NFL 2K5 Crowned Operation Sports Best Sports Game

[allBthere]

Quote: Originally Posted by DreadedSteeler

Agreed, 2K4 is far better gameplay wise, but people vote 2K5 because of its bells and whistles....and editor. Oh well.

2k5 to me was far better gameplay wise, you also had more options and things to do while playing it, and the animations were better. what could have possibly gotten worse for you...i remeber the first game i played thinking 'awesome, i can do this and that now..etc.' not 'wtf, this is gone, and this sucks'.

[DreadedSteeler]

Quote: Originally Posted by allBthere

2k5 to me was far better gameplay wise, you also had more options and things to do while playing it, and the animations were better. what could have possibly gotten worse for you...i remeber the first game i played thinking 'awesome, i can do this and that now..etc.' not 'wtf, this is gone, and this sucks'.

IMO the AI was just far superior in 2K4. CPU QBs in 2K5 are just terrible without completely dumbing down the defense. 2K4 QBs will drop back, take their time and find the open man, dump off to RB or take off and run with it...just doesn't happen in 2K5. QB spy is broken in 2K5, DBs AI is bad and they get badly burned far too often. Also kickoff returns were far better in 2K4.

Graphics and animations seem almost identical to me. There were a few added, the QB throwing animations are nicer looking in 2K5 for sure.

Not saying 2K5 was a bad game, I think their intentions were great...they added a massive amount of extras in that year and just ran out of development time...they needed one more year. ESPN 2K6 would have been far and away the greatest football game ever made, IMO.

[allBthere]

Quote: Originally Posted by DreadedSteeler

IMO the AI was just far superior in 2K4. CPU QBs in 2K5 are just terrible without completely dumbing down the defense. 2K4 QBs will drop back, take their time and find the open man, dump off to RB or take off and run with it...just doesn't happen in 2K5. QB spy is broken in 2K5, DBs AI is bad and they get badly burned far too often. Also kickoff returns were far better in 2K4. Graphics and animations seem almost identical to me. There were a few added, the QB throwing animations are nicer looking in 2K5 for sure. Not saying 2K5 was a bad game, I think their intentions were great...they added a massive amount of extras in that year and just ran out of development time...they needed one more year. ESPN 2K6 would have been far and away the greatest football game ever made, IMO.

oh ok, I think I remember the qb talent changing. the db ai i thought was the same though...but don't you think it's weird that since they're using the same code, things like that would happen?

As far as animations, the running was better too, you could now 'stutter-step' and do that stopping animation to avoid diving tackles from the side. I'm trying to remeber is 2k4 had chris berman is real video or 'fmv' or if that was 2k3 ...i liked that actually because at the time having people talk infront of the 'camera' outside of shenmue looked rediculous for the most part.

anyway despite its issues, it's one of the best games i've played period. I think it deserves the title. The so called 'sympathy' vote is a bit off to me as EA's baseball wouldn't stand a chance in this contest. I think 2k5 was a special game, and can speak for myself that I didn't vote for it because it's gone.

[nflman2033]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlyGilmore

Starting in March, Operation Sports' Best Sports Game Tournament started with 64 legendary sports video games. After tons of head-to-head matches, thousands of votes, and a touch of controversy, NFL 2K5 has come out victorious - beating College Hoops 2k8 95-51. NFL 2K5's road to glory started by beating NHL '95. Other victories over Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football, Blades of Steel, Mike Tyson's Punchout and Baseball Stars got the celebrated football game to the final match. For a recap of the tournament, check out the Results and Discussion thread in the OS Forums. Final brackets are also available. Congrats to 2K Sports and NFL 2K5!

man all i can say is that the end of the tourney made the entire thing a Joke

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by TeeDogg

or maybe they just agree with you about it being their favorite football title of all time so they voted for it. while i agree some cats are just fanatical (on all sides) i just havent read all these posts where people are claiming 2K5 was flawless.......... but anyhow im one that agrees with you, its my favorite football game off all time also.

