To all my fellow Newbie ESPN 2K players

[TombSong]

Don't Look at the game from the point of view that you have to be great at it to start, and its not a race to who can be the best at it the fastest. thats gonna ruin the learning process for you. The only way to get good at it is to play it and play it alot. Getting use to the difference in the controls the speed of the game, the feel of the game and the strategy involved with it is gonna take time since Madden is what you are used to playing. We all had to go through it. It don't seem like it right now, but before you know it you are gonna be marching your team up the field like you do in Madden and playing good D. Just get Madden out of your head when you are playing. On offense timing is more crucial when trying to complete passes than it is in Madden. Madden has gotten us used to WR's making up for our deficiencies. In Madden you can throw a ball to a WR almost at any point in his route and have a good chance of completeing a pass...sometimes even in double coverage. In ESPN its not that simple and it can get frustrating if you dont understand at what point you should throw the ball. The luxury of running around in the backfield to buy time until the AI breaks down and no longer covers the WR's is not in ESPN either like it is in Madden. You MIGHT can do it once or twice a game, but you can't make a living off it.

Not saying thats how you play, but Madden is a more forgiving game. It allows you to do some things that can lead to bad habits in your gameplay and logic that will not be alowed in ESPN.

Just stick with it, you will get it.

[Graphik]

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TombSong said:
Don't Look at the game from the point of view that you have to be great at it to start, and its not a race to who can be the best at it the fastest. thats gonna ruin the learning process for you. The only way to get good at it is to play it and play it alot. Getting use to the difference in the controls the speed of the game, the feel of the game and the strategy involved with it is gonna take time since Madden is what you are used to playing. We all had to go through it. It don't seem like it right now, but before you know it you are gonna be marching your team up the field like you do in Madden and playing good D. Just get Madden out of your head when you are playing. On offense timing is more crucial when trying to complete passes than it is in Madden. Madden has gotten us used to WR's making up for our deficiencies. In Madden you can throw a ball to a WR almost at any point in his route and have a good chance of completeing a pass...sometimes even in double coverage. In ESPN its not that simple and it can get frustrating if you dont understand at what point you should throw the ball. The luxury of running around in the backfield to buy time until the AI breaks down and no longer covers the WR's is not in ESPN either like it is in Madden. You MIGHT can do it once or twice a game, but you can't make a living off it.

Not saying thats how you play, but Madden is a more forgiving game. It allows you to do some things that can lead to bad habits in your gameplay and logic that will not be alowed in ESPN.

Just stick with it, you will get it.

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Good post. I was tryna tell my bro-n-law that the key to passing was timing your pass with the route and he went into this tirade on how "thats not how football is played" and yada, yada. I went on to ask him if he really had played football before and he said yes. Then I said as a QB, then he shut up.

The thing about Madden was that you really did'nt have to concentrate to much on the pass rush. You'd just drop back to your hearts desire and then throw a pass wayyyyy after your WR completed his route and he's just tryna get open. On ESPN, its important that you follow your dropback and immediately have a throwing option as soon as the QB bounces back. If you dont, then you may have close to 1 second to find another reciever. If you still dont have an open man, dont force a play, ethier start to scramble or throw the ball away. You'll thank yourself for it later.

This is what I was tryna tell him and it took him 2 games to actually follow that pattern. Some ppl are so stuck in the Madden ways that ESPN frustrates them all to hell. The diffrence in gameplay between the 2 is night and day. Like Tombsong said, Madden is more forgiving on user mistakes whereas ESPN forces you to play the game correctly in order to have sucess.

If you really want to get into this game, read the Extras material. The football jargon, the tips, and the D-fense and O-fense tutorials and finnally pratice the drills and practice a few plays also before you play the game. If you want sucess in this game, you're gonna have to practice. Its impossible to pick up and play this game.

[eugreene2]

Thanks for the advice everyone but some of you are assuming too much. I'm not one of those guys who played Madden like an idiot & ran around in the backfield & just threw it up. lol But I do know guys like that so it's comical. For ESPN, it's more about controls. My fingers were so use to Madden controls that I never looked down at the controller because I had the feel of the buttons down. I don't know how many times I have wanted to throw to receiver Y & hit X or B & pressed A. It's driving me crazy so I know I need to practice. And forget Defense. At least on offense I may be missing occasionally but I have no clue on