Ok guys, I played ESPN NFL 2k5 for the first time today and I love the game. Great gameplay, I play a franchise with the Texans with the oringinal roster on Pro difficulty and its hard for me to win games. My first preseason game was against the Panthers and I got beat 41-7. What strategy can I use to play better against the CPU? Also, I played ESPN NBA 2k4 last week for the first time, and maybe my standards was too high from playing the 2k series on the Dreamcast for 3 years, but the camera view in ESPN2k4 was just horrible. It wasn't zoomed in close enough and there wasn't one good camera setting on there. Will 2k5 be the same way? I sure hope not. The overall gameplay for 2k4 sucked. But like I said, maybe thats the norm... God the Dreamcast had great gameplay on the NBA2k series....
You'll learn to love DD in that game. I rushed for 3k yards with him on my franchise. Running is hard at first, but once you learn stiff arm, spin, and juke, it should get easier with the "charged" feature. Add in 2k yards for Andre and you have a perfect season. This was all on pro, so I think I need to up the difficulties/sliders...
From the few clips I saw from 2k5, it looks like the camera issues have been fixed. I think one of the views is similiar to the ones before 2k4. (basically the 2k4 one but zoomed in more) I liked the game although I did have some issues with it. I still had it over Live though. From the few clips of 2k5, it looks awesome. I have NFL 2k5 but I haven't been able to play it as much as I would like. As for helping you out, I probably would need more info to aid you on a strategy. All I could think of is that you should mix up you plays, using some plays such as playaction and rollouts to aid you if you got a bit of a running game going. Check your WRs before you snap the ball to see if they D is playing a zone or man-to-man defense. If there is a hole somewhere, change up the routes of your WRs or put them in motion to cause a mismatch. On D, try to match up with the offense. On defense, try to match up with the defense, but also mix it up here as well. Blitz here and there to force TO's or get a sack/ tackle for loss. Of course, use the plays and controls that fit your players. Don't go with 4 WR sets if you only got 3 good WRs and don't run to the outside with Jerome Bettis, trying to juke the D. That's all I can think of. Sorry if these were too obvious. I didn't exactly know how you play. These are just general things I can think of.
Another question... once I get cable modem at my aptmnt (im at my g/f's house now, but the game is at my house), can I get on LIVE by hooking the cable modem to the Xbox?
Crazy, I did the same thing. I got 305 yards rushing with Double D on pro also. EDIT: I saw you meant 3000 in a season... well what was your best in a game with him? I don't care about Madden, ESPN 2K5 is just amazing. It has the best presentation I can ever remember seeing in a game. I can't say there's one thing wrong with the game. I've been buying the 2K games since the first ones came out. I think the best basketball game they did was 2K2 for the Dreamcast, they've had cool improvements since then but have done little things that make me not like it as much. I don't think you can get a better baseball game then ESPN baseball. I've been playing that game all season long. Currently, my franchise is in the year 2006 and the Astros are still looking for their first World Series win against the Red Sox at 1 game to 1.
Not too hard to start dominating the computer in this game, at least on o. - practice in scrimmages to get the timing down - te's are great to use and the best usual safety valve. - the middle of the field is your friend - set the camera so that it zooms out when you are passing, it'll help you see the field better, but you still have the close up view all other times. Cool feature. - use hot routes, esp when it's obvious where the d is going to have holes. Ex: a cb is motioning to blitz, or a lb moves leaving the middle of the field open(hot route a slant to the inside for your te) - here's my "money play" I used a bit early on to help me get out sticky situations: most playbooks have some variations of this play, try using the seahawks in scrimmage to try it out. I twin 50 X/Z slants. Hot route the slot reciever for a go route(straight up). It's extremely easy to read if the d is in zone(no db will be tight on your slot wr) or man(db close on your slot wr, not much dbs on the empty side of the field). If it's zone look for one of your wrs(the slot first, if he's not open look for the other when he cuts to the inside). If it's man, look for your rb(primarily) or your te(last resort). Once you get that play down you can pretty much run it successfully the whole game if you want to, esp on pro and all pro. - if you are passing and it doesn't look like any wrs are gonna be open, just wait for the middle to open up and you'll have prime rushing lanes to get good yardage even if you don't have a good rushing qb. I'd say this is the cases at least 50/50. The dline and lb ai are fricken stupid. - running is fairly easy, just practice using the special moves a lil bit. Jukes are good for avoiding the initial tackler when running up the gut, good for cutting back through your olinemen at times as well. You can have success running on plays that aren't necessarily running formations(ie 3,4 wr sets) because the comp always matches up personell on the field, and it can be easier to run over the extra dbs than lbs.
Is it really that fun rushing for 3000 yards in a season? Sports games get extremely boring for me when I always dominate the opponent...that's why I stick with Madden.
My best was 350 or something in a game with DD, not exactly sure... I really like the VIP idea, it's a good way to keep you interested in all aspects of the game. Whereas you can dominate on O, you should learn D to unlock some of the VIP "points" that you can earn. As for sheer domination, I always try out a game on the default game so I can get a hang of it. Then I test out the upper levels. MVP baseball, it took me a while to get used to the timing of the swings, reading the pitches, etc. ESPN 2K3 took me 2 games to get used to the default level and take it to the highest difficulty (All-star?). It all depends on the game. Eventually, though, I do move up. Still, gloating about my domination is great, isn't it?
I very recently went back to ESPN NFL 2K5. I got Madden and, at first, thought it was better but I don't think so anymore. I seem to always feel cheated in Madden. It's one thing to lose if I f**k up or the other team is jusy better, but feeling as if the computer is ripping me off just ticks me off to no end. ESPN is a beautiful game (especially on XBOX) which is challenging. I can't get enough of it and have to play at least one game every night before I go to bed. Just keep at it and you will figure out how to win games. Me and my bro played co-op as the Texans one season and didn't win till week 6. Whether it is too hard or too easy, you can always adjust the sliders to your liking. gamefaqs.com and operationsports.com both have forums in which people (who have WAY too much time on there hands) post slider settings to make the game play great. (EDIT) Everything CriscoKid is great helpful info also, ESPECIALLY about passing to the middle of the field. Have fun!
