ESPN NFL 2K5 for $19.99 (1 Viewer)

[Marc Bax]

Well it's a trend for Sega sports games (ESPN) as both NBA and NHL 2K5 are now listing as 19.99 pre-orders. Sega recently signed a distribution deal with Take-2. This deal allows them to save a ton of money and they're passing it on to the consumer (bravo Sega). The other big reason is they want people to give the ESPN brand a shot instead of just buying EA games based on name recognition. Sega knows they have a competitive product, sadly most people don't. Although I expect that the games will only be priced this low for the 2K5 season. I'd guess 39.99 for next years titles.

 

[Dave Miller]

As a former Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast owner I would say bravo as well. I did not realize that the NBA and NHL games were being priced for pre-order this way too. Very cool. I just figured they were pulling out all the stops just to beat Madden this year.

Peace,

DM

 

[Seth Paxton]

After playing a few games and messing with just a little bit of the other stuff (hey, it takes time to adjust from Madden), I'm 50/50 on it.

I can't tell how much of my opinion is based on Madden expectations. It's my first XBox football game as well so I don't know how they've looked before.

Maybe its just because its different from Madden's look, but I think it looks great. The animation is pretty nice on plays and you even get juke animations on a regular joystick cutback. Animations for players getting off the ground and stuff add nice touches that make it look very realistic.

It also looks very much like a TV presentation. Sometimes a little too much, but mostly pretty cool. On a side glance your guests will think a real game is on.

The play is hard to judge. I'm not good at the game yet so I can't tell if its not as fluid as Madden, or sometimes easier, etc.

Same thing about the playbook and how you call plays. When you are looking for info in the Madden layout this new layout can be confusing a bit (like calling DL sets before calling the LB/DB set). I have very little idea how to use the individual audibles still and was even lost on getting a man in motion for awhile.

But that's just the learning curve.


Coolest feature, though it probably won't synch up just perfect (in fact for me there were a few that weren't really relevent)...halftime and post-game highlights, complete with audio of correct player names and stats.

I can't tell you how cool it is to finish a game and then have Berman voice-over the highlight of your TD bomb or big INT. Mega-thumbs up on that idea, even if it doesn't always nail the best/biggest plays of the game. The concept is something that should have happened years ago.

 

[Bill Blank]

I picked it up over the weekend for PS2. I have never owned a Madden game, or NFL football for that matter but have played them. I usually pick up EA's NCAA Football every other year.

At $20 I decided to take the plunge since I wouldn't be buying NCAA this year. I've played 4 games, one against my brother-in-law and 3 against the computer.

My bro-in-law is a die-hard Madden guy but even he was interested since it was only $20 and was getting rave reviews. I spanked him 46-21 and guess what...he hates the game now...whiner!

I played another game against the computer to get more of the controls down...the biggest hurdle with any new game...and won the game by 10. I then started my season...with the Birds of course...and won my first two preseason games at the "Pro" setting against the Saints and the Packers.

One thing I didn't realise until I sat down to start a season was the Progressive Scan option. It makes a noticeable increase in picture quality, everything much smoother looking. I also missed the fact that it was in DPLII during the first two games. My pre/pro automatically defaults to DPLII for my PS2 input so I didn't think anything of the sound coming out of my rear speakers but did notice it was much more prevalent than normal...that would be why...

Aside from the learning curve for controls and my limited experience with Madden, the only thing people might complain about is that the playbook's not as vast as that of NCAA even. Some people might see it as shortcoming but I find large, deep playbooks useless unless you memorize the damn thing.

The VIP feature's pretty cool, I was challenged by David Arquette but turned that sad bastard down because I was spent.

I'll be diving deeper into this week hopefully. Initial impressions are very good...hope T.O.'s this good this season...

Bill

 

[mike_frontier]

So whats better Madden or ESPN?

 

[Seth Paxton]

I haven't played enough of ESPN to say, and I haven't played Madden on XBox yet period.

I did forget to mention the VIP thing, which on the surface at least seems very cool. Steve-O called me and challenged me pretty early on. I was lost during gameplay and getting killed so I just turned it off and went to bed.

Sure enough he gave me hell for dumping him.

During the game they have sound bites and various facial photos so the "person" can talk smack and whatnot. It is a good step toward creating a fake version of playing against a real person.


Yes, the playbook seems much thinner to me, though its hard to say for sure.

Very early (and unfairly) I would say Madden plays better but ESPN presents better. The 2005 Madden for XBox might look as good and after I play ESPN for awhile it might play as good.

Doesn't help that I am dividing my time with Ninja Gaiden (talk about learning curve/difficulty), Tiger Woods and NBA St 2.