The best football game ever, period.
With ESPN NFL 2K5, Sega has, for the first time, beaten their EA rivals. With fantastic gameplay, graphics, presentation and a feature-rich football game, Sega has made the best football video game ever.
The most impressive feature in NFL 2K5 is the VIP system. This allows each coach in the NFL to have their own gameplan, making each game feel different, as if you're actually playing each separate coaches team and strategy. This system can also be used for a user-controlled profile, finding strategies like how often you convert on third down, which player you control on defense, your favourite plays, etc. This means you can play any of your friends, even if they're not there, or yourself.
Other features brought back from 2K4 are First-Person Football, which isn't nearly as fun as it sounds, and the Crib. The Crib is a well implemented feature, allowing you to buy items to deck out your crib, using points by completing different in-game or career challenges. Items include playable air hockey, darts, trivia machine and TVs.
Game modes include quick game, franchise, tournament, practice and the new 25th Anniversary Collection. The latter allows you to replay 25 different famous moments in football, from the Heidi Bowl to the Immaculate Reception, to the Titans coming up one yard short in the Super Bowl.
Easily the best of the modes, and where you'll be spending most of your time is Franchise. This allows you to take the team of your choice and run them the way you want. Everything from trades to free agency to contracts is handled well. The contracts are more advanced this year, allowing you to frontload a contract, backload a contract, and everything in between. There is also a weekly preparation feature, allowing you to micromanage your players, but it is extremely difficult, and anyone but the hardcore players will probably turn this feature off.
The gameplay in NFL 2K5 is phenomenal, with a realistic passing game, running game, and defense. There is more of an emphasis put on momentum this year, with players no longer able to go in every direction without slowing down at all. This feels like you're actually playing in a real NFL game, with realistic scores (provided you keep the difficult up at All-Pro) and stats. You'll have a high scoring game here and there, like the real NFL, but most scores are kept realistic. There are many special moves in this game, which can be charged up using X, and work very well. These include a shoulder charge, juke, stiff arm and a few others. While holding down the button has it's advantages, it also sacrifices speed, so it's up to the player to determine what's best. One complaint would be the ease of getting sacks on defense, but this problem decreases as the difficulty goes up.
The shining point of ESPN NFL 2K5 is its presentation. This game makes you feel like you're actually watching an ESPN broadcast. Personalities such as Chris Berman, Suzy Kolber, Trey Wingo, and Mel Kiper Jr. can be found this game. Chris Berman hosts the halftime, postgame, and weekly shows. The commentary flows great when it comes to Chris, but Trey Wingo can get very repetitive with his injury and free agency reports. It's a great start for this system though. During the game, you will see many different ESPN graphics and overlays, showing stats and replays just like the real broadcast would. The license with ESPN is used perfectly in the presentation of the game.
The graphics in ESPN are the greatest to ever be found in a football game, everything from the players themselves to the referees to the crowd look simply fantastic. The cutscenes involving the fans are great, with each fan sporting the home team's colours in one way or another. Each player looks realistic, and the lighting and shadows on the players and field look great.
The sound has both strong and weak points. The commentary is still good, but it still sounds nearly the same as all of the previous, with very little new commentary. They're also prone to becoming repetitive on some plays, but overall, they make a good combo. The sounds of the players crunching together, the player chatter, and the referees all sound great. There are a few celebrities implemented into the crib (David Arquette, Steve-O, etc.), allowing you to play their chosen team, but it's horribly implemented. This takes away nothing from the game though, as it can be ignored.
However, this game is not perfect. You will find some glitchy moments, such as computer-controlled teams putting quarterbacks (ex. Brett Favre) as punt returner. There's also the horrible celebrity team feature, just ignore it. The few low points of the game take very little from this game, and should not stop you from purchasing this.
Did I mention that this game is $20(US)? This sure isn't a budget game, as it is quite simply, the best football game ever made. Whether you're looking for a multi-player online experience, or a single-player franchise experience, no gamer will come up empty handed when it comes to ESPN NFL 2K5. If you're a football fan, buy it, you won't regret it.