2K5 out today

I tried to buy 2k5 today as well. Best buy said it probably will be two days until they get it. THeir computers say the 30th but expect it sooner. Im thinking about buying it from a place that lets you return games incase I dotn like it. Basically id rent it for free until madden came out.

I'm really liking NCAA '04 so far. I like the fact the receivers don't catch everything and a big hit usually knocks the ball out unlike Madden where it seems everyone has hands of glue. I also like how the QB's aren't as accurate. I really like the pace of the game too, and it seems there's more penalties, injuries and big turnovers.

The SI covers are really cool too, I'm really having a lot of fun with this game, more than I expected! It really has that college feel!

Madden who?! LOL

Well I just played my first two games of ESPN NFL 2k5. First I played against the Jets and lost 16-13 and then played the Tampa Bay Bucs in week one of my francise and won 10-7. I was of course the Skins' both times.

Now the game itself is good, but not great. The plays themselves somtimes look a little choppy, and then as soon as the play ends, the graphics go to like these amazing images. Overall the graphics themselves I was not too impressed with. Although I felt the same way about madden last year when I first got it, and it grew on me. Somtimes it just takes some getting used too.

The same thing should be said for the gameplay. I just used all the buttons and I would Madden. Somtimes they worked, somtimes they didnt. The game is very lifelike. Meaning that you have to make your reactions fast, and persicse. This game is not very easy to score in, which I absolutley love.

The special "features" are my favorite part of the game. They have the halftime show, with images of your first half. A postgame show, which carries an interview with the player of the game. In addition, at the conclusion of each week, you get ESPN Sportscenter. It gives a rundown of all the games that occured over the week, and highlights of a select couple.

Overall the game was pretty decent. I'm not jumping up and down and going head over heels for it, but it is a soild game. However, its a steal for $19.99. So if you need somthing to hold you over till Madden, this game is well worth it.

Final Rating 7.5/10

let me first say I am probably one of the biggest madden fans out there. Second, let me say that I just bought 2k5 and its awesome. The game play is infinitly more realistic then madden, in terms of how players acutally move. Granted, im not that good at it yet because ive only played one half of football, but it seems to be more accurate of how people actually move.

BUT!! whats the deal with them giving the redskins players shitty rankings. Portis is a 90 I beleive. Brunell was an 80 or 84, ramsey a 75. Coles was like a 94 though. I dont really remember the rest of them, i only looked quickly. Taylor was an 80. I expected a lot of our players to have better rankings.

ESPN 2K5 IS THE BEST $20 IVE EVER SPENT.

i'll get Madden but this game is amazing, i cant believe this is only $20. so much work has gone into it. all the extras, crowd and sideline scenes, the amazing dolby audio, all the broadcast stuff, they went waay out of their way for this stuff (wait till you see the ingame info graphics). its just super polished.

how's the meat of the game? amazing. guys, the animations are sooooo sick. they meld into each other perfectly, basically making custom athletic moves on the fly, always looks awesome never once glitchy or unnatural. and i mean all the player animations, including before AND after the play, so much lifelike variations, they make the players REAL. how real? Kurt Warner called a timeout FROM THE GROUND after i SACKED HIM.

on the field, playing running back is a dream, there's still a limited range of that pivoting around a stick but extreme movements on the stick produce really smooth cutting and backtracking animations (no buttons needed). if your back touches a lineman he'll push off him, or slip past him all seamlessly into whatever animation comes next. and the gang tackles, god knows how they did that, if a guy comes in late or is underneath, the physics somehow produces these incredibly real animations, with the appropriate force and every tackler accounted for. also the DBs have realistic swatting and turning animations from EVERY angle. SERIOUS attention to detail here.

if you're used to madden, play the game on SLOW, cuz 2K plays alot faster and unless you adjust its real easy to miss everything thats going on. i think thats what madden players have the biggest problem with, the pace.

everything looks too color saturated, and the faces dont look great. its the motion tho, they have like 3 super realistic animations for ANY situation. cant stress enough how less of a 'videogame' this makes it all feel. turn the saturation on your TV down a bit.

the important stuff: anyone find a way to play Away uniforms at Home ???? (workaround is to wear the '82 aways with the gray facemasks) how bout making other teams wear Dark??? YES THE ALL WHITES ARE IN THERE, but the other team cant wear darks! super dumb oversight. finally, the peg the burgundy on the helmets perfectly but not on the uniforms! they're like too pink! ugh, they've never gotten it right.

Just got my copy today. EBgames had it, but none at Best Buy, Target, or Wal-Mart.
Just played my first game and loved it. Berman's halftime highlights are cool. Portis was kicking some Philly ass, which got him the post game interview. I have a lot to learn and a lot to take in yet, before I really judge it one way or the other. I've played Madden on the PC for the past two years, so it will take me awhile to get all the controls down. The online features look cool as you can set up leagues and tournaments. This is going to be fun and my g/f will have to be patient with me for the next few weeks, LOL!
You can't go wrong for $20! I did rent NCAA 2005 this week and that was cool too.

lord these animations are the real deal. DBs react to missed interceptions right away, the QB scrambles have to be seen to be believed. i've checked all the videos for Madden'05, and EA finally attended to graphics, it looks fanastic, but ESPN makes em look like robots when they move i swear.

if they combined the models,textures,lighting of Madden with ESPN's animation system (along with dearly departed Fever's excellent Read n' Lead ), the NFL would be in trouble of being obsolete!

ok guys, heres another take. Playing a single game was fun, I killed teh Giants so playing on the default level might not be for me, even though ive never played a 2k game before.

Now the important test for me, since all I do is play franchises. I just did a complete year in a franchise. I simulated the games. I just wanted to see how it did all teh off season stuff. And frankly, I dont think it will be able to touch madden in the franchise mode. The game offeres some cool features, such as the crib, gamecast mode, and first person mode, but what im interested in is building a franchise, and they fall behind even madden 04 in this IMO.

I havent tried out the weekly gameplan stuff. This game has a lot of levels to it. Its also weird that preseason doesnt matter, From what I can tell your players progressoin changes in weeks 1-3, so preseason isnt that important.

For 20 bucks it will occupy my time until madden comes out, but I cant see my self playing it to much once I have madden.

man this weekly prep stuff is hard. Its weird seeing yoru players stats change so much week to week. I spent like 20 minutes gettign everythign setup, just to see that ladel betts rating droped 67 point, to a zero for that weeks game. I even gave him a deep tissue massage on friday, wtf

maybe he liked it too much...