Re: still the best after all this time IMO
great post.
I was one a big fan of the 2k series since the inception during the Dreamcast days. The best NFL2K games were -
1.NFL2K1 - I have to put this first because it was the first online sports game. Even with dial up, it worked great, because of all the down time between plays, they made the technology work great. Also the game has those intangibles you'd see in real life. Great game online and offline. A great analogy I've heard was that NFL2K1 was to online videogaming like the Beatles were to rock and roll.
2.NFL2K5 - just the perfect overall sports gaming experience. We all know it had it all, great gameplay, great graphics (for the time), great presentation, great online play with online leagues, all of it. What more can be said. What the original poster says is right on, it is still 6 years later the best football game. They can't even come close to mimicking that game with the current football games. example - Gang Tackles in this gen are a joke compared to what 2k did what now, 6 YEARS AGO! you got to be kidding me that this gen's developers with today's technology can't come close to touching a 6 year old game but that's another argument and I'll leave it as that.
3.NFL2K3 - man this was such a great game that seemed like nobody played. The problem was that 2k made this game TOO HARDCORE. It forced you to PLAY THE GAME, NOT WATCH IT, like the competition. This led to this game not selling much but it contributed to a what 2k5 became, the whole package. I remember how defensive minded this game was. It was hard to score, and the cpu defense was one of the best I've played in terms of AI. It forced you TO PLAY, to make moves, jukes, cuts, spins, etc... And on offense, they forced you to control your WR and catch the ball by pressing the button. This killed the game to the general market because that was the big outcry for this game, that the wrs' drop the ball. Actually they didnt, it was just a lot of general players were too use to having the cpu catch the ball for them, and never attempted or didnt want to attempt to play and press the button. But this was a lesson learned for 2K, and they made the next versions a little more based to the non-hardcore football gaming audience which worked in the long run.
I missed out on 2k2 because I had sold my DC that year, so couldn't give you much of an opinion. I remember I did also like 2k4 but remember it had some major gameplay issues (I think one was you could return like 1/2 the punts for tds). I liked 2k4, but it didnt blow me away.
But the OP is right, 2k football was and is still the best. I thought EA was going in the right direction with 10 (5 years after 2k5), but I'm not sure now after playing 11. I think that EA is waiting for Madden (John Madden the human being) to pass on, and you'll probably then see Madden (the game) change completely. Let's face it, hardcore sim games don't work anymore with the general non-hardcore gamers. People want things fast, smart phone gaming is becoming bigger piece of the market, so not many people want to sit in front of a tv for 45min - 1hr playing a video sports game. So not sure what the future holds, most likely a more arcade / non-sim football title based SOLELY on exploiting Online Revenue play thru smart phones, handheld devices, and the soon to be dinosaur known as a gaming console.
We'll probably never get a game like 2k football ever again. I am glad to say I got to enjoy every minute of it.
Last edited by siam007; 10-20-2010 at 03:42 AM.
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