Gameplay: AI
While we've said before that both games can be easy at times, there's plenty of depth to both games' respective artificial intelligences. Here's what we think of both.
ESPN
ESPN NFL 2K5 is not a gigantic leap forward for the series in terms of artificial intelligence, but it does make some key improvements. Most of these improvements relate to the coaching profiles that have been added. Every NFL coach has his own profile in the game, and each matches up quite accurately to his real-life style of playcalling. If a coach is known for going into a hurry-up offense when things are down, it'll happen. If a coach prefers to cram the ball down the defense's throat via a north-south running game, he'll demand it. Some specific players even have their own little quirks built in, such as Peyton Manning's penchant for calling audibles at the line.
The general player AI on both sides of the ball is very good. Periodically you'll see players lining up slightly out of position defensively, and sometimes receivers will just botch their routes badly, but this occurs no more often than you'd typically see in the NFL. It also seems as though AI blocking has gotten mostly better, and it's also better about picking up outside blitzes (which is all dependent on how good your line is as a whole, of course).
Madden
With all the presnap defensive alignment changes you can make now, it would only seem logical that the AI would also take advantage of these new features. For the most part, it really seems like it does, because the CPU definitely tends to recognize when something is wrong on defense. The defensive AI definitely tends to behave much more like a real defense, though it does seem as though it is just a tad too focused on batting down passes rather than using other means to prevent receptions. The remaining components of Madden's AI are also pretty high quality, but a couple of little glitches, such as fullbacks that tend to get hung up on offensive linemen and occasional offensive line blocking snafus, do detract a bit from the game. There also isn't any coaching variety to speak of when playing the game, so you tend to see roughly the same sort of games across the board, save for the difficulty of each team based on its player ratings.
Which is better?
In all honesty, both games are pretty much on an even keel as far as AI goes. Each has slight, little problems to speak of, but both also make up for these problems in spades. The coaching profiles might have given ESPN the edge, but Madden's wholly superb defensive AI helps it catch back up. We're calling this one a rare tie.
Winner: Everybody!
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