OT: Anyone get ESPN NFL2k5 yet?

[zack]

I have it. I like it a lot. My only gripe is that they rated the Philly defense higher than ours.....that makes no sense. They were horrible against the run last year. Just more ESPN bias for ya.

 

[ChrisFul]

I have it. I like it a lot. My only gripe is that they rated the Philly defense higher than ours.....that makes no sense. They were horrible against the run last year. Just more ESPN bias for ya.

You realize that ESPN has nothing really to do with the game, other than licensing their name and their talent for the commmentary. Yell at the game developers.

 

[ChrisFul]

With NCAA 2005, I've gotten to the point where I just sim all the games and control the team in the offseason. Recruiting, changing positions, etc is what I'm having the most fun with on NCAA.

The game is fun to play, but depending on what settings you use, either seems to be incredibly easy or terribly difficult. And I just don't have the time to tinker with the settings to create a realistic game.

On the Heisman level, I simmed a season, and the guy who won the Heisman Trophy was a running back that finished the year with 1050 yards and 12 touchdowns. Last year's stats were far more reflective of college football it seemed.

Dale: you playing on ps2 or xbox? The xbox version is the one having all the issues.

 

[DasTex]

With NCAA 2005, I've gotten to the point where I just sim all the games and control the team in the offseason. Recruiting, changing positions, etc is what I'm having the most fun with on NCAA.

The game is fun to play, but depending on what settings you use, either seems to be incredibly easy or terribly difficult. And I just don't have the time to tinker with the settings to create a realistic game.

On the Heisman level, I simmed a season, and the guy who won the Heisman Trophy was a running back that finished the year with 1050 yards and 12 touchdowns. Last year's stats were far more reflective of college football it seemed.

This is the same thing I do with NCAA. Opened the game, played with A&M for 2 quarters, and then went straight into Dynasty, and started Sim'ing so I could get to the offseason and recruit.

 

[Rude]

ESPN is the best by far, bought it this morning and love it. I grew up playing madden but the facts are, madden is an "arcade" game. High scores, comeback ai, 20 yard qb dropback, and etc.

If Madden fans give it a fair chance (playing it for more then 1 game) they will love it. Reason why most dont like the game is because they aren't good since the controls are so different.

 

[jdnalls]

Dale: you playing on ps2 or xbox? The xbox version is the one having all the issues.

You have got to remember that this is the first year that EA Sports have released games for Xbox Live also.

So naturally there are going to be initial problems.

 

[Dale]

Dale: you playing on ps2 or xbox? The xbox version is the one having all the issues.

Yep, I have the Xbox version. That explains some things. Sold my PS2 a few weeks ago.

 

[Dale]

ESPN is the best by far, bought it this morning and love it. I grew up playing madden but the facts are, madden is an "arcade" game. High scores, comeback ai, 20 yard qb dropback, and etc.

If Madden fans give it a fair chance (playing it for more then 1 game) they will love it. Reason why most dont like the game is because they aren't good since the controls are so different.

I agree, ESPN does grow on ya. I've been a long time Madden guy, though I have dabbled into the 2K series. I've pretty much purchased the game every other year, but have never really gotten "into" it the same way I did with Madden. I do like this year's version a lot better though.

One fault I've noticed now that I've started playing franchise mode is that there are far too many unrealistic trades made by the computer. In week two of the regular season in Year 1 of my franchise, the Saints traded Darren Howard for Byron Leftwich.

I remember a few years ago, the ESPN/2K series produced an NCAA game, allowing the college players to be drafted in the NFL version on the game. Are there plans for an NCAA game this year as well?

 

[ChrisFul]

I agree, ESPN does grow on ya. I've been a long time Madden guy, though I have dabbled into the 2K series. I've pretty much purchased the game every other year, but have never really gotten "into" it the same way I did with Madden. I do like this year's version a lot better though.

One fault I've noticed now that I've started playing franchise mode is that there are far too many unrealistic trades made by the computer. In week two of the regular season in Year 1 of my franchise, the Saints traded Darren Howard for Byron Leftwich.

I remember a few years ago, the ESPN/2K series produced an NCAA game, allowing the college players to be drafted in the NFL version on the game. Are there plans for an NCAA game this year as well?

Yes, youve been able to import your NCAA draft class into the madden game for the last couple of seasons.

