OK, now I've had a chance to play a bit more... Very Good Football game...but still has it's faults. As far as playing a single game goes, it's a lot of fun. Great presentation and graphics; good, fast and loose style of play makes for a good time. It has a great feel to it in single player. Though there is room for improvement. I don't like the running game much; doesn't feel very 'real', nor does the control seem very well tuned. Your back tends too look like Pac Man turning left and right, and it gives it an odd pinball feel. Passing game I don't have the problems some have; seems well balanced. While it doesn't suffer from the 'great hangtime' cheapness of a Madden secondary, it makes up for it with some rather crazy coverage problems, such as really wild 'batting it down' reaches and it's a little too unrealistic on how the corners close. Increases the challenge, true, but still doesn't 'feel' right. That still doesn't take away from it being a fun game. However, when it comes to franchise, dynasty and that type of play...it still can't touch Madden. Madden is just too thorough. It's franchise mode actually makes you feel like you are building something and have to work at it. That's a big part of the fun of the game, to me. And others here have already pointed out how the ESPN franchise modes are lacking. But overall, for 20 bucks, you can't ask for a better deal. Lots of extras and a great game of football. Just not enough to make it a better game than Madden yet, IMO.
Well I don't necessarily mean three guys were covering him the whole time per se, but there would be three guys who loosely converged on him after I threw the ball (when he was catching it, each would still be about 5 feet away). Now in Madden (or in real life), the receiver could grab the ball and hit the floor, since he knows he's got coverage all over him. Sure, he may get knicked a little, but he would make the catch. In ESPN it seems like receivers can't even do something as simple as that. Last game I threw 16 of 26, with 9 drops. And that's close to my average game by now. That shouldn't happen. Maybe there's a slider for this, I had kinda forgotten about the slider thing. Maybe if there is I won't sell this when I buy Madden... Oh, and a side note: yeah, if I was getting paid $3 mil a year to catch a ball, I could learn to do it.
I didn't even consider this game until I decided to open this thread. I guess the point of the low price is to draw people away from EA over to Sega Sports. I'm tempted to leave the office right now, and go buy it. Circuit City is selling it for $16.99 and someone mentioned that Target and Frys have it for $15. That's dirt cheap, and I get to pocket the extra $$$ that I would have otherwise spent on Madden.
Here are my impressions: First let me say that I usually get both Madden and NFL2K each year. I am a fan of both games. I am really enjoying this game. The passing game is a combination of gamer skill and player ability. Really skilled receivers are a bit dominate on All Pro but the slider takes care of that. The passing game is really about timing and the deep ball is about reading the coverage. Each play has a certain drop (you can tell by the name). If the play is a 5-step drop, the receivers are more likley to catch the ball in that small window around the 5th step. You have to time it well. Also, make sure you use Maximum Passing. I eat up the deep coverage by leading Andre Johnson to the weak spots in coverage, even triple coverage (though not often because eventually the AI will adjust). MP helps you drop a pass in the soft spot in the zone or lead a receiver so that he can catch the ball in stride or so he catches the ball falling away from the DB. With MP you can have a good passing game with average receivers. I find the running game fun too. You have to run the play as it is designed, unless the defense collapses the hole, in which case you have to bounce it out and find yardage. Do not dance behind the line of scrimmage. See the hole, hit it, then fight for yardage. You also have to use moves that fit that backs style. Don't try to finesse defenders with Bettis and don't try to power everyone with Dunn. Once I realized how much more this matters this year, I started getting a consistent run game with Domanick Davis. It is also fun when a defender wraps you up and you have to tap furiously to break the tackle. The haltime and postgame shows are amazing, eventhough the post game interview isn't lip-synched. I personally enjoy this franchise mode. Sure you can't move your team or change the price of hotdogs but the franchise mode revolves around improving your team's play on the field. I just prefer well done features over a potpourri of shallow ones. The weekly prep feature (Visual Concepts answer to Madden's option to hire coaches) really makes it seem as if you are molding and building your team towards something. You can use it to get players focused on your gameplan and style of play. With the Texans, I use the feature to pump up my LB core and cornerbacks on defense and to pump up my OLine on offense. I get all my players to improve a little and get my LBs to go up +5 overall points. Since they are my chief defensive playmakers, I really prepare them well. You can even use prep time to help a player/rookie develop. You can put a player through a number of routines to help their progression. I got Jason Babin to drop 6lbs and