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ESPN NFL 2K5 Maybe the Greatest of All Time, But Not In Its Time

02:45 PM - November 14, 2009 by Steve_OS

Kotaku's Owen Good has posted an interesting article he titles ESPN NFL 2K5 Maybe the Greatest of All Time, But Not In Its Time.

What is your greatest sports game of all time?

Quote:


	"Of the major game-of-the-year awards given out each year, no sports title has ever taken top overall honors. And yet five years later, there is one still talked about in ways that year's winners are not. That would be ESPN NFL 2K5, the last and best of an uncommonly good crop of football games in the first half of the decade and, perhaps not coincidentally, the last one before EA Sports inked its exclusive license with the National Football League. Certainly, the stupefyingly good value 2K5 delivered on an unheard-of $19.99 price tag moved the needle on its high regard. But reviews of the game still said things like "the best-looking football game ever made," and "the most entertaining show in video game football." This coming week will see the last glut of AAA releases in the autumn sales cycle, and then it will be on to the question of Game of the Year. Sports titles are like the offensive lineman in modern Heisman voting. Just being mentioned would be honor enough, because the prize is completely inaccessible to your class of performer."

ESPN NFL 2K5 screenshot gallery - Click to view

Game: ESPN NFL 2K5Reader Score: 9.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS2 / XboxVotes for game: 84 - View All

Member Comments

# 21 DrUrsus @ 11/28/09 12:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rudyjuly2


	I'll just discuss football games. I personally think 2K5 was very over-rated and had TONS of issues. Some of which could never be cured for me (like AWFUL cpu QB AI). I think 2K4 was the best 2K football game they put out. Here is my evolution of football gaming: 1) Tecmo Bowl. First truly fun and great football game 2) Tecmo Super Bowl. All teams and stat tracking. Played a ton. 3) Gameday '97. First fun game on PS1 but nowhere near the fun factor of other games on this list. First polygon football game so deserves a mention. 4) Madden '98. First EA polygon game and the first Madden game I ever enjoyed. No longer played like on a hockey rink. Loved it. 5) Madden '03. This was the last Madden I truly enjoyed. 6) NFL 2K4. Presentation and line play totally new to me and outstanding. 7) NCAA 06. Just an absolute blast to play. Arcade like for sure but really fun. Favourite game on the PS2 (beats out 2K4 by a hair). 8) Still waiting to be blown away on next gen. I usually quit a football game by Christmas. Maybe next year.

Great list RudyJuly. I still have my NCAA 06.
There was one year of College Gamebreaker on PS1 that I really liked because it was so much fun. I think it was way back when Weurfel was on Florida. I think it was the 2nd gamebreaker. Of course it doesn't compare to later college football games, but I loved it at the time.

# 22 slick1ru2 @ 05/10/10 07:38 AM

I just picked up 2k5 again for a buck at Gamestop. I had at least a dollar's worth of fun the first hour out of the box. I did not delve too far into in game adjustments. Much simpler play book but as EA Sports research showed, the best players only use up to 13 plays. The only thing I struggled on was passing. Much harder then Madden to get a pass completed or not picked off. On the other hand, I put up 400 yards on the ground with Alstott. So not very balanced there. But the presentation, 6 years down the road, blows Madden away. Half time, sports center, weekly shows with stills, video clips, FA and trade updates as well as injury updates. OMG, I miss all that! I found some roster updates online, haven't figured out how to get them in the game, but then again, being a Bucs fan, not sure I want to lol. My only fear is it will screw with my Madden game, the different controls. Is 2k4 more balanced with passing? I am going to pick both 2k4 and 2k8 up since I can get both together for under 20 bucks.

# 23 malky @ 05/11/10 06:00 PM

Let's put it this way; I stopped playing sports video games and video games in general, back in 1998.

2K5 came out, word of mouth got back to me from friends still playing video games, went over played a game at their house. The rest is history.

Now I'm a sports video game junkie-- Football, baseball, basketball-- spending way too much money on new sports titles every year, hoping these new games will give me that 2k5 experience again.