 

[Dale]

Yes, youve been able to import your NCAA draft class into the madden game for the last couple of seasons.

Yeah, but is that possible for ESPN as well?

 

[bounce]

I've played a few hours of it, and am sort of up in the air on it. I'm a Madden guy, so it's going to have to grow on me. One thing I'm not too big on is the week-to-week prep. You go through the M-Sat training, where you can set up weight training, rehab, film sessions, coaching methods, cardio, indiv. training, acupunture, etc for the players. Your ratings go up and down depending on the week of training. It's great in theory. It got very tedious after about 15 minutes, though. You can toggle the training option on and off during franchise set up. The controls are tough, but the graphics are unbelievable.

If nothing else, it's a $20 three week rental until Madden releases. Can't beat the price on it.

 

[calico]

I bought the game today and it is one of the worst football games that I have ever played.

I played the 2k series when it first came out and 2K1 so I am not new to the game. Madden just kicks the tar out of this game in so many different ways. I played the Vikings on the All pro level and beat them 75-7 and the D had 9 INTS!

The speed of the game is not realistic and the movements of the player models look rediculous.

Madden 2005 could not come fast enough for me. Now back to NCAA 2005 and Fight Night.

 

[Dale]

I bought the game today and it is one of the worst football games that I have ever played.

I played the 2k series when it first came out and 2K1 so I am not new to the game. Madden just kicks the tar out of this game in so many different ways. I played the Vikings on the All pro level and beat them 75-7 and the D had 9 INTS!

The speed of the game is not realistic and the movements of the player models look rediculous.

Madden 2005 could not come fast enough for me. Now back to NCAA 2005 and Fight Night.

The All-Pro level is a joke. If you don't play on the Legendary settings, the game won't even be remotely realistic. On top of that, it helps to alter the "speed" of the game. It seems that playing it on "Slow" makes it less arcade-ish.

This is the thing I hate about the football games nowadays. They come with so many damn settings to get the game "perfect", I wish it just came out of the box that way.

I realize every user has their own personal preferences, but simply simulating a season on the custom settings on any of these football games usually provides a highly unrealistic set of season statistics.

 

[Rack]

I'll move this over to the appropriate board shortly; just curious if anyone has gotten the game yet. If so, opinions?

Just picked it up on my way to practice today. Haven't had a chance to play it yet. Also, I'm enjoying NCAA Football very much right now so it's gonna be hard to fit in all this football video game time in to my day. Plus Madden comes out in less then a month, and training camp starts in less then a month. I went from starving for anything "Football" to being on football overload.

 

[calico]

As for NCAA 2005, it must just be an Xbox thing because I am loving the PS2 version of the game. It is the best NCAA game I played yet and I cannot put it down.

 

[Rack]

This is the thing I hate about the football games nowadays. They come with so many damn settings to get the game "perfect", I wish it just came out of the box that way.

They have to appeal to all types of gamers to maximize their profits. They have the "Hardcore gamers" that want the perfect simulation football game, and they have the "casual gamers" who just want to have fun and play it like a video game, instead of a football game. If they went all out to please just one of those two, they'd lose a lot of money. It sucks, but I'd do the same thing if I were in their shoes.


Have you played NCAA Football 2005, Dale?

 

[Rack]

As for NCAA 2005, it must just be an Xbox thing because I am loving the PS2 version of the game. It is the best NCAA game I played yet and I cannot put it down.

You talking about the slowdown problem? I'm getting a little of that, but it hasn't happened much DURING a play so it's not bothering me too much. Supposedly I can fix the problem by switching from 480p to 480i, but then it won't look as good and I wouldn't be taking full advantage of my HDTV.

 

[Dale]

They have to appeal to all types of gamers to maximize their profits. They have the "Hardcore gamers" that want the perfect simulation football game, and they have the "casual gamers" who just want to have fun and play it like a video game, instead of a football game. If they went all out to please just one of those two, they'd lose a lot of money. It sucks, but I'd do the same thing if I were in their shoes.


Have you played NCAA Football 2005, Dale?

Yes, I have NCAA 2005 for the XBox. It's a good game. I've always loved the NCAA series due to the depth of the game. It's so fun and challenging to take control of a poor program and try to turn them into a powerhouse.

