zone defenses to man defenses in nickel sets? If it runs across a situation where there is no information, the default computer AI takes over. It takes about 15-20 games to really fill out your VIP profile so you'll see minimal computer AI decisions. This feature reminds me a lot of the coaching profiles in Sierra's old Front Page Sports Football Pro series. Sega does this feature one or even two better by presenting it in such a way in the game that the person is plugged right into the console rather than sitting half way across the country. Your VIP profile can be transferred online, and made available for anyone else around the country. So if you have a friend who you're having a hard time hooking up with online, practice on his VIP until you meet up later.
Another feature that ESPN 2K5 showcases is the Crib. This is the centerpiece of where you spend the credits you earn on the field for accomplishing certain tasks. As you earn more credits, you'll be able to buy furniture and other amenities for your crib. While I think a new couch is rather useless, you can purchase mini-games for a large sum which does add a small amount of replay value to the game. These mini-games include a dartboard, a trivial machine, and a couple others.
You also receive calls from inside your crib from celebrities whose better days are behind them. These celebrities include David Arquette, Carmen Electra, Steve-O, and a few others. Their main purpose is to challenge you in a quick game. This is another area where the VIP begins to show its robustness. These celebrities are based off their real-life VIP profiles. Given our country's fascination with celebrities, this was a cool way for Sega to implement the VIP profiles. The game is even more interactive than simply competing against a VIP profile, the celebrity opens up a window in the corner of the screen and has a sound byte reacting to a particular event on the field. Most of the time this is trash talk, but they also groan when you rip off a sweet run or sack their quarterback for a devastating loss. Since I am not a huge online maven, I found myself spending a lot of time trying to challenge new celebrities.
Online play is also back and it has many of the same features from the previous installment. You can challenge someone in a chatroom, play a quick game, compete in a tournament, download new rosters, or compete in online leagues. The online league is by far the most attractive aspect to playing online. You compete against other people for 16 games all at your own speed. Your record determines whether you make the playoffs for your given league. My biggest complaint about the online features is that you have to download two sets of roster updates depending on whether you're using them online or offline. The online roster updates are not compatible offline which means that this game will put even more strain on your PS2 memory card. However this is a minor gripe that has very little bearing on my overall impression of the game. Overall the online mode offers the best options out there for people wishing to compete with people across the country.
The franchise mode in ESPN NFL 2K5 is one of the strongest points of this game. It remains largely untouched from last year's version allowing you to run your team for the next 30 years. One aspect of the franchise mode that excels is the contract system. In Madden 2004 you couldn't structure specific years of the contract. Instead, they the money was spread out on a yearly curve according do a given formula. This isn't the case in ESPN NFL 2K5. You can backload the contract however you want in addition to including signing bonuses as well. The player progression is very realistic as you'll see most workhorse running backs turn into Eddie George by the time they turn 30, whereas some rare backs will display an Emmitt Smith quality to them and continue to compete into their twilight seasons. I've even noticed some quarterbacks will bloom late like a Rich Gannon or Matt Hasselbeck. Whereas I've seen others fade into oblivion like Mark Brunell or Drew Bledsoe. My biggest gripe with this mode is the trading logic. It attempts to recreate the big trades we saw in this year's offseason. These trades are not the norm and when the computer AI tends to try and recreate them one side really gets the better of the other. While one can say the Portis for Bailey trade was one-sided, most 32 teams wouldn't risk such a huge trade.
The Gameplay
The gameplay on offense is spectacular. Wide receivers can exploit weaknesses in the defense with a striking amount of realism. Short yardage runs see limited success with the right amount of adjustments on defense. The amount of breakaway runs and passes are perfectly realistic with what I see in the NFL each week during the season. However, one of the biggest surprises is how realistic the passing game is. You really have to be able to read the defense or your quarterback will throw an easy interception. However, it is easy to hit your target if you time the pass correctly. My biggest gripe with the user controlled gameplay is that lob passes seem not to have enough lift on them to get over some defensive back's heads. Instead I find myself running routes designed for bullet passes more often than not.
Despite the successes of the offensive game, the offensive computer AI does have some problems. First of all the computer has trouble running the ball on offense. I can't explain why but they just don't seem aggressive enough and the playcalling tends to take them outside of the tackles way too often than you'll typically see in the NFL. The other big issues is that the computer doesn't make adjustments to your successes. For instance I saw a lot of success using a good defensive end against a horribly mismatched offensive tackle. While the success I saw was realistic, the outcome was that I ended up with six sacks with that player when the computer should have implemented more double teams. The limited double teams I saw did stifle me quite a bit, but they appeared random.
