Best Sports Game
ESPN NFL 2005 (Xbox, PS2)
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Visual Concepts
Read our preview from E3 2004 >>
With Microsoft, Sony, and Midway ducking out of the football game this year, it's basically down to just EA and Sega when it comes to NFL titles. Both companies had extremely impressive showings at E3 2004 with Madden NFL 2005 and ESPN NFL 2005 respectively, but obviously, we couldn't pick both to be our top sports game of the show. Both games had new gameplay features--such as Madden's hit stick and ESPN's total control tackling--both featured improvements to their respective franchise modes, and both featured upgrades to their online functionality. However, when it comes right down to it, ESPN NFL's upgrades to these features, as well as its several other, additional features, made it the clear winner.
From a gameplay perspective, our time spent playing ESPN NFL 2005 at E3 gave us the impression that aside from the new tackling abilities, there wasn't much more going on than some incremental upgrades. What really impressed us though were the sheer number of new features in the game. The coolest of these new features was the new VIP profile system. Once you create a profile in ESPN NFL 2005, the game will begin tracking everything about how you play, from how often you run versus how often you pass, to little details like how often you call defensive audibles. While this is merely a neat idea if it were simply tied down to your console, in actuality, you'll have the ability to transfer your profile to your friends' consoles or upload it online, letting other people view your statistical data. Not only that, but if your friends decide they want to learn how to play better against you, they can load up a one-player match against the computer and have the computer use your profile, which will in turn have the CPU play exactly like you. Spooky, but very cool.
There are plenty of other awesome things we saw in ESPN NFL 2005 that we could rave about, such as the new online league system, franchise upgrades, new crib unlockables, and added ESPN personalities. However, the point is not to simply regurgitate what we've already written about the game, but to tell you why this was the best sports game we saw at the show. Frankly, ESPN NFL 2005 showed us the most in terms of depth and presentation, and it proved to be just as fun as its most recent predecessors, if not more so. If that's not enough reason to call it the clear-cut winner, then nothing is.
The other Best Sports Game finalists:
Madden NFL 2005 (PS2, Xbox, GC, PC)
Mario Golf (GBA)
NCAA Football 2005 (PS2, Xbox, GC)
WWE Day of Reckoning (GC)
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