It just seems there's something missing in this year's XBox version to me, and Chris indicated this is a widespread problem apparently. I still love controlling a program and simming games, but it seems less fun to play them. If you play on All-American, it's way too easy. If you play on Heisman, it's terribly difficult. Though I will say, as I have played more and more games I have adjusted to the Heisman settings -- literally, I lose in Double OT just about every time lol. In no way do I not enjoy the game, the passing game has just frustrated me. It's probably a case of me just needing to learn how to play the game better than the game itself being faulty...

It just irked me the first time I simmed a season, that the statistics were so far off to produce a 1050 yard, 12 (or so) TD runner as the Heisman Trophy Winner.

I guess I just need to spend more time adjusting the sliders on these things.

 

[Rack]

Yes, I have NCAA 2005 for the XBox. It's a good game. I've always loved the NCAA series due to the depth of the game. It's so fun and challenging to take control of a poor program and try to turn them into a powerhouse.

It just seems there's something missing in this year's XBox version to me, and Chris indicated this is a widespread problem apparently. I still love controlling a program and simming games, but it seems less fun to play them. If you play on All-American, it's way too easy. If you play on Heisman, it's terribly difficult. Though I will say, as I have played more and more games I have adjusted to the Heisman settings -- literally, I lose in Double OT just about every time lol. In no way do I not enjoy the game, the passing game has just frustrated me. It's probably a case of me just needing to learn how to play the game better than the game itself being faulty...

It just irked me the first time I simmed a season, that the statistics were so far off to produce a 1050 yard, 12 (or so) TD runner as the Heisman Trophy Winner.

I guess I just need to spend more time adjusting the sliders on these things.

You don't even had to mess with the sliders yourself. Just to go maddenplanet.com and wait for someone else to post their sliders. That's what I always do. I wouldn't know where to begin to mess with sliders.


About the gameplay issues, it's not just an XBOX thing. The only thing the XBOX is having problems with that PS2 isn't having problems with framerate issues, but as far as I know it could be fixed by switching from the NCAA camera view to the CLASSIC camera view. Or if you're playing it in 480p, you can switch it to 480i.

One other problem it might be has nothing to do with the game itself, but with what version of XBOX you have. They come with three different CD rom drives in them. The ones with the Thompson drives have problems playing EASports games. I exchanged mine (it was a Thompson version) for a newer one (Phillips drive) and haven't had any of the problems I had last year. I'm getting a little bit of a problem with framerate issues, but I'm playing it on 480p. I'll probably switch to 480i, but at the moment it's not a big enough problem for me.


By the way, I'm a mod over at Maddenplanet.com so if you sign up YOU BETTER BEHAVE YOURSELF! lol

 

[ChrisFul]

You don't even had to mess with the sliders yourself. Just to go maddenplanet.com and wait for someone else to post their sliders. That's what I always do. I wouldn't know where to begin to mess with sliders.


About the gameplay issues, it's not just an XBOX thing. The only thing the XBOX is having problems with that PS2 isn't having problems with framerate issues, but as far as I know it could be fixed by switching from the NCAA camera view to the CLASSIC camera view. Or if you're playing it in 480p, you can switch it to 480i.

One other problem it might be has nothing to do with the game itself, but with what version of XBOX you have. They come with three different CD rom drives in them. The ones with the Thompson drives have problems playing EASports games. I exchanged mine (it was a Thompson version) for a newer one (Phillips drive) and haven't had any of the problems I had last year. I'm getting a little bit of a problem with framerate issues, but I'm playing it on 480p. I'll probably switch to 480i, but at the moment it's not a big enough problem for me.


By the way, I'm a mod over at Maddenplanet.com so if you sign up YOU BETTER BEHAVE YOURSELF! lol

Changing Camera views helps, but does not solve the problem. You still get slowdown hell, especially on running plays. The connections on xbox live are atrocious. I got 2 losses today when i was winning because of the lag and timing out. Im not the only one having these problems, either. Virtually all of my friends are having the same issues. I have one buddy i can't even CONNECT to for voice chat or play. Its completely ruined NCAA for us. 2 of us are trading it in for ESPN football, and im considering doing the same. EA really screwed the pooch on the xbox version, im afraid. Playing the single player game would eliminate much of my frustration, but that's not why i bought this steaming pile of crap.

Its not a drive issue, either, as my xbox is only 5 months old and 2 of my friends xboxes are brand new (dont mod your xbox, kids).