As a defensive enthusiast, this game is very pleasing to the senses. Playing a stiff defense is very easy to accomplish if you know what you're doing. On top of that, your defensive back drones aren't forced to jump the ball location before it has left the quarterback's hand. This is fantastic because it doesn't create those instant triple teams on rifled slant passes over the middle. In addition to the AI, another refreshing aspect of playing defense is that your defenders, specifically your defensive linemen, aren't "sucked" into blocks. Instead you can position your defender at a good angle and perform a rip or swim move to get right by them in a hurry. This creates a very authentic pass rush that not even EA can accomplish. My only gripe with this is that my teammates aren't able to successfully perform these moves. So creating a good pass rush has to either be accomplished by controlling a defensive lineman manually or blitzing a linebacker.
Special teams in ESPN NFL 2K5 is one of the most realistic I have seen in years, however it also suffers from the same problems as other modern football games as well. The kicking game focuses on the correct aspects of field goal kicking. Getting enough leg on the ball is very rarely the issue in the NFL; rather it's getting the ball through those pesky uprights. ESPN NFL 2K5 accomplishes this very well by allowing you to get a strong legged kick on the ball most every time, but the challenge lies on the aiming. This is the same with the punting game; however you will see a few shanks now and again from the bad punters. The return game is pretty challenging as your blockers typically will let defenders through the wedge before you can catch up to it. On punt returns the blockers do not do a great job of fending off the coverage teams, leading to some very short returns. Another issue that is seen in many other football games is the lack of blocked kicks. While kick block teams can jump higher than ever, they rarely amount to a blocked kick. Punt block teams rarely see any success either and it seems better to set up for a huge return than try and block a kick. This lack of blocks, I think is due to a fear in among developers of creating a "cheese" situation where online players can exploit a flaw in the AI and block kicks almost every time. I'd rather have a lack of blocks than a situation where people can cheese other players.
I did notice one significant bug while playing a quick offline game. The stat tracking seemed to mangle my runningback's yardage total. All of a sudden midway through the second quarter my back had only 8 yards, despite the fact that I remembered distinctly running numerous times for at least a 4 yard average in the first quarter. By the time the game was finished, I looked at the final totals and saw that I only had a 1.4 yards per carry average despite seeing only one or two small yard losses and consistently getting gains ranging from 2 to 10 yards. The amount of carries seemed right but the yardage got mangled. While I don't take off major points since stats aren't the main focus of today's football games, it can have a profound effect on players who like to play out their franchise matches.
Graphics
Sega has already enjoyed a vast amount of praise with the graphical prowess it displays in its sports games. Player modeling is very refined to the point of being able to recognize players with their helmets off. For instance I had played the Giants in a quick game and had forgotten the quarterback shuffling they did over the offseason. After Warner threw a pick, I had assumed it was Kerry Collins. However I was floored to see the quarterback looking exactly like Warner on the sidelines right down to his flattop-style haircut. Very well done Sega!
As good as the player modeling is, the on-field animations are even better. You now see some fantastic and brutally realistic gang tackles. The great backs will slip tackles only to be wrapped up at the ankles with only daylight ahead of them. Receivers will get punished by the safeties when you lay them out to dry on a slant or cross in pattern. When they hit they'll lead with their shoulder as if they are mimicking Rodney Harrison. The player animations simply floored me.
Despite all the praise I have for those two graphical departments, I did see some significant graphical flaws. One of the biggest flaws is the catching mechanism. While the catching animations look great, the PS2 version exhibits a significant framerate slowdown during catch sequences. Therefore when a ball is tipped by a defender it seems to flutter down like a leaf rather than an inflated irregularly shaped ball. This only seems to happen when the ball is touched by a player. A bullet pass that finds no target will skid across the ground with no loss in framerate.
Another issue I had is the camera angle during kicks and punts. The camera doesn't rotate until the return man actually catches the ball. This makes it very hard to see how blocks are taking shape and react to them in a split second. On punts this is crucial and leads to a lot of bad decisions that could have been corrected with the proper amount of decision planning.
Overall the graphics create a great atmosphere for football. Stadiums are rendered with striking accuracy right down to the individual sections. Rain, and snow games are strikingly real as well. Sega did a wonderful job on this game graphically despite its PS2 specific issues. So well, that it makes me want to go and get an Xbox just so I can see the game in an even better way and also experience other Xbox only features like video replay (as opposed to photo stills on the PS2) in the Chris Berman halftime show.
