Madden 2005 VS ESPN 2K5

[shiznit]

ive said for the last 2 years that the ESPN football series has been better then the Madden ones.
now gamespot have did a head to head and ESPN whopped its arse.

heres a link to it.
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6104789/index.html

 

[Gay-Guy]

Oh my gosh!!! We get fed everday the superiority of Madden is such that no comparison is even neccesary. I don't know whether to believe this review as it boils down to preference. Going by what they have said I would still prefer Maddens offence as an easy pick up and play offence can sometimes be unfair, Madden for defence which the reviewer says works well with the amount of options you can choose, Madden for special teams as ESPN has simplified their kicking while Madden puts more skill into it as well as the kick return.

The reviewer actually called it "a rare tie". Did you read to the end of the article?

 

[sanzar]

Originally posted by Gay-Guy@Aug 17 2004, 06:36 PM
Oh my gosh!!! We get fed everday the superiority of Madden is such that no comparison is even neccesary. I don't know whether to believe this review as it boils down to preference. Going by what they have said I would still prefer Maddens offence as an easy pick up and play offence can sometimes be unfair, Madden for defence which the reviewer says works well with the amount of options you can choose, Madden for special teams as ESPN has simplified their kicking while Madden puts more skill into it as well as the kick return.

The reviewer actually called it "a rare tie". Did you read to the end of the article?

meh, it's NFL ....

 

[shiznit]

dude, read right to the conclution.
ESPN whooped it.
i play both franchises alot.
ESPN has less of the blow out scores because there isnt as much of a missmatch against the defence.
the thing i hate on madden is that when you play your mates you regularly get scores of 56-50.
because the offence has alot more variations and sets then the defence.
although with the new madden theve decided to do up the defence which is great and i think that was the main grape that most serious users had with the madden series.
interestingly the defence in madden is stronger then ESPN 2k5.
with Offence going with ESPN.
also they didnt even figure in the price.
Madden costs US$50 bucks while ESPN 2K5 costs US$20.
it's a great move by Sega sports to drop the price to try and take away some of the monopoly that madden has.

 

[ak47]

without a doubt ESPN 2K4 whooped Madden 2004

and the longer i see these 2 going head to head

the longer and greater the gap will be between ESPN and Madden is.

In 2003 they were tied
In 2004 ESPN owned
In 2005 ESPN will own more
In 2006 back to square one with the PS3

But ESPN's overall gameplay and presentation will always be twice as good as Maddens

 

[Ripper]

Theres a reason why ESPN 2K5 is only selling for 20 bux US..

 

[Gay-Guy]

I thought I had read to the end of the article therefore giving the quote "a rare tie" from the reviewer.

However I will look around to try out ESPN as you are so confident of its success with gameplay. Personally with Madden it didn't hit the spot with me though I do recognise it as a well done game. Maybe ESPN will turn me into a Gridiron fanatic (God forbid!!!).

 

[sanzar]

Originally posted by Ripper@Aug 18 2004, 04:00 PM
Theres a reason why ESPN 2K5 is only selling for 20 bux US..

so they can give people even more insentive to discard the madden series????

 

[sanzar]

Originally posted by Gay-Guy@Aug 18 2004, 07:23 PM
I thought I had read to the end of the article therefore giving the quote "a rare tie" from the reviewer.

However I will look around to try out ESPN as you are so confident of its success with gameplay. Personally with Madden it didn't hit the spot with me though I do recognise it as a well done game. Maybe ESPN will turn me into a Gridiron fanatic (God forbid!!!).

yeah it's pretty tough really... I have a mate who's into them and he keeps trying to impress me with these games, which I'll admit they are, but it doesn't matter how impressive a game is if you find the subject matter loathsome... So if your like me ESPN 2k5 will be another "technically impressive" but uninspiring video game.

 

[shiznit]

Originally posted by Ripper@Aug 18 2004, 04:00 PM
Theres a reason why ESPN 2K5 is only selling for 20 bux US..

dude, you have to admit madden has alot of competition now.
im a huge madden fan but ESPN is just better.
its the Pro Evo of the NFL series.
the price thing could mean one of two things...