NCAA 06, College Hoops 2k7, and now NBA2K10 have come very close, but don't have the whole 2k5 package.

To sum it up, Not only is 2k5 the best sports game of the century, it's the most revolutionary sports game of the century BAR NONE.

# 24 Matt23134 @ 05/12/10 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dan77733


	I personally would have went back to playing 2K3 because it didnt have any major (or even minor) glitches like 2K5 had out of the box.

Your post made me order 2K3. I'm tired of feeling like I have to mess around in Finn's editor to get what I want. I want a football game that is sim, for the most part, with as few glitches as possible. I'm anxiously awaiting 2K3's arrival.

# 25 Matt23134 @ 05/14/10 02:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Segagendude


	I hated the playcalling system 2k3 had. Still a good game though, I think you'll enjoy it.

It arrived yesterday and I've played 3 or 4 exhibition games with it. The play calling is a tad wonky, but I really like it so far.

I just made a really lengthy post about it here, if you care to read it.

# 26 Trey79 @ 05/19/10 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raidersbball20


	right on

I agree 100%

# 27 Valdarez @ 05/22/10 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tazdevil20


	2k football burst onto the scene and actually brought a new level of realism to the game that the Madden team could never deliver. Madden 2005 was a great game. NFL 2k5 was a phenomenal game...

Dead on.

# 28 Spanky @ 05/30/10 08:08 PM

Just stumbled across this forum. Interesting question, Steve. May I amend the question to read, "What sports game did you have the most fun with?'' because my list includes games that were probably inferior to subsequent versions and/or seem archaic by today's technological standards. But these are the games that I longed to play over and over again:

1. Tecmo Super Bowl, NES (December 1991): Still the king after all these years. We're talking stone age compared to today's games. But, man, it seemed years ahead of its time with NFL/NFLPA licenses, season mode and, especially, stat tracking. I bought it on a Sunday night from Toys R Us ($54 was extremely steep at the time), but played it until 7 a.m. that first day. Needless to say, it was worth the price.

2. College Hoops 2k4, XBox (November 2003): One of the biggest one-year improvements in any series that I can recall. Not only was the gameplay superb, I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere (real arenas and courts, enormous number of mascots and fight songs) and the depth of options. When you're playing a college basketball game the following summer, it has to be good.

3. Madden 10, 360 (August 2009): Post-patches. I've been a huge critic of this abomination of a series, but nearly 10 months after its release, I'm playing this game more than any other. I'm a graphics ho and proud of it, and this game just looks marvelous. Couple that with tight gameplay (no game-killing bugs) and I can overlook any other shortcomings.

4. NFL 2k5, XBox (July 2004): Not being familiar with this series, I was skeptical, but the $15 price tag (it was either on sale when I bought or there some kind of $5 off special the store was running) lured me in. Fantastic graphics and gameplay, coupled with a presentation element (particularly the weekly show with highlights of other games) that amazingly still hasn't been matched by even next-gen Madden, made for lots of fun and much anguish after its demise.

5. FIFA 1998: Road to the World Cup, PSX (December 1997): Strangely, I don't remember a lot about this title, expect that I played the hell out of it and loved it. The original PlayStation was a piece of junk for sports games and nearly prompted me to abandon this tremendous pastime, but this game was its shining moment. Loved the fact it had 170-plus countries and the custom tournaments I would create.

Honorable mention: 6. NCAA Football 2004 (XBox), 7. NHL 10 (360), 8. FIFA World Cup 2006 (Xbox), 9. NBA 2k8 (360), 10. NHL 95 (Sega) Genesis.

# 29 GaryT531 @ 05/31/10 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StormJH1


	Are any of you old enough to remember 2004? Just curious b/c I don't understand how you can argue that NFL 2k5 was the greatest sports video game ever, when it wasn't even clearly the best football game in 2004.

I believe that was the point of the article. The author is suggesting that this game has been popular for all of these years despite not being the unanimous hands down top football game of 2004-05.

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