What's The Best Football Game Ever?

[DavonBrown]

What's your top five football games of all time?

[simgamer0005]

1. NCAA Football 2005
2. ESPN NFL 2K5
3. Madden 04

Since I haven't played Backbreaker yet, I won't rate #4 and #5. All-Pro Football 2K8 and Backbreaker are probably 4 and 5.

Honorary mention : NCAA Football 08 on Original Xbox, NCAA Football 06, Joe Montana Sports Talk Football, Madden 93, Madden 94, NFL Blitz.

[DavonBrown]

NCAA 2005 over 2004 and 06?

[simgamer0005]

Quote: Originally Posted by DavonBrown

NCAA 2005 over 2004 and 06?

Yeah. Better defensive controls than 2004 and better secondary coverage than 06. A few nice upgrades and some new plays and formations from 2004.

06 had 2005 beat, but offenses were very high powered in 06. 2005 was more of a balanced game engine. 2005 also had more incomplete passes.

[Bellsprout]

I don't feel like ranking 5 of them, but I can tell you that Tecmo Super Bowl would be #1.

[Pacman83]

I'd vote for Madden 05/2k8 on the field...Off the field, Madden 07 (PS2)/2k5 Franchises, that's just me.

[DavonBrown]

Quote: Originally Posted by simgamer0005

Yeah. Better defensive controls than 2004 and better secondary coverage than 06. A few nice upgrades and some new plays and formations from 2004. 06 had 2005 beat, but offenses were very high powered in 06. 2005 was more of a balanced game engine. 2005 also had more incomplete passes.

I have 06 and I just bought 2004 on eBay. I'll have to pick up 2005 as well. What did you like about 08?

[simgamer0005]

Quote: Originally Posted by DavonBrown

I have 06 and I just bought 2004 on eBay. I'll have to pick up 2005 as well. What did you like about 08?

2005 was the last game that was better on the PS2 than the Original Xbox. The Xbox version of 2005 had some slowdown I believe. And the PS2 looked just as good as the Original Xbox version. 2005 also had the best looking in-game interface and scoreboard imho. The running game in 2005 was amazing and I found the hit stick very responsive in 2005. The defensive game was reworked for 2005. It was a very good simulation of football because defenses had good range and zones are very effective.

NCAA Football 08 on Original Xbox is an amazing game. It had some stupid bugs, and kickoffs were from the 30 yard line instead of the 35, but 08 was the height of the old engine graphically, animation-wise, and in terms of playbooks. 08 had some bugs like the cpu never missed a field goal (although you could block field goals), there was a problem with the pursuit angles defenders would take on the ball carrier, and some penalty slider glitches. But, 08 was an incredible experience on Original Xbox. Graphically, it was out of this world and had things like receiver direct and QB avoidance. It also had analog kicking. Basically, 08 on Original Xbox was the best looking NCAA game by far. However it had too many bugs and annoyances to put it up above like 2005 or 06. 2005 and 06 had less bugs and were more complete games. 08 was just kind of thrown together as they were "developing" the inferior 360 / PS3 versions at the time. Still, 08 remains a great multiplayer game with friends. A lot of the pursuit angles problems had to do with specific plays and formations. It can be alleviated to an extent.