ESPN NFL 2K5
[Xbox]

"The one football game you must have" - Game Informer
Platform: X-Box/PS2
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Sports
Price: $19.99
ESRB: E for Everyone

After three seasons in the shadow of the tyrant, Madden, Sega’s NFL series was thrusted in to the fore-front of football gaming with the help of the ESPN name branded to 2K4. There were also a few gimmicks tossed in to the mix like first-person football, ESPN style broadcasts, and "the crib". All of these items make a faithful return to this years iteration only now they’re bigger and better and they have a plethora of new friends accompanying them. Before I forget, it retails brand new at $19.99!

Visual Concept’s NFL series originated on the Dreamcast in 2000, which means it came out in 1999. This time around, as ESPN NFL 2K5, it has only been released on the X-Box and PS2. Gamecube owners, looks like you’re stuck with the monopolizing Madden.

Sadly for the ESPN NFL fan, alongside the returning infectious gameplay elements are the plagues that bring the series to a near halt. They aren’t of epic, tragic proportions...but they need to be tended to before the plague spreads to other elements. The running game is still the main focus, and the passing game has been shafted again. It’s almost an unfair percentage most of the time, running to passing. Scrambling with the QB is almost a necessity because sacks come in bulk, and receivers are spontaneous with awareness of the ball. Luckily, scrambling is accomplished fairly easily with the occasional blip where the quarterback will launch the ball when you try to start scooting for the endzone. The new ball-carrier cut and bounce animations are a nice touch and make strategy a more important aspect, rather than the arcade feel of previous entries. The defensive side of the ball has stayed relatively identical, the exception being the maximum tackle and number of ways to pick off a ball (which I talk about later). Sacking is still way too easy and just to give you a relative idea of my meaning, I racked up 70 playing as a coverage linebacker. Switching between players on the fly during play is also pretty irritating. It’s rare that you get a player that has an advantage on the ball carrier. That covers pretty much all of the play mechanics so I’ll move on to the rest.

The default difficulty is way too easy. A level up isn’t much harder, it just makes the games higher scoring. This makes the game feel a lot less believable, obviously. The AI is often way too unpredictable, but does some very intelligent things. This makes for varying gameplay, but irritable experiences. There are a huge number of tracked stats to go along with the new VIP system which is just a fancy name for a user profile (tracks things only an ESPN analyst would be able to think up), and they are tracked very well for the most part but, there are glitches in the system. Occasionally a player will get credited with a loss of yards when he got a gain, wrong players will get credited with statistics...things like that. Player attributes are another thing I dispute the reasonability of. I don’t think the points really make that big of a difference unless someone has a perfect 100 in everything or absolutely all zeros in everything. Some players got shafted as bad as the receiving game, now that I think of it. Perfect example: Curtis Martin. He’s had 10 seasons with 1000+ rushing yards and what rating does he get stuck with? A 78. That’s ridiculous, but before I start ranting and making it sound worse than I already have (sorry ESPN, I love you, really). On to ranting again: challenges are still bogus and unhelpful, and there is no way to exit a game without simulating it which can be a heartbreaker.

The returning crib has been expanded upon with a bigger home featuring an upstairs trophy room and tons of new furniture and bobble heads, and anything else you could fancy up in your imagination. The one thing I miss is mini-games. I enjoyed the air hockey and paper football. This time around, there is only a dartboard game and it’s mediocre at best. People that enjoyed the ease of gaining items in the last game’s crib will now have to earn their possessions with crib points. You have to complete tasks in games and franchises, as well as the other modes in 2K5. The biggest new addition was one of the biggest letdowns for me. The new "Preparation" that takes place in the franchise mode. You take 40 hours a day for 6 days out of the week and prepare individual players for the upcoming game by having them weight train, run, or scrimmage. A lot of focus goes on team morale, but it made no difference in my games and the players only go up or down in rating for a single game, then they go back to default. I turned it off and I would assume most others get frustrated at the amount of time that is wasted on it and do the same. The only time players go up or down in rating permanently is at the end of the season. This seems to be pre-set though so don’t count on taking a scrub to magnificence. Finally is the 25th Anniversary games which take the place of Situations. These games of the past put you in the shoes of teams in the face of defeat as you try to come back and repeat history’s greatest football moments. I’m sure by now you’re turned away, but believe me...this is a wonderful game, I just tend to be very nit-picky and evil.

