ESPN 2K5 Impressions

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:27 pm

I've only played a few games, overall I like it so far. So here are some of my initial thoughts.

- I always wonder in these games if player ratings really matter. I played my first game with my Bears and Edinger kick every kickoff out of the end zone. Edinger never even reaches the 5 yard line in real life.

- I was also unable to get online and play, seems that the ESPN servers are down. No big deal, but since EA got blasted for it with NCAA, I might as well point it out to be fair.

Manual is pathetic, still searching for how some of the stuff looks.

Graphics (Xbox) are just drop dead, I must have muttered holy s*** several times, I don't do that often.

Sound is awesome in DD5.1, although in the 3 games I have played the announcers seem to have disappeared a few times during the game.

Presentation on a whole is very well done. I have to admit I have not seen it all yet and I was not as blown away as I thought I would be. Don't get me wrong it is the best in the biz, but you can hear the splicing of Berman's comments at halftime. Can't wait to see how this works on the next gen systems.

Pro is still way too easy, why even include a Rookie mode when Pro is such a joke.

Animations are f***in unreal. I saw some animations and started to wonder if I was watching a real game.

Stoping the run seemed much better, actually the whole running game in general seems great. But I will reserve judgement on gameplay as a whole until I get the controls down.

Haven't even touched franchise or any of the gimmicks like the celebs etc.

Anyway off to put this thing thru the ringer tonight.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:31 pm

I knew it.

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:34 pm

Hey Danimal, there's an in-game manual. I forgot exactly how to navigate to it but the print manual is piss poor.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:35 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I knew it.

You knew what? Those are just some initial thoughts.

Here just for you Mr Fanboy

ESPN beats the s*** out of NCAA, don't think I will be playing much NCAA in the near future.

Happy now?

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:44 pm

I knew that people couldn't keep all the impressions in a single thread. We like to have 8 thousand threads saying the same thing...just like OS.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:47 pm

I posted in wrong thread............

2 more minutes.........TG no more challenges

The graphics are sweet...........I havent tried the gimmicks except for getting the Pony Soldiers? song from My NFL CD to play on the PA.......Simple but i think the PA will be a nice added touch if the gameplay holds up.........

Tough making the adjustment fom NCAA.so Im pathetic on ALL PRO...........either that or the games hard.......At least til I find the cheese sticks

What i posted on other thread.Yes i have Beer

Okay...........Now I hope this is just randon but Ive played 3 mins into qtr #1 and I have one challenge and Marty shotinhamershamer each have used one challenge..........

I know I can always turn off challenges but this was not a good first 3 minutes........

On the bright side Marshall Faulk is running like he had knee surgery yesterday and My Oline is giving me almost no protection.......If you can call that bright side............

I still dont like the correlation of the passing icons ...They are scattered and my brain has had one to many cells burned out.........EA does this alot better........

Anyway its only 3 minutes......I ll slow down

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 9:58 pm

Anyone know if there is a CD in stores that has the Fox NFL theme? I would love to rip that tune into this game .

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:07 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I knew that people couldn't keep all the impressions in a single thread. We like to have 8 thousand threads saying the same thing...just like OS.

I couldnt help myself

James_E · Post by **James_E** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:11 pm

Played one game Oakland against STL. I won handily, but was on Pro for the first half and All-Pro in 2nd half. CPU runners are not super human.

Holy crap is this game gorgeous.. Truly amazing.

Some weird s*** though:

I was walking around the "crib", then went to read the in-game manual. While I was in there I got a message saying I had a phone call in my crib. So I went and answered it and it was the infamouse "Steve-O" (WTF?) wanting a challenge. It asked me if I wanted to play Steve-Os VIP, so I said sure.

So, my Oakland raiders go up against "Steve-O"s team. Rated 100 in every category. His team has ALL the best players at every position.

He intercepts me on first play. Then scores a touchdown right away, and ... gpes for 2 points. Which he gets. Then, this Steve-O guy does an ONSIDE kick (it's not even one minute into the game now.) He kicks it too short, is penalized, and then kicks again, a regular kick.

2 plays later he intercepts me again.

After almost every play, this little image of "Steve-O" pops up on the screen and taunts me with lameass comments.

I quit. Not interested in this crap. It was really quite surreal. This must be for those without Xbox live who want the experience of playing random people who cheese.

Schmev · Post by **Schmev** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:12 pm

Weaver2005 wrote:Anyone know if there is a CD in stores that has the Fox NFL theme? I would love to rip that tune into this game .

http://www.ilovewavs.com/TV/Sports/Sports.htm

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:16 pm

Thanks for the impressions fellas..keep 'em coming. Some of us are dying out here, waiting for our orders to arrive tomorrow.

Thanks again.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:16 pm

James_E wrote:Played one game Oakland against STL. I won handily, but was on Pro for the first half and All-Pro in 2nd half. CPU runners are not super human.

Not very realistic.........

Question .......why am I getting sacked all the time........Do I need to stick to the correct drop back??? Ie 3,5,7 steps?????

