ESPN NBA 2K5: Basket ball or blunder ball?
User Rating: 6 | ESPN NBA 2K5 PS2
I have always been a NBA Live fan, but I have always been open minded, too. Before whomever reads this review consider this I have both games in my possesion as of now, I am going to rate it fairly, and in three diffenrent areas: Stand alone, Vs its competition, and finally to real basketball. First lets get what this game does right, out there. When you turn it on you dont feel too involved in it. The graphics are the biggest selling point of this game as it stands. The player models are razor sharp. The atmosphere of an arena is great. You actually see fans in their seats. The game also has more plays than any other sim baller out there. This as rapper Juvinille would say is where things stop you understand. If you know real basket ball youll know that this game is not a sim. Lets talk gameplay for a minute. When playing basket ball on defense you should always be moving to follow your man. You should be jocking for position down low in the key/post. If your the center you should only leave the key if a play calls for you to do so. These things do not happen in ESPN basket ball. Hey youd think the world wide leader in sports would say this to the game makers, alas they did not. I played Against both the Rockets and The Pistons who both have good big men and way too often the center was hanging out at the top not accepting a pass, not setting a pick, and there was no isolation play being called. Thats only the tip of the iceberg. when you dribble past a deffender say the point or shooting gaurd prepare to score. Because the fowards not going to stop you hes to busy stuck on whom ever hes gaurding and the center is busy pretending hes a gaurd. If Im told this is to be real defense then I am playing the wrong type of basket ball. Moving to its cometitor unlike live there is no movement down low theres no one fighting for position to ge free for a pass. Theres no one rotating out to pick up a offensive man whose free. There is no one harrasing you for the ball activley trying to strip it. In Live These are things that are going on. Look out down low while you have the point gaurd at the top and you see these things. One more thing as gamespot pointed out theres no way to manually d-up. Where the button to put your hands up? Where the control to get into a defensive stance? Moving right along on offense this is a mixed bag. While its easy to blow by a defender as things stand there is not total dribble control like in live. As in real life an offensive man might need all his tools to beat the defender. You should easily be able to dribble from side to side freely. You should be able to drop step, jab step, rotate the ball around and away from the defender. Why should I have to press more than one button in order to accomplish these things, and why cant I shoot a fade away by simply leaning the stick away from the defender. Another thing why can everbody crossover dribble albeit they do it slowly, but they can still do it. Lets talk fouls, now correct me if Im wrong, but if a defender suddenly jumps in you lane of travel isnt that a blocking foul? If im right then why does the ref call for an offensive foul when it happens. The shots are not authentic Kobe doesnt shoot with his left nor does Bob Sura. You Have to beg your player to dunk and then when he does he just walks off as if he didnt do anything big. Wheres the excitment, wheres the showmanship, Wheres the bravado the NBA is known for. When some one jams on you in the NBA they dont come down and run away they let you know about it. I could go on and on but ill spare you. Lets talk Sound. Well maybe we shouldnt because where 2K used to be king in commentation it just plain sucks now. Who are these guys commentating oh im sorry I said guys there is really only one guy with play by play and Bill Walton just comes in every 3 minutes to comment on a guys career stats. Live has an actual announce team of Marv Albert and Mike Fartalo. They also have Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. Music? hands down live, when you think basket ball you want something thats going to pump you up to play. You want MC Lyte you want Gunit you want the regge. All of lives artist are well known. Who are these guys in 2K5 and what the heck are they rapping about. Who cares!!! The whole sound dept sucks, And lets leave it at that. Now lets move on to presentation and features. I asked a 2K fan I know if live has been out for like 15 years(and it has it started off being called lakers vs celtics) and 2k has been out for 5 and their so great why didnt they think to put in an allstar weekend? His answer "I dont know!" I'll tell you why, because EA sports is the king of innovation. It all start and ends with them. Player intros they used to do that way back when and now they are doing it again. What happened to 2k they did intros when they first came out now they dont. The menus look drab there nothing going on in the back ground while your picking your modes. Why is it so complicated to get in there and find how to turn what music you want on or off. Why is it so taxing to find where you can adjust your player ratings i mean I dont do that but some of my buddys do and with just cause, because both live and 2k suck when it comes to player ratings. In live there are some player ranked 45 overall should you even be allowed to play in the NBA if thats what people think of you, and in 2k its not that much better. Kobe Bryant is my favorite player right now, but hes no 99 ill tell you that. Tim duncan is rated 98 are these the two best players in the leauge if so then why didnt they win the NBA finals last year. And look at who did, the pistons the team is a 99 but um no one on the team is even rated in the nineties how can that be. Why does Karl Malone still play for the lakers am I the only one reviewing this game that has caught these things? There is nothing out side of the association and the exhibition games to keep your intrest. If you say hey what about the 24/7 mode please if I wanted to do something like that then I would play NBA street which does it a lot better and looks better doing it. I dont want to put the obvious out there but wheres the all star weekend and I dont just mean the dunk contest wheres the three point contest, where the rookie sophmore game. These things are as EA sports puts it in the game well heck why arent they in this game. I bet next year they will have it though and everyone will forget that live broguht this to the table first. Just like dribbling with the right anolog stick was a crazy idea at first but look who does that now. Lives also got team selection on lock with the foreign teams the all world the 60's, 70's(not both together) 80's, and 90's teams the all stars, the rookie and sophmore teams. I could go into why the franchise is better or how much stuff you can unlock but why bother and Ive typed you to sleep by now. I see why they charge 19.99 it should be 10.99 on the bargin ben. No, im not a jillted fan of live that feels the series has been done wrong. Plain and simple if its in the game shouldnt it be in your video game? Think about that the next time you boot up your playstation, Xbox, and Gamecube when your going to play ESPN(the world wide leader in sports) NBA 2K5. Why settle for less wether its NBA Live or ESPN NBA 2K( because lets face I think live sucked last year). I'll leave you with this: Pretty graphics cant stand alone. To use a good quote " You cant pour syrup on crap and call it pancakes." Until next time Peace.
