NFL 2K5: Will Own Your Soul; Madden just continues to get old - bigsmallwood's Blog

bigsmallwood's Blog

NFL 2K5: Will Own Your Soul; Madden just continues to get old

Posted on December 21, 2009 at 10:27 PM.

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"Winning isn't everything it's the only thing" is a harsh reality in today's dog eat dog society. Vince Lombardi the author of this quote was a football coach who took the worst team in the league, the Green Bay Packers, and made them into a perennial powerhouse. He was and still is considered to be one of the best coaches ever to coach in the sport of football. His statement holds true in today's game because it is both the athletes and the coach's goal to be the best in their profession"

Which brings us to NFL 2K5's domination over Next-Gen Madden. We are nearly 6years into Next-Gen football and Madden is still measured against 2K5. Why is this? Lets GET FOCUSED! And Lets examine this situation:

Presentation
After 20years, ownership of the ESPN license, and an exclusive NFL license that keeps 2Ksports and others from making an NFL game with official likeness and players, YET there is poor presence of it in their game.

2K5's presentation is still the standard. FULL ESPN integration through out the game! Everything from Chris Berman and the Half-time show down to Suzy Kolber, to the after the game interviews!!!

Look at Madden 10's Extra Point and then go watch 2K5's ESPN Half-time Show....you are guaranteed to NEVER want anything less than 2K5's and you will wonder why Madden is still dragging its feet on doing what should have been years ago!

Madden 10 flaunted the Blue Angel Jets flying over the Super Bowl and opening day.....NFL 2K5 had this in its game for a whopping 5years now. And speaking of the Superbowl, look at 2K5s.....when you play or watch it....it looks SPECTACULAR! Teams run on the field out of the Giant NFC/AFC Helmets, The Commentary speaks about both coaches as they trot out on the field....there are camera men moving around.....the highlights are Super Bowl worthy when they show your team not only celebrating on the field, but going inside the locker room, where you see players going wild!!!! The whole Atmosphere surrounding 2K5 is STUNNING to say the least.

Madden on the other hand is far from being where they need to be in the presentation department. They made a few strides this year with the addition of chain gangs and the officials deciding if you scored a TD or came up short....but ultimately Madden is still consistently coming up short!

Gameplay

Winning isn't everything, its the Only thing.

In this aspect of the game NFL 2K5 wins....and it wins BIG! Madden has seemingly refused to address the Mario running by WR's/Running backs.....WR/DB interactions are horrendous, the offensive and defensive line play leaves much to be desired, why don't blockers BLOCK the Defenders they are supposed to!!!! Trying to get a sack in Madden w/o cheesing is more of a challenge than it should be! you can place Wes Welker as your OT to block Albert Hanyesworth and he will win everytime....Yes this is very sad, because it proves that the problem lies withing Maddens programming. Try the same thing with 2K5 and watch how Welker would be dominated....2K5 STILL shows new animations and the outcome is determined by your playcalling.

We know what the issues are with Madden...the question is WHY haven't they fixed it? And when are they going to address it? Patch #2 for Madden 10 has done little to give any type of faith that these issues will be addressed any time soon.

How does 2K5 have ALOT of replays!!!! And an option to tone them down if you feel there is too much....yet, Madden 10 will rarely show a replay after you score a TD.....even if its of epic proportions....record breaking or otherwise. The replays need a massive OVERHAUL and there is no reason why there is no accompanying commentary describing the Highlights.

In 2K5 you can manually assign a double team really easy and also hot route your defender to counter the offense and what they are trying to do against you on the field. Meanwhile, in Madden, you are able to call Defensive audibles, but not to the level of complexity that NFL 2K5 offers.

Winning isn't everything, its the only thing.

2K5 clearly thought about winning when they made this game. They were not making excuses about a 1year dev cycle or saying that gamers should appreciate any "gimmicky" features....they went out and used 32 NFL players of all DIFFERENT levels and you can tell the difference between SuperStars in 2K5 rather than in Madden where most teams play the exact same, you cannot really tell the difference between Larry Fitzgerald and some rookie out of South Idaho State. Madden needs to adjust the way they Mo-Cap and also they need to change the way they approach the differences in the way teams play. Sliders can't fix everything.

Why do the defensive backs go into that weird and unrealistic animation where they miss the interception and you catch the ball*FREEZE* instead of you going on to score a TD or pad your YAC stats.....you are SUCKED back into a tackle by the same defender who missed the INT and whose momentum should have carried them forward not into some Matrix style animations....you have NEVER seen this in the 2K series.

the CPU in 2K5 will sit on the ball once they have a huge lead in order to milk the clock....Madden will continue to throw the ball and give you a chance to get the ball back!