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:23 pm

I picked the All-NFL team and handed Steve-O his ass. His profile actually played it pretty straight, but he did start going for it on 4th down relatively early in the 4th quarter. All in all I strangely enjoyed it. Hopefully Carmen Electra's challenge will be easier on the eyes, though. I'm waiting for your call, Carmen!

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:42 pm

XXXIV wrote:Question .......why am I getting sacked all the time........Do I need to stick to the correct drop back??? Ie 3,5,7 steps?????

Absolutely...you don't get time to F around in the 2k series. You actually are supposed to throw the ball after you have taken the appropriate amount of steps.

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:48 pm

XXXIV - let the CPU drop back for you. It'll always take the right number of steps. Once you see the QB do his little bounce, let 'er rip.

Sudz · Post by **Sudz** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 10:54 pm

Slumberland wrote:I picked the All-NFL team and handed Steve-O his ass. His profile actually played it pretty straight, but he did start going for it on 4th down relatively early in the 4th quarter. All in all I strangely enjoyed it. Hopefully Carmen Electra's challenge will be easier on the eyes, though. I'm waiting for your call, Carmen!

isn't his team the Banana Strokers? c'mon, what do you expect...the fool staples his nut to his thigh.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 11:09 pm

Ok best new feature so far (as I play more I discover more cool ass s***) is the ability to assign individual defenders specific assingments.

Hey Peanut, I want inside Technique on Moss.

Urlacker Spy the QB on this play and you "guy I never heard of because these rosters are so premature" give me a delyed Blitz

Love it, loveit, love it!

QB Evade, nice touch and I think will be difficult to master. I want to try some different QB's see how they react.

Man the graphics an animations are unreal.

I need to find a good camera angle so I can zoom in a bit more, I know they have a custom one.

I still can't get online, although I see other people are. Not sure what the deal is, says something about not able to validate rosters.

More I play the more I like. Very nice!

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 11:10 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I knew that people couldn't keep all the impressions in a single thread. We like to have 8 thousand threads saying the same thing...just like OS.

My bad!

I didn't see another impressions thread.

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 11:17 pm

My EB had the game tonight!!! GOt it on the way home from work

I played a couple of half games. So far I really like what I see. There are definitely improvements, and they are ones I like.

What I've noticed:
- New animations. Guys with the ball do a little swim move to get by guys, even teammates who are too close. I already noticed a few others I don't recall before.
- Turning on a dime has been eliminated. Thay'll now slide over and slow down instead of a instant 180.
- I really like the playcalling screen. On offense it shows the last play in text, along with the current stats of one of the players involved in the play. On defense it shows you the offense's package right away, so you know if they've got 4 WRs right of the bat instead of last year when you had to wait until they chose a play.
- More details on the player models. Nothing major, but they look BETTER this year, NOT WORSE.
- There is a VERY in-depth manual in the game, including terms, and explainations of the pacakges and formations.
- The season mode now has FULL scouting of your upcoming opponent. This is something I really missed last year. Now you can see how you match up against the other team in detail, and even prepare certain ways for them.
- Each coach has a game plan profile. Nice to see that different teams will play you differently depending on the coach. For exhibition games you can change the opposing coach.

That's all for now. Gotta get a little more play time in before bed.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 11:52 pm

Again, thanks for the impressions. Can't wait to take in some of those new animations.

Danimal...were you an ESPN fan before this year?

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jul 20, 2004 11:56 pm

The game just gave me Crib points for being sacked 3 times.....If only that would be the worst glitch anyone finds............

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:15 am

Anybody try it out online yet? I heard there were no independent cameras online.

Parker · Post by **Parker** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:19 am

spooky157 wrote:Anybody try it out online yet? I heard there were no independent cameras online.

Doesn't surprise me. As always, allowing different camera angles would require a lot more programming to avoid synch and lag issues.

GROGtheNailer · Post by **GROGtheNailer** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:20 am

- I love the graphics

- 30 bucks Canadian. holy sh1t

- You can stack moves

- Went to all-pro right off the bat and the game played very well at that setting for me...for now

- cool training videos and practice mode too

- there is manual inside the game as an option to look at

- when you get around someone with a fast player there was no catching me with slower players

- impressed with how you let certain QB's take a certain amount of steps back before you can/should throw the ball

- went into a screen where you can pick from about 25 celebrations

- impressed with the movements of players while controlling them....so well done, the game feels perfect for me, just the right amount of player response

- I actually hurdled a player while running up the right side and a player dove at me...whoosh right over. Got to time it properly but man that looked sweet.

Have only played a game plus some practice but with this short impression the game would be worth to buy easily at the full price nevermind 20 bucks ( 30 in Canadian funds )

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 12:22 am

XXXIV wrote:
Question .......why am I getting sacked all the time........Do I need to stick to the correct drop back??? Ie 3,5,7 steps?????

I thought 2K4 generated really too much pressure just from the 4 down linemen with the fan line stunt. Often you had DTs getting a ton of sacks without any blitzes because the DT just outran the guard and would get to the QB if he stayed in the pocket.

It seemed like an overreaction to complaints about 2K3 not having enough sacks.