5 Overrated Aspects of NFL 2k5

[JackSL97]

Let me preface this by saying 2k5 did some things much better than madden 05, namely the presentation...that Chris Berman half time show till this day is better than any half time show madden has ever done...BUT in the face of nostalgia people tend to romanticize nfl 2k5, overlooking its flaws and seeing at it as a product that it was never meant to be...

1) The Commentary- This is one area of the game that has consistently received praise throughout the years and im not too sure why- Dan Stevens and Pete O’Keefe were incredibly generic and repetitive and one could tell they had no real experience calling nfl games even without the knowledge they were fictional characters ie voice actors...bottom line they were simply a product of 2k not putting money into getting real nfl commentators and 2k did this early on with their nba series as well with Rod West and Bob Steele...the fact that 2k ported nearly all their lines from 2k5 to 2k8 is one of many aspects that showed how much effort 2k really put into Apf 2k8 (not very much at all)

2. The Barebones Franchise Mode- It wasn’t even a debate in 2004 which football game had the better franchise experience, madden ran away with that one very much like how 2k ran away with the presentation aspect of the game...Game Prep was extremely tedious and broken and player progression was broken as well with Larry Fitzgerald guaranteed to be a superstar no matter what...you couldn’t edit players in-season and the mode as a whole felt more or less like a traditional season mode rather than a franchise mode, the only thing 2k did better here was the Chris Berman weekly wrap-up show which bests anything madden has done in that department to this day

3) The Gameplay- In the context of 2004 football gaming, 2k5’s gameplay was rock-solid and its animations were smooth and natural-looking...however madden has surpassed 2k in many aspects in the gameplay department since then and people who still cite 2k5’s gameplay as the standard for gameplay in a football game are quite delusional and probably haven’t picked up a madden title in 15 years...even in the context of 2004, animations were very repetitive, you had little control over a WR or DB playing the ball, special teams was flat out broken as you rarely if ever could return a kick for a touchdown, there was no hitstick/equivalent to the hitstick which simulated real tackling much better than 2k’s button mashing component, etc...its cool to see people still finding value in a football game 18 years old but to say 2k5’s gameplay is better than modern-day madden’s is just absurd

4. The Crib- I’ve watched the 2k5 retrospective videos and seen people talk about The Crib as if it was some game-changing feature...unbeknownst to a lot of 2k5 players is the fact that the crib ALSO appeared in nba 2k5, as the mode was simply part of the 2k brand at the time much like the VIP viewer that also appeared in nba 2k games for years...the crib was a fun feature in hindsight but was a pure gimmick that would’ve inevitably been removed had the nfl 2k series continued on...it was removed from the nba series in 2k8

5. First Person Football- Another feature that gets high praise in the community...this was a great concept and 2k was ahead of their time with this one in light of the popularity of VR today but the actual execution of this mode left a lot to be desired...to put it simply playing FPF could be very headache-inducing...I could see the praise being justified if this was some early version of a myplayer/superstar mode but this was simply a gimmicky feature that would’ve been scrapped after 2k6 when 2k would’ve had to make their own version of a superstar mode for 2k7 in an alternate reality where competition existed beyond 2004...its quite interesting to think that the nba series could’ve gotten a myplayer mode 3 years earlier had this been the case...


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[tril]

Gameplay, animations, and player movement are still better than Madden.

agree about first-person football and the crib. never deep-dived into these two modes.

The franchise mode is still solid. it provides enough depth and simplicity to keep me immersed in my virtual experience. I only used game prep for a few seasons then turned it off cause I find these types of features too time-consuming.


2k still holds up, because they provide the type of experience that I'm looking for on the field.
My statement is not an anti-EA comment because NCAA football 2006/11/14 still provides an authentic collegiate experience.

[convince]

Lol, as far as number 4 and 5, neither was anything I cared about so whatever. But as the other three, you are crazy. I still believe the draft prep is better in 2k5 than anything you find in any sports game today. And while you may have a point in some aspects of gameplay when comparing to Madden today but in reality it should crush a 17 year old game and it does not. Again I couldn't disagree with you more with 1,2 and 3 but the other two I don't care that much. Also guys I'm going to get back into rosters building because I'm building a PC now.

[kjcheezhead]

This post is acting as tho they are just releasing 2k5, an 18 year old game at this point.

That said out of the 5 you listed, Commentary is always bad. Madden has gone through a dozen different teams in this time frame and all of them get boring and repetitive.

NBA2k boasts one of the better franchise modes and nowadays Madden is by far the worst of the major sports titles. I don’t know what this game will offer for modes but I trust 2ks developers to deliver better than what madden released over the past 3 console generations.