The Commentary in 2K5 will highlight if Randy Moss is struggling they crew will highlight it!!! In Madden its barely noticed. The commentators will use a telestrator in replays to highlight penalty calls and big blocks on certain plays!

Notice a theme? Anything that Madden does, 2K5 does it far and away better. Madden does have some bright spots, but it is nowhere near where it should be. AP2K8's gameplay on the field is better than 2K5's....so what does that say for Madden?

Why does Madden not seem to want to win? 2k5 put out a classic game all the way around( even though it had a few flaws....not bad for the pre-patch era)! Madden seems content putting out the same game year after year and continuing to create "old" features and paint them as new. We all want Madden to be a WINNER, however after placing a stranglehold on the NFL License, thus eliminating 2k5, SCEA Football, NFL Fever, NFL Gameday and a slew of other NFL games that showed promise.....Madden MUST deliver. We cannot keep giving them a pass year after year, and the game is still full of bugs and a failure to launch every year. I challenge the developers to step up to the plate and truly MAKE us forget about NFL 2K5.

Please don't slap ESPN/CBS integration into Madden 10 and feed it to us as Madden 11 (sound familiar *cough, cough* NCAA Basketball *cough, cough*)

2K5 OWNS YOUR SOUL in EVERY CAPACITY....EPSN 25th Year Anniversary is a brilliant mode (aka Maddens Moments inspiration)....2K5's VIP is FAR and away better than Maddens IQ mode where the game becomes more "challenging" (read cheating) the further you move up. From Presentation, to Gameplay, to features (2K5's crib.....classic teams who play LIKE themselves etc.) 2K5 will own you. And while it is difficult, you will be happy once you make the adjustment.

My Advice is to EA Sports Madden brand is this: Winning isn't everything, Its the Only thing....And if Madden is not going to come out EACH and EVERY year swinging for the fences....relinquish the NFL License and let 2K back in the game....because if you see it on Sunday (Off-setting penalties, defensive holding etc) you see it in 2K5.

My Advice to gamers is simple: At least try NFL 2K5......and you should also own Madden 10. But if Madden 11 doesn't deliver.....wait until Next Gen, rather than Next year. It will save you a ton of money, time, and frustration.

And just in case EA Sports reps or my fellow OS gamers severely disagree with my assessments of Madden Next Gen.....here is a word from the man (Madden) himself:

"The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else. " - John Madden

Madden 11' had better be a Champion. After 6years of chasing NFL 2K5, we expect it.

Comments

# 1 bigsmallwood @ Dec 21

And yes. I kept it brief, because if I went into greater detail it would be too much to read in a blog and would sound like I am Madden bashing. I just want there to be a GREAT football game to represent the NFL.

# 2 bigsmallwood @ Dec 22

I definitely wish there was competition!!! I think we would have had a much better Madden game by now!

# 3 Valdarez @ Dec 22

Nice write up. It's sad what NFL fans have been deprived of over the last 5 years and counting due to the NFL exclusive license deal. Think of where NFL 2K would be now if it were still in be development. Instead of thinking of dropping their NBA Live series, there's a good chance EA would be pondering whether they should drop their Madden NFL series.

EA puts the blame on the exclusive licensing deal on the NFL (which I personally don't believe, deals like that typically occur behind close doors at the top levels of the companies). If it was the NFL's decision, it's ironic that a league who prides itself on competition went out of it's way to demolish competition in the gaming arena.

# 4 rudyjuly2 @ Dec 22

2K5 was very overrated. CPU QB AI was horrendous and the DB AI was bad too. Franchise mode had a ton of flaws as well. It did some things well but 2K4 was actually better. 2K5 broke a lot of things that 2K4 did well - cpu QB AI, DB AI, no dumb momentum animation in an effort to add true momentum that didn't exist, screen passes actually worked, counter plays done better, etc.

# 5 greenbull50 @ Dec 22

I think that you, along with many others, simply have a bias towards 2k. I played 2k5, but I also love madden. Even when EA makes a great game, people who like 2k just can't admit it.

# 6 swiftychampleone @ Dec 22

It's reasons like this why I don't like next-gen Madden and never bought one. Why is it that a game that came out in 2005 is better than Madden in damn near every facet of the game? There is nothing great about Madden 10. It's solid at best and has not been good since Madden 05. They come out with patch to fix the game and it's the end of the season. Pitiful.

# 7 bigsmallwood @ Dec 22

@ Green Bull50: No. WHEN Madden becomes a GREAT game, I will be the 1st to congratulate it.....Madden 10 is not a great game. I'm BIASED towards having a great NFL experience!!!

