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NFL 2K5: A Present-Day Take On An All-Time Classic

02:03 PM - July 20, 2014 by RaychelSnr

When it was released in 2004, NFL 2K5 was one of the best playing and best presented sports games you could find. For the bargain-bin price of $20, you could get gameplay and features which rivaled any full priced sports game at the time — if not wholly surpassing them.

Fast forward 10 years and there are still aspects of NFL 2K5 which have aged pretty well — but there are also things which would be cardinal sins to sports gamers today. NFL 2K5 definitely wasn’t a perfect game, but it was about as good as you could imagine a game could be 10 years ago, which is one of the highest compliments you can give a game.

Read More - NFL 2K5: A Present-Day Take On An All-Time Classic

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

Member Comments

# 21 H to the Oza @ 07/20/14 07:23 PM

all time classic

# 22 ggsimmonds @ 07/20/14 08:07 PM

Stop trying to play both sides OS. Sorry but you can't post articles like this and the other one and then say we can't bring up this game in the Madden forum.

# 23 grodbetatted @ 07/20/14 08:21 PM

Remember being able to throw a bullet pass in this game?? I dont

# 24 kehlis @ 07/20/14 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggsimmonds


	Stop trying to play both sides OS. Sorry but you can't post articles like this and the other one and then say we can't bring up this game in the Madden forum.

This article is posted in the appropriate forum. What are you confused about?

# 25 bxphenom7 @ 07/20/14 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grodbetatted


	Remember being able to throw a bullet pass in this game?? I dont

You just had to hold down the button....

# 26 inkcil @ 07/20/14 09:06 PM

Exactly, hold down the button for a bullet pass and tap for a lob or touch pass. That's 2k5 101. All time classic. No other sports game from 2004 is still in my console library.

# 27 grodbetatted @ 07/20/14 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bxphenom7


	You just had to hold down the button....

What I'm saying is the ball floated... The ball had no zip on it

# 28 ggsimmonds @ 07/20/14 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kehlis


	This article is posted in the appropriate forum. What are you confused about?

I'm not confused, but you must be. Posting this article encourages the 2k vs Madden talk. That is the purpose of this article.

# 29 kehlis @ 07/20/14 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggsimmonds


	I'm not confused, but you must be. Posting this article encourages the 2k vs Madden talk. That is the purpose of this article.

If it helps you to sleep better at night have at it.

We won't allow Madden talk in this thread just as much as we won't allow 2k talk in the Madden forum.

Again, they are completely different forums. Shouldn't be that hard to see the difference but fight on....

# 30 CT Pitbull @ 07/20/14 10:31 PM

NFL2k5 was IMO the greatest football game of all time and I can say this having played them ALL, Im 34 years old and aside from computer football games I have either owned or played every 11 on 11 football game ever made. Im so old I played 10 yard fight on the original NES. That was actually my first football game I ever played.

Back to 2k5... the reason why I say it was the greatest is because it was the total package, especially for its day. I mean think about it, is it really acceptable for a game which is 10 years old to STILL be better than a current title which has been in production for 26 years now. 26 years of raking in UNREAL amounts of cash. 10 years of chances to BURY the memories of 2k football (excluding APF2k8). Dev team turnover rate or not its pretty embarrassing. M15 looks to be something on the cusp of "in the ballpark" for where we all want our football game to be in 2014 What hurts is that the improvements have been sooo damn slow.

# 31 ggsimmonds @ 07/20/14 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kehlis


	If it helps you to sleep better at night have at it. We won't allow Madden talk in this thread just as much as we won't allow 2k talk in the Madden forum. Again, they are completely different forums. Shouldn't be that hard to see the difference but fight on....

It is not the just the forum though. I don't want to fight on so this will be my last comment. But forgive me because I will bring up Madden.
So just let me explain my objection and I will be on my way.

It is the lead up to Madden's release and they just had a well received twitch gameplay stream. I decide to check the OS homepage and what do I see as the first thing? This article which is a re-review of a 10 year old game. I wonder, how many other reviews of 10 year old games can we expect to see?
It may not be intentional, but it serves to rile up the 2k fanbase and encourage the 2k needs to come back bandwagon. And I thought OS was trying to avoid doing that.

It just seems like putting this on the homepage is kind of shaky or something. Like they stole a page from politics.

# 32 Blzer @ 07/20/14 10:46 PM

I want to make a comment on this article quote:

Quote:


	Both Terry McGovern and Jay Styne do a great job with their lines, and the commentary variety is pretty good. I can say this is one area 2K5 still has mastery over current-day productions without a doubt, as the commentators always seem on-point and they follow the action very well. The commentary in 2K5 lags behind many other games in the genre today, so you can say that this aspect of the game hasn’t aged perfectly, but as a football experience it is still top notch.

