[NC State-31 UNC-27]

It took a lot of people a lot of time to figure out the greatness that was NFL 2k5. It was really under the radar, to the point where a lot of big sports gamers probably never even played it within a year or two of it coming out. Many people were turned off by the difference in gameplay between it and EAs games. NCAA 2004 had set the bar really hard in terms of football games and since 2k5 didn't play the same, people didn't give 2k5 much of a chance, especially at first.

My friend and I were the biggest NCAA '04 fans. But in the end, we played 2k5 more because it was more challenging and not as repetitive and a "go through the motions" type of game. Halftime shows, the juke stick, gang tackling, etc. made it a cutting edge game and was a great change of pace from EA.

In the end, the people who say it is overrated are probably actually underrating it and vice versa.

I personally got more enjoyment out of NCAA 2004 but I'm more of a college guy and I had the PS2 (no halftime replays). But I do realize how good it was and I loved the hell out of APF 2k8 (if only there was a franchise mode!) and disliked EA's next gen games thus far.

My other biggest sports game were NCAA '98 on PC (tons of bugs and all), Triple Play '98, Triple Play 2000, Hardball 5, High Heat 2001, NBA Live '95-'98, Fifa '98........and then taking it further back, I didn't play tecmo bowl so much but Tecmo Basketball was awesome for me, could play entire seasons and kept all your stats and everything. Also RBI baseball.