improve his speed, agility and durability. Weekly prep is a really deep feature. A lot of people think you have to do a new prep every week, but you don't. Just use it to better prepare your players in your style of play. I use the same prep routine each week, save a few hours I shift around depending on my opponent. I also change the tone of the team meeting and press conference, depending on how the team performed in the last game. I like that fact that Mel Kiper gives pre- and post-draft reports. I also think it is clever how the game uses a weekly SportsCenter (hosted by egomaniacal Boomer) show to keep you up to date on happenings in the league. Virtual SportsCenter runs scores, highlights (including real ones from your game), injury reports, trade reports, awards and free-agent signings. The ability to structure contracts is cool and gives you more realistic cap management. You get to set bonuses and structure backloaded, frontloaded, etc. deals. You also develop a reputation based on your dealings with free-agents and trades. The Bad: the AI makes some crazy trades. But no game yet has excellent trade/draft logic. Last year Madden AI would bench Pro-Bowl players to give rookies playing time and in 5 years you'd have 1/4 of the league relocated. So GM AI is a wash. Finally, that VIP feature is da bomb. Nothing like playing the VIP profile of a top rated gamer or of a friend. The celebrity VIPs are a gimmick but I did have fun whipping David Arquette (sp?). The VIPs help to add replay once you "figure out" the AI (as humans do with every sports game). The VIP throughly mimicks human play. It even highlights the profiled players defenders like the human does complete with playcalling, zoom outs, audibles and adjustments, as well as mimicking the way you use your special moves. You can even play your own profile! Nothing like seeing all theh stupid things you do than by playing against yourself. I haven't tried first-person football so I can't comment on it. As I said, I usually get both games each year, but this year I might give a pass on Madden. (I am a student again and don't really want to spend another 50 bucks. I'll spend it on Fable, instead.) I like both games. They each have their ups and downs. I just like the NFL2K5 style of play more.
I may pick up this game, but from playing it in the past Madden has always stayed superior in my mind. From what I've read here, it sounds like Madden still has a more in-depth franchise and arguably better gameplay. The thing I don't like about the Espn games is that they get too easy after a while...so in your third or fourth season, you can pretty much be dominant every year. The same thing happened to me with basketball this year...it got so easy, and you could pull off trades that would never happen. All of the extras like the Sportscenter and whatnot are nice, but thats all just icing. The cake is the gameplay and the franchise mode for me, and Madden has better cake. Currently NCAA may have both games beat.
Yeah, you just have to buy what fits the way you play. Rent the games and make a decision. Funny, I have always seen the 2K series as being more about gamplay than Madden, which I have always seen as having shallow gameplay and shallow franchise features. When I play Madden, I am stomping the game by 40+ points and whatnot, while building a nearly unstoppable dynasty within a week of buying the game. I find the NFL2K5 AI more challenging and a refreshing change from NFL2Ks (and Maddens) of the past. It seems the AI begins using the info in your VIP profile against you. The contract structure in this years game combined with the injury system seems to really lock down on that superteam stuff of the past. And I agree, NCAA is the best sports game out there.
Wow. Found a quite useful cheat for signing players at well below their actual value in franchise mode. HUGE oversight on the developers'/testers' parts. So I was getting pissed, because Todd Heap's contract ran out, and he wanted me to fork up about $6 mil per year, over 7 years. Rightfully, I say "What? You're a freakin tight end. Tight ends simply don't get bank like that." At this point I tried getting him injured and then signing him (while his rating was like 20), but that didn't work. Then I discovered that you can go to game preparation, set up for your players to do nothing (literally), and watch all your players' ratings go down by 5 or so. The beauty of it is their ratings stay lowered even in the contracts menu, but go right back to normal as soon as the game is done. So I ended up lowering Todd's rating and paying him "only" $4.7 mil per year, and then going on about my business. Just thought I'd pass that one along.
Well, maybe it is really realistic in a way. If a player is sitting on his butt at home eating some pretzels, kind of like I'm doing right now, while all his teammates are busting their butts off in the weight room or doing drills or whatever, he'll get negative press, and then a high contract would seem stupid since he's not a hard worker. Of course, once he's on the field and working out, all those claims of him balooning to 350 pounds and being unable to run the West-Coast Offense go out the door. Probably just a glitch though.
I just got this game for the XBOX; pretty damned good Anybody have any interest in starting a CF.net online league? I think somebody posted about it earlier -- let me know. Xbox Id =maverick 34