Sound
The sound effects in ESPN NFL 2K5 recreate NFL Sundays like no other. The sound effects are beyond reproach from the grunts and smacking of the pads. I also noticed a wide array of sound effects where I expected a lot of recycled clips. As good as the gridiron sound effects are, the stadium atmosphere is even better. Being a longtime Packer fan I was blown out of my seat when I picked up a huge 3rd down conversion only to hear the "Go Pack Go" clip played over the stadium speakers. The attention to detail as far as this goes is wonderful. I even saw some stadium specific sounds played in other venues like Arrowhead Stadium and the Medowlands during a Jets game.
The most glaring omission in the sound department is the lack of the crowd affecting play on the field. Some stadiums like the Metrodome or Arrowhead get so loud that quarterbacks go with a silent count. This is all the more glaring when the Home Field Advantage feature is released with NCAA Football 2005, affecting player's composure as well as their ability to hear and execute audibles and hot routes.
Dan Stevens and Peter O'Keefe do the play by play with Chris Berman hosting the halftime and pregame show. They all have some good things to say but the play by play duo sound very generic. Chris Berman sounds pretty good, although his latest stuff on the real ESPN has been running on fumes lately. Suzy Kolber does a great job of sideline reporting of injuries and other events going on. I keep on waiting for a drunken digitized Joe Namath wooing her on the sidelines with his now famous winning pickup line "I could just kiss you". All in all the voice acting is much better than your average sports game, but those who follow my sports game reviews know that I don't hold voice analysis and play by play is very high esteem anyway.
Controls
Sega does a great job of setting up the control scheme in ESPN NFL 2K5 short of going overboard. There are two new controls in ESPN NFL 2K5 that are very well received. The first is the maximum tackling. This reminds me a lot of Tecmo Bowl's break-tackle system. If a defender tries to wrap up the ball carrier but doesn't have a great angle or grip, the ball carrier will flash red. Then the two players will have to press the X button as fast as they can to try and either break free or drag down the ball carrier. Many people I know in the Tecmo Bowl community were drooling when they heard this. Although this doesn't happen very often as big hits and/or good angles automatically bring down the ball carrier.
Another new control is the quarterback evade stick. By using the right analog stick you can perform those evasion techniques the great quarterbacks use to avoid pass rushers. It works really well as it's an easy way of faking out those blitzing linebackers and defensive linemen with blood in their eyes. I do have two complaints about this control option. First, the computer doesn't use it enough. Since the offensive line doesn't adjust to my ability to successfully rush the quarterback, more use of the quarterback's evasion moves would help to cut down on the amount of sacks I was able to get. The other problem I have is that it does use the right control stick, thus taking your hand off the face buttons which are used to pass. I guess this is more of a problem with the fact that the running backs are assigned to the face buttons instead of the right and left trigger buttons because when a quarterback is evading rushing lineman and blitzers, he usually dumps it off to the releasing running back. If they were assigned to the trigger buttons, you can evade and dump all in one motion. Instead you have to do a lot of uncomfortable hand movements.
Overall the control scheme is pretty good. Jukes no longer have you turn on a dime and take a half second to develop. This is a good change of pace from the previous version as well as the football games EA releases. However I am confused about the necessity to have a pass swat button, an intercept pass button, and a pass defend button on defense. However in the end the responsiveness and the generally logical controls make it easy to play a quick game of football if you're new to the series or a grizzled veteran.
Replay Value
The replay value of this game is incredible. While I'm not a proponent of numerical game ratings, on a scale from 1 to 10 ESPN NFL 2K5 gets a perfect 10 with regards to its replay value. There is simply a ton of fun football related stuff to do. The play on the gridiron is very engaging and exciting to play. The teams are so dynamically different that one game you could be airing out all your passes where another you might not be able to move the ball at all. Add in the VIP system and you have almost an endless stream of opponents to play against. The online play, specifically league play, is very engaging and really expands on how dynamic the game is on the field. And while the franchise mode isn't as deep as Madden, it is still an A- as far as depth and quality. A football fan will have this game in their console all fall long.
You can't have a review on ESPN NFL 2K5 without mentioning its greatest aspect, the price. At a $20 price tag, this game might be the best bargain in console gaming history. This game is $10 less than an average new Gameboy Advance cartridge. Given the low price tag, if you have an Xbox or Playstation 2, you need to get this game. I have never said that before about another game, but it's certainly the case here. Even if you're a casual football fan, go ahead and pull out one of your Jacksons and see what all the hype is about. You won't be disappointed.
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