Gameplay. In my opinion 2k8 has some of the best gameplay of any football title but this is not going to be a simulation. If you’re expecting a perfect representation of Sundays you’re in for disappointment but I still think 2ks games have offered much better player movement and physics than other sports games. Especially madden from the past 10 plus years.

The Crib. It was cool for its time but I don’t expect it to be back in the same form. If 2k goes the my city route from NBA2k that’ll be amazing in my opinion.

First person football was always a gimmick and I never liked it but vr games are a lot better than 2004 tech so if they bring it back I’ll check it out at least.


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[AUChase]

The date is April 18 2022. I did not expect to find a thread criticizing a football game that came out a few months before my 9th grade year of HS.

[JackSL97]

Quote: Originally Posted by AUChase

The date is April 18 2022. I did not expect to find a thread criticizing a football game that came out a few months before my 9th grade year of HS.

Well considering the sheer number of people in the community who still hold 2k5 as the standard for football gaming and refuse to believe modern day maddens could possibly be better than 2k in any way, I felt making this thread was necessary despite it being an 18 year old game


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[canes21]

I don't think people necessarily refuse to believe Madden could be better. It simply could be that people don't enjoy modern Madden games and they enjoyed NFL 2k5 and they find it sad that is has been nearly 20 years since an NFL game came out that they really enjoyed.

If we are talking gameplay purely on the field, I still would take APF 2k8 over Madden 22 next gen every day of the week. The difference in AI alone makes it very hard for me to enjoy Madden consistently. Add in all of the other messy parts of the game and it isn't that surprising why so many people are not the biggest fans of Madden games.

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[tinpanalley]

You can't talk about definitive objective terms like "overrated" and then give opinions. Well, you can, but you defy the objective analysis you're attempting to give.


The fact is this is all personal opinion.
1. ALL sports game commentary sucks. But that the 2K5 commentary is still listenable is extraordinary. And I would argue, it's precisely because they were actors. Their style may seem outdated to us now, but have you heard what younger commentators sound like today? They're awful. (...there's subjective for you).
2. I HATE franchise modes for over-complexity. So I love the simplistic nature of franchise in 2K5 where you can ignore everything and it doesn't matter because I only play one season. I hate games that interfere in my experience forcing me to do stupid fantasy things like talk to scouts. And I know LOTS of people like this.
3. The base fundamental AI and physics of 2K5 are miles above most Maddens of the last 10 years and I'll tell you what, I'm actually not delusional despite your diagnosis because it's my opinion which is actually even relatively provable. (Again, opinion... but my point is to prove your view that it is overrated wrong. And if I can do that, then even on a simplistic level it renders your assessment purely subjective.)
4. I don't know how old you were when the game came out, but nobody thought The Crib was anything more than a silly add-on used to cash in on what was a very very rampant and saturated celeb TV market at the time. I don't know who you've heard talk about it, but nobody I knew at the time or since then has given one ounce of thought to the mode. But, again, just to go back to your assessment of the game's overratedness: how can your opinion be a reason the game lacks validity as a highly rated game?
5. First person football was actually a throwback if you know gaming history a bit. Early-mid 90s particularly on PC had lots of polygon graphics titles and the assumption was the first person view in a 3D world was the future of gaming. Distinctive Gaming sort of pioneered this with 4D Boxing but several other sports games had some mode of putting you in a first person view, expanding on the view from PunchOut (the original arcade game, not the NES one). So by 2004, lots of games had played with this idea unsuccessfully and abandoned it as a legitimate way of playing. In 2K5 it was considered a bit of a fun, slightly silly feature. More of a fun experience, like instant replay was, of seeing things rendered in first person view and getting a different perspective on the field. Again, nobody I knew then or now thought of it as anything more than that. So, it wasn't actually ahead of its time at all, it was more of an acceptably quirky, out of date, throwback.

The only part where you're categorically 'wrong' -- and even there you're entitled to your opinion -- is in the thinking that the game was never intended as a "truer" simulation of NFL football. That's in fact what 2Ks whole drive was with their sports titles back then. EASports went for fun, easy to pick up, and also thorough representation of the facets of league management, but 2K went for physics and on-field reality. Be it in their MLB, NBA, or College titles, often at the expense of better graphics.

Anyway, of course my opinions are opinions and have nothing to do with anything. But I think you're getting the responses you're getting because, and only because, you literally say "this is why it's overrated" and then go on to state opinions about things you aren't fond of in the game. You even go as far as saying, 'and if you think I'm wrong you're basically nuts'. So, anyway. I would say, then don't play 2K5 or even waste your time talking about it. All you're gonna get is people annoyed that you don't like it which I would imagine isn't your goal.