Well, lots of sports titles get "sympathy votes." MVP Baseball 2005 was the end of a pretty solid baseball series, but that game is not the "beacon of realism" that many people hold it up to be. It actually has a lot of arcade-like elements in its gameplay. Likewise, there's no way in hell College Hoops 2k8 gets discussed as an all-time great sports title if we didn't know that there won't be a 2k9 (or if March Madness wasn't so bad by comparison).

2k marketed the heck out of 2k5, but it's pretty difficult to mention something like "branch animation tackling" in a 30-second commerical spot. That's the kind of thing that only really appeals to hardcore gamers, who figure that sort of thing out on their own anyway.

The "bar" for 2k5 was always lowered because of the $19.99 price point, but it was certainly a great game and innovative for its time. But much like NHL '08 this year, it really is a case of superior gameplay above all else. 2k5's franchise mode had a lot of broken elements to it, and some of the other heralded innovations, such as First Person Football, really weren't all that playable. But the fact that so many people still play the game tells you that it's more than just hype, sympathy, and smoke & mirrors...2k5 was and is a great sports title.

[slickdtc]

Yeah, to say 2k5 was without flaws is just being naive. It has its fair share and to be honest, it kept me from playing it obsessively like I do with other games (MVP 05, NHL 2k7). But when I did/do sit down and play the actual game, man, there's not another gaming experience like it. I'm still on the original XBOX system and everytime I put in NFL 2k5 it feels like I'm playing a brand new, next generation football game. The game still blows me away as far as all the animations, commentary, presentation, stat overlays, everything. Unfortunately, the AI can be shoddy at times and there is some clunkiness to the players but it definitely is a game that is a benchmark in sports gaming history. I wonder what it would be if it was a little smoother on the field and had a better, more realistic franchise mode?

[nowayguy]

NFL 2k5, not a bad choice but I don't think it's the best choice. I still have both 2k5 and Madden 2005 but I can say with a lot of confidence that 2k5 was only slightly better then Madden 2005. The gamebreaking glitches (the unstoppable Warren Sapp, db goes crazy, etc) and the unrealistic play (any reciever rated over 95 was literally unstoppable if you threw to him on all four downs, runningbacks rated 70 were easily capable of 150 yards game in and game out, wide reciever plays on deep balls were horrendous and were somehow worse then what was in Madden) made this game unplayable for me once Madden 08 hit (not that it was very playable before that). Even though it's probably my favorite football game I think it gets way too much love.

[thescoop]

I personally hated 2k5. I didn't like the gameplay, but the graphics and price couldn't be beat at that time. However to see this named the best sports game of all time is a joke. I liked Madden 05 better and I don't have it up there either.

2k5 gets way too much love. If it hadn't been 2k's last NFL effort, it might be the crown jewel that it has become to many. Maybe 2k improves on some pretty good things, maybe they don't. That we never will know, but a lot of people put this game so high simply because it was the end of an era for them and ushered in a new age of hate against EA.

[daflyboys]

Quote: Originally Posted by thescoop

I personally hated 2k5. I didn't like the gameplay, but the graphics and price couldn't be beat at that time. However to see this named the best sports game of all time is a joke. I liked Madden 05 better and I don't have it up there either. 2k5 gets way too much love. If it hadn't been 2k's last NFL effort, it might be the crown jewel that it has become to many. Maybe 2k improves on some pretty good things, maybe they don't. That we never will know, but a lot of people put this game so high simply because it was the end of an era for them and ushered in a new age of hate against EA.

The thing is is that it wasn't 2K last overall effort and with APF, people could see what it was to be at the next step. It wasn't that it ushered in a new age of hate against EA.....even perennial Madden buyers will tell you that. It simply exposed how lacking EA was in developing the game. Hell, I even loved M$ game on PC more when it was the 2000 version over the tripe that EA put out.

You won't find too many 2K supporters saying they did everything flawlessly. The point is that it was BY VOTE the best representation of a sports game for its' particular genre.

[BaselineBakes]

I honestly believe If the NFL wouldn't have went exclusive we would be looking at Madden and NFL 2k5 in the same light as NBA Live and NBA 2k8 at this moment.

EA trying to claw there way back and 2K reigning supreme, Just imagine the features that have been worked on and almost perfected in the NBA game translating over to what would have been done in an NFL game, Player specific animations changed basketball gaming, It would do the same for Football.