Graphics
Does ESPN continue to be the best-looking football game on the market? Or did Madden finally fix those mutant-looking player models? We compare and contrast.
ESPN
We're not even going to beat around the bush on this one: ESPN is the best-looking football game ever made. Period. Hands down. 100 percent. 120 percent, even.
Let's just start with the player models, which are uncanny in how much they look like their real-life counterparts. The body builds are near-perfect, and the faces are freaky in just how realistic they look. Then there's the animation... Oh, the sweet, sweet animation. Everything from brutal, run-stuffing gang tackles to simple leg trips looks brilliant. Everybody moves realistically, and rarely will you see anything less than what looks exactly like a real football game. Then you've got the stadiums, which continue to be the best-looking professional arenas in football gaming. This even includes the wide array of crowd cutscenes that you'll see in the game, all of which are very cool.
What more needs to be said? The game looks absolutely incredible.
Madden
So, is Madden the other best-looking football game ever made? Unfortunately, no. In fact, Madden really doesn't look especially better than last year's Madden title. The players still have that sort of goofy, generic look to them, without much of anything in the way of facial detail (save for the topmost players). The animation is definitely better than last year's game, especially in the realm of tackling. Some of the hits you can deliver with the hit stick are utterly brutal. You might also notice a couple of new catching animations and what have you, but some stuff, such as the basic running and jogging animations, still look a bit off. Again, like ESPN, the stadiums here are pretty high quality, though the cutscenes aren't nearly as impressive as the competition's are.
Which is better?
Did you or did you not just read the above text? Specifically, did you read the part where we said ESPN NFL 2K5 was the best-looking football game ever made? Did you miss that? Were you reading a different feature all of a sudden?
Winner: ESPN NFL 2K5. Duh.
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