# 8 bigsmallwood @ Dec 22

RudyJuly2: NFL 2k5 is not overrated by any means. People need to learn to play football. The QB AI was great!!! And if the QB is not great in the area of Awareness then don't expect him to play like Peyton Manning....And at the same time if your DB's are great expect them to play to their strengths.....I encourage you to re-examine your views on what you are pointing out!

# 9 bigsmallwood @ Dec 22

Men Lie, Women Lie, Numbers Don't........If you are going to not like a game, at least support it by TRUTH. Don't come trying to just say people are hating, Madden 10 is a "fun" game, but not an ELITE NFL Football game. 2K5 is the ELITE STANDARD.

I will challenge ANYBODY on this site to list features and gameplay and presentation elements of Madden and I will show you the same if not more elements in 2K5....done in a far more impressive light! Lets Get Focused!!!

# 10 rudyjuly2 @ Dec 22

I'm sorry but the cpu QB AI was atrocious in 2K5. In 2K4 the cpu QB only threw short but were smart. In an effort to get them to throw the deep ball (these problems sound like next gen EA football by the way) they re-wrote the logic and it was disasterous. This WAS a game killer to me. I tried maxing out all the cpu passing sliders and editing the rosters attributes. The cpu QBs would constantly throw 2 or 3 picks a game if not more. I had my 10 year old nephew play against a cpu team and he picked off the cpu 5 times with the cpu passing game maxed out. That part of the game made it unplayable for me.

# 11 bigsmallwood @ Dec 22

@ the Creep: The Point is gamers need the EA people to take Football Gaming serious....not as a joke.

# 12 bigsmallwood @ Dec 22

@RudyJuly2: Hey maybe thats something that happened time to time...I haven't experienced it much. The INTs have been well deserved in the games I've played.

@Joeyland: Great Points!!!!

# 13 superstarshad @ Dec 22

You wanna know what the real tragedy here is...... gamers gloat about NFL 2k5 being the greatest football game of all-time, and in my opinion it wasn't even the greatest football game that year. That title belongs to Madden 2005 (ray lewis)! There's no comparison. The only feature that intrigued me on NFL 2k5 was the ability to allow players to play against their virtual selves and your game playing tendencies. Other than that, the game was strickly bells and whistles that catered to high scoring. Fooitball is about defense and Madden 2005 encompassed that in every way. Long live Madden 2005, that game that made it a no brainer for the NFL to sign an exclusivity deal with EA.
BTW- I bought both NFL 2k5 and Madden 2k5 for .99 cents at gamestop!

# 14 bigsmallwood @ Dec 22

Ummm...No Madden 2005 while many consider it the last GREAT Madden game, it was not better than NFL 2K5. VIP was like the icing on the cake, 2K5 offered Next Gen features on a last gen system. The thing about 2K5 is that it was NOT a scoring fest....MEANWHILE you can still run the same Money Plays that worked in Madden 05, In Madden 10. I guess thats a great thing for pickup and playability if you want to have "fun"......If you want Authentic NFL Football go with NFL 2K5.

# 15 michael72 @ Dec 23

Bingsmallwood, THAK YOU for this another GREAT article, once again (as with your opinion about College Hoops 2K8) I agree with every single word you say (including your comments)! No doubt at all that NFL 2K5 is still the BEST and MOST REALISTIC football experience in a video game (cross all platforms available until today). In fact I�ve purchased PS2 console last year ONLY because of this single game !!! For me even the APF 2K8 is the best football on PS3 produced until today. While I agree with reviewers that the number of playing modes is quite limited (comparing to NFL 2K5) the PLAYABILITY of APF 2K8 football game is still by far better comparing to any Madden (including Madden 10) or NCAA Football games !!! I have tried EA Sports games again and again MANY times but at the end I always stopped playing them and returned back to 2K Sports ESPN NFL 2K5. It is difficult for me to easily express „WHY“ but I can say it this way: when I play 2K games (like NFL 2K5, APF 2K8 or CH 2K8) even for the 100th time I am always „surprised“ (in positive sense) by something what I have NEVER SEEN YET BEFORE in my previous 99 games :-)) Therefore it has such a special REALISTIC feel for me! When compared to EA Sports games (like Madden or NCAA) I am „done“ after 5th or 6th game as nothing can (positively) surprise me after just a few games !!! Most of EA Sports titles have such ARTIFICIAL feel to me :-(( Of course this is my personal view only but I hope some of you will understand what I mean…
At the end I am able to play ESPN NFL 2K5 and APF 2K8 in real-time (i.e. 4 x 15 minutes) still with common realistic („BELIEVABLE“) results like in real games. That says it all... :-))
I wish you all nice day!
(And sorry for my English, I am from Europe but like American sports the most of all :-)) Especially the american football which is so great comparing to booooooring soccer :-)))
Michael

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