Play 2K - 2K4, and you'll notice that Dan and Peter are right in sync with what is going on. Yes, they are definitely late with their deliveries in 2K5. One might say that it's an intentional latency effect, but it certainly doesn't rub off as better sounding than it did in the previous days.

Peter is the same during replays, when he says something like, "And [he] pulls off an epic spin move, watch this...... oh man, that was just an incredible move to avoid the tackle!" The silence in between is when we're supposed to be watching the spin, but in 2K5, he will have that silence maybe as the guy is already getting tackled or we're seeing a second angle of the replay. Again, it doesn't really come fluidly here.

It must have to do with how much is crammed in this awesome game, but I thought this was a lacking thing in the presentation.

# 33 kehlis @ 07/20/14 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ggsimmonds


	It is not the just the forum though. I don't want to fight on so this will be my last comment. But forgive me because I will bring up Madden. So just let me explain my objection and I will be on my way. It is the lead up to Madden's release and they just had a well received twitch gameplay stream. I decide to check the OS homepage and what do I see as the first thing? This article which is a re-review of a 10 year old game. I wonder, how many other reviews of 10 year old games can we expect to see? It may not be intentional, but it serves to rile up the 2k fanbase and encourage the 2k needs to come back bandwagon. And I thought OS was trying to avoid doing that. It just seems like putting this on the homepage is kind of shaky or something. Like they stole a page from politics.

The writers of OS are separate from the moderation of the OS forums.

I get your point, but we moderate the forums, they write stories. As long as they are kept in their own forums I don't see the issue.

# 34 Simaofan-20 @ 07/20/14 11:49 PM

I really do miss this game. Still have it and play a game once in a while it still holds up imo. Not a big football guy but absolutely loved 2k5

# 35 Sinner @ 07/21/14 12:10 AM

Plus the total control passing I believe it was where you could lead the receiver and I believe under throw him by moving the stick accordingly.

# 36 poopie @ 07/21/14 12:10 AM

Of course it wasn't perfect... But for it to even still be in the conversation.. Speaks volumes.. One thing I always loved was the offsetting penalties... And the choice challenge system.... Awesome

# 37 DaReapa @ 07/21/14 12:12 AM

I echo others in saying this is an all time classic, and on my personal Mt Rushmore of sports games. It's a shame that we have to deal with this NFL exclusivity fiasco. I haven't purchased an NFL game since Madden 06, and that was solely to get an idea of how EA would play this out being the sole license holder.

# 38 poopie @ 07/21/14 12:28 AM

And I recently began playing it again... Still see new animations... After a week with Madden and you've seen them all

# 39 jyoung @ 07/21/14 12:34 AM

The timing of Madden's Friday Twitch stream (which was a good, informative stream, for the record) and the NFL 2K5 article that went up that same morning was merely coincidental.

The staff began planning NFL 2K5 anniversary articles back on July 1, with the goal of publishing them as close to the anniversary date (today) as possible.

The first article was submitted late Thursday night (10 PM) and published Friday morning (10 AM). I can't speak for the rest of the staff, but personally, I didn't even know that Madden was doing a stream on Friday until 5 minutes before it happened, which was around 3:30 PM. I had my head buried in the sand most of the week writing and doing research for the first NFL 2K5 article.

Retrospective articles are something that we have done regularly over the years whenever the news is slow, or important series hit an anniversary, or the sport they represent happens to be in the limelight (see past features on MVP Baseball 2005, College Hoops 2K8, All-Pro Football 2K8, Olympic Hockey 98, Tiny Toons Adventures: Wacky Sports Challenge, Windjammers, et al. ).

# 40 MAGboyswifT27 @ 07/21/14 12:35 AM

I can't have an opinion on if this was the greatest game or a good game etc because the NFL 2K that I played and enjoyed was the first one on Dreamcast with Moss on the cover. At the time that game to me was awesome IMO..
But Madden was really good as well at the time which closed me off to the 2K series. The series was very innovative especially in 04 (Madden 05) Ray Lewis on the cover, hit stick was introduced (a crazy addition!!) and there were other features that we enjoyed that was in the game at the time.
I'll never know what the 2K series was like and most likely I never will. I've heard a lot of things both good and bad but I guess now all we have are 2 things, memories and hope.. Memories of our favorite NFL games in the past and hope that EA can bring these games back to what it was in the past..

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