1-ESPN is a piece of **** game. (which if you read the reviews will prove that wrong)

2-Electronic Arts are once again ripping us off. (given there history with rugby and cricket games i wouldnt be suprised)

 

[Ripper]

ESPN is virtually the only company now days which has even considered releasing a new game for 20 bucks US.

 

[shiznit]

yeah, so that would support the theory that there trying to take away from EA's manopoly.
i think if it translates to cheap prices here then im just gonna buy both.
but competition is a good thing.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

Ohhhhhhhh dear, Ripper won't like his precious Madden series getting shook up!

 

[Ripper]

On the contary St Helens...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

he first-week sales figures are in, and even the folks at EA SPORTS can hardly believe it. But the latest version of the best-selling pro football video game franchise, Madden NFL 2005 sold more than 1.3 million copies in its first week of release. That's 1,300,000 in just 7 days, or for you stat-junkies at home, an average of 185,714 games sold per day since August 10th.







Sure, there was no doubt that sales would be strong, since pre-orders for Madden NFL 2005 were running much higher than in 2003 -- when, incidentally Madden NFL 2004 was the best-selling video game of the year. But national retailer GameStop says Madden NFL 2005 is already one of its best-selling games ever.

Apparently one of the big draws, in addition to the incredible gameplay and new features, is the online competition. With more than 315,000 consumers signing up for online accounts to play both Madden and NCAA Football 2005 on the PlayStation®2 and Xbox Liveâ"¢ players know that they will not be lacking for competition anytime or anyplace.

The Madden NFL Football franchise has been the dominant player in the pro football video game field for years, often being compared to an 800-pound gorilla, but it was expected to see its stiffest competition yet this year.

ESPN NFL 2K5 -- the game that dropped its price to an unprecedented $19.99 -- sold just under 800,000 units in the month of July. Sure, that number is a lot higher than in year's past, but it's no 1.3 million in a week! It just goes to show, you really do get what you pay for.


---

Imagine when they compare the sales of 1 month of Madden to that 800k Month of ESPN, then 2 months, 6 months, etc.

EA SPORTS HAS DONE IT AGAIN![/b]

 

[shiznit]

where did you get that from?
they forgot to mention that those 1.3 million are from internal data.
and as for the Online capability, well you can forget about it.
its only online in the USA.
its hardly suprising that Madden are selling well.
they have the manopoly and its upto Sega Sports to try and break it by doing things to break it up.
it doesnt matter what happens, as ill buy both games.
but with ESPN around it will keep Madden trying to get better.
its kind of just shows that americans are mindless idiots that go for the lebel rather then the quality of the product.

 

[St Helens RLFC]

If you find a story as Ripper has here, please make sure you post the link for us, it can lead to all sorts of copyright problems if we get caught displaying a story without the link.

 

[kaftka]

Well, I for one hate foosball.
Your never gonna git anywhere playing foosball all the time.

Anywho, I reckon espn is a quizzillion times better than madden.
simply because Rippers a f**khead.

edit. excuse what I just said. its 2.30 am.

 

[Ripper]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

where did you get that from?[/b]

An ESPN 2K5 fan on the Gamefaqs 2K5 Board - who in turn got it from Gamespot

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

they forgot to mention that those 1.3 million are from internal data.[/b]

Take it up with Gamespot

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

and as for the Online capability, well you can forget about it.
its only online in the USA.[/b]

Meh, I dont have PS2 Online and arent really giving much thought to it... so Meh

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

its hardly suprising that Madden are selling well.
they have the manopoly and its upto Sega Sports to try and break it by doing things to break it up.
it doesnt matter what happens, as ill buy both games.
but with ESPN around it will keep Madden trying to get better.
its kind of just shows that americans are mindless idiots that go for the lebel rather then the quality of the product.[/b]

Right...

 

[Ripper]

An User Review on Gamefaqs
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

When it comes to my opinion of a football game, my overall impression is driven much more by what goes on outside the actual game than the gameplay itself. The franchise mode is the single most important factor for me in determing how much time I will play this game.

