football

Let me first begin by saying that I have played both football games. I bought Madden the first day it came out and was hooked out. Owner mode turned me into Jerry Jones. But about 4 months later, I found ESPN foootball for a measly $8. I called up my best friend and we got hooked. I love the openning to sequence with an aerial view of the stadium, watching the players get pumped, and the commentary. My jaw dropped.

Gameplay - The best I have ever seen. Although on the pro level it is too easy to break big runs, playing on the all-pro level, it feels a lot better. Playing with Ricky Williams, I continously pounded for that 3 yards and cloud of dust. I also loved the feeling when you tire out a defense and watch Ricky explode into the secondary for a 20+ yard run. However, there have been many games were I have just been straight up stuffed. My last game against the Pats got Ricky 23 carries for 67 yards. The passing game takes a little getting used too but it works. I have to admit that Madden's passing mechanics are a little better. The hook and curl routes were my forte in madden, but they don't seem to work as well in ESPN. As far as defense is concerned, the DBs come to play. Playing with the fins, I loved playing bump and run because Madison and Surtain just shut recievers down. Sacks and DL moves are more realistic and frequent. And I love watching the tackling animations and the linebacker pursuit is just a beautiful thing.

Commentary + Sound + Graphics - All top notch. Even the fans and thier painted faces.

Presentation - No one is better then ESPN. You can freakin watch NFL Primetime for Christ's sake. Primetime is my all time favorite show and to be able to watch it in May brought tears to my eyes. And I love the halftime show, Chris Berman rocks!!!!!!! The Crib is cool to.

Few negatives -

Franchise mode - Not as deep as Madden but it will suffice. I love being able to break alltime records in Madden as hard as it was. I also liked being able to see carrer stats. Although, ESPN does keep track of carrer stats of players, you are only lucky to see them in a game. Also the salary cap is really annoying. In Madden if I have 7 million left in the cap room, don't take 3 million away if I sign Antonio Bryant for a 5yr 3 million dollar contract.

I hope ESPN makes the leaps and bounds Madden made with the Franchise mode, because if they do, Madden is going to be in hot water. If ESPN develops the franchise mode where you can track individual players carrer stats and make it as deep as maddens, then ESPN will have created the ultimate football experiance. But I do have two wishes:

1. Harder Hits - I want to punish recievers with Rodney Harrison for running routes through the middle.

2. Mel Kipper - I want him to analyze some of the rookies. Put a face on some of these rookies so I don't feel like I am drafting a name.

After reading several reviews, I finally decided it was time to go out and get ESPN NFL Football. I am so glad I did. Let me first say that I do like both Madden and ESPN NFL Football. They each have their high points. However, there are just times when I want to do nothing more than play football. Sure it's fun to build stadiums, raise prices on your snacks and stuff, but when I wanna play football, I go to ESPN. The gameplay is just better in my opinion. Play calling is so much easier, the running game is superb, the passing game is on target, and the overall fun factor can't be beat in my mind.

The crib is awesome. It's a great way to motivate you to go for the glory so to speak. When I first got the game, I thought that's nice - I'll never use it though. 4 games of air-hockey later and I am changing my tune.

First person playing, not my cup of tea - but a nice feature. Nothing againt it, I just have a hard time playing much anything other than driving games in first person. I have read several good reviews on this feature.

I like the ability to see the whole field, sideline to sideline. It helps so much with the passing game.

I use this mostly as a two player game, head to head with my son so most of the franchise options and season goodness hasn't been tested by me to the fullest, but from what I can see, this is where Madden will take over top position. But again, I enjoy having an easy game to sit down to, and play football. I guess I am not all that hard core.

ESPN, in my mind - your NFL game is the best out there. Madden is definitely next in line. The rest I found not to be worth the money.

i bought this game because of the details behind it, the stadiums are awesome and the players look very real, at first it feels like you are watching an actual espn game ( how cliche), but its not realistic sometimes, i mean i know that INTS are common and its part of the game, but for some reason i always end up throwing about 4 a game!!!! especially when im close to scoring i mean those LB. are jumping jack flash, they catch everything (or maybe its me and i simply suck!!!) anyway besides that its a pretty good game, i hope 2k5 improves on some of those little flaws. love those giants but they sadly suck!!hehehe!!!