Graphics - 2K5 was designed specifically for X-Box this year because VC felt it was a total waste to not take advantage of the Microsoft system’s graphical capabilities, therefore there are huge graphical differences. The X-Box version shows amazing clothing detail with stains, folds, and stretches. Skin catches glare from stadium lights and sparkles as veins bulge and muscles ripple when flexed. Added in to this year’s game are mouths that attempt to sync up with voices, which is almost as horrific to keep up with as an old Godzilla film. Another extra is the rookie draft face randomizer. That’s right, no more of those personality lacking silhouette pictures. The randomizer mixes faces, color tones, and even facial hair to make a new man. The crowd still look like cookie cut-outs except for the scenes that have them cheering up close and what-not. And how can I forget the cheerleaders?! You actually see less of them this season, but I will note that they aren’t all sporting the same face, and their boobs have nipples! Yes, they do bounce a teeny bit as well.

Sound - The biggest addition for me in 2K5, not just in sound but for the whole game, was the inclusion of customizable stadium music. Someone heard my cries, and thank god. X-Box owners will now be able to upload a track or tracks and edit out which part of the song plays for one of the various situations that takes place in the game. There’s an editor and a well designed menu for setting all of it up. PS2 owners will have to deal with the included songs, so deal with it. The announcing is one of the few things that seems to be taking huge steps in the wrong direction in this series. One would think, with the ESPN staff at their disposal, Sega would be able to throw in top notch announcers and superb commentary, but instead gamers are left with the same old generic guys. The comments these two make is just terrible. They’re not humorous, they make off the wall comments, and they can’t even call the play-by-play at the right time. It just seems they’re always a step behind, and this is one of the true shames of ESPN. Fortunately, the on-field sound effects are awesome and you can manipulate the presentation to the way you see fit. Only problem I noticed here was the fact that all players sound black (trying to say something guys?) Chris Berman’s pre, half, and post-game shows are brilliant. He doesn’t force comments and he gets the job done just like he does on real broadcasts. Suzy Kolber shows up to give on field commentary and Trey Wingo makes appearances to give trade and injury analysis’. I hate to end on a bad note, but this always bothered me in the last game, and it hasn’t been fixed yet: when you turn off the commentary in the actual game, it turns off all out of game commentary as well. Just because I don’t want to hear those two "commentators" doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear Berman. I like Berman.

Control - There are a lot of menus and options to scavenge through so it is crucial that this game be presented well with a nice set of controls. Thankfully, it is. Not only are the menus well designed and easy to navigate, but the in game is tighter than ever, with the exception of a few things I will cover in a first. Their have been a couple abilities added and they don’t serve their purpose very well. On defense, there is a button for tipping, catching, and intercepting. Why? I have no clue. None of them work any better than the other at any given time. On offense, there is now a hurdle which I have yet to find a point for as the player hurdles automatically. The old moves all return and the spin has been modified a tad so that it actually works now. The shoulder charge, juke, and dive all work just as well. The "Charge" which is activated by holding down the charge button and then unleashed by using one of the aforementioned moves, is now more powerful a feature than ever now. Learn to use it wisely. Another new thing in 2K5 is "Maximum Tackle." Supposedly, this gives defenders the option of going for the wrap tackle (holding the button) or delivering the punishing hit (tapping the button). It’s kind of inconsistent, but I have noticed that when a big hit is delivered, it’s a very big hit. It does help to make the player feel more involved in decisive situations, so job well done.

Replay - Just astounding amounts of replay, and rightfully so being it has to last a year before a successor evicts it from it’s throne. I haven’t had a chance to play online, but from what I’ve heard it is a little glitchy and there are hints of lag here and there. What I can comment on is the lasting power of the various modes. There is the huge franchise, tournament, first-person football, ESPN 25th Anniversary, create a team, create a player, tons of unlockables and trophies in the crib, and the always playable exhibition. The multi-player game, be it co-op or mano-e-mano, is always spectacular fun and allows for four players in itself.

Overall - It’s a bargain and it offers oodles of fun. Visual Concepts has made sure they are no longer lacking in depth with some new additions and tighter gameplay all while not straying too far from the equation they’ve stuck to all along. A great football game at a great price, but still a lot that could be worked on.

Graphics: 9.5 | Sound: 9.5 | Control: 9 | Replay: 10 | Overall: 9/10

---Frayed