And as I'll explain below this game has one of the worst franchise modes in the history of video football. It looks pretty at first but soon you realize its like thinking your taking the most beautiful girl at school to the prom only to get there and find its her brother in drag.

Which is too bad because the actual football gameplay outside of some glitches is quite good. And the price can't be beat.

But even though it was only twenty bucks I realize now it was twenty bucks wasted because the franchise mode makes this game unplayable for me.

If the only reason your getting this game is to play against other people than its a twenty bucks well spent. Otherwise put the twenty towards Madden.

THE REVIEW:

I'm a longtime Madden devotee who decided to give this game a try for the price. And while this game has some definite good points I will be picking up Madden when it comes out and probably will never touch this game again.

For me the enjoyment of the games is the FRANCHISE MODE. And quite frankly ESPN falls flat on its face here. But I'll get to that.

My first impression of the game was negative and it seemed hard to follow and control the action. But after a few games I got used to it and have come to the conclusions that this was mostly because the one area ESPN shines in is the actual gameplay. Its worlds above Madden 2004 in this area and is probably the most realistic football to date.

The game preperation is intriguing but its quite time consuming and if you do it wrong you actually end up hurting your team. I toyed a bit with it but usually skipped over it thinking I would get into it more when I got further into my franchise.

I can't say much else positive though.

The first things I noticed were a lot of glitches and just completely unrealistic things. I tried doing a fantasy draft for my franchise. Due to BUG I found that many players were on the draft list more than once and often it was star players like Michael Vick. So I abandoned that and just started normal.

Then onto the actual franchise. At first I found it challenging but kinda fun. It was the most realistic salary cap system to date and it was very hard to make many changes without totally screwing up your cap number.

But then trades that would never happen started flying left and right between computer teams. The Eagles traded Donavan McNabb. Like that would ever happen. Other star players quickly had new addresses as well.

I played the Cardinals in week two. Emmit Smith was returning kicks. Yeah right. As if that wasn't bad enough when I played the Colts PEYTON MANNING was returning kicks. That alone nearly made me quit but I stuck with it because by this time I was starting to get into the gameplay and the game was fun and and good once I got used to the controls. So I played a whole season.

Then came the offseason and the whole game came crashing down with the OFFSEASON FRANCHISE MODE. Madden 2001 had a better offseason franchise mode. The ESPN mode looks quite pretty from the outside but when you actually get into you realize just how ugly it is.

First of all, player progression is preset. Before the season started I traded for Brandon Stokely from the Colts. He started the season rated as a 70 (kinda low in my opinion after how he did at the end of last year but thats another issue). Stokely had 74 catches for 1300 yards and sixteen touchdowns. He was the #1 vote getter for the pro bowl. His progression at the end of the season was -2 to a 68. He GOT WORSE. In Madden he would have jumped to an 80 something at least as a reward for his hard work. To make matters worse one of my bench receivers who caught a grand total of three catches for 16 yards all season improved by 3. It seems that player progression is some magically predetermined number you can't see and players will progress towards that regardless of their actual performance.

Then comes the draft. There is no hint at all of what player will go where. During the season you can do whats called rookie watch and there you get a few draft projections but unless you wrote those down you don't have them anymore. Supposedly you can see Mel Kipers draft projection. I watched it. He had six cornerbacks going in the top 10 picks of the draft. As if that wasn't odd enough then came the actual draft. I had the #11 pick and the #32 pick in the first round. At pick #11 not a single cornerback had been drafted yet despite Kipers projection. But a KICKER had been drafted. A KICKER IN THE TOP TEN OF THE DRAFT. Now we get to pick #32. Still not a single CB had been drafted even though Kiper had six in the top 10 including his #1 overall.

That pretty much ended my ESPN NFL 2K5 experience. I live for the franchise mode and this franchise mode is just plain broken. Which is really too bad because the gameplay rocks.

If playing against your friends is what you want a game like this for then this is a great game especially for the price.

If franchise is your cup of tea by any Madden game of the last few years and you will be much happier.[/b]

 

[shiznit]

mate, just goto the top of the page and read the head to head i put up.
anyway,
its your opinion and you have a right to voice it.
im just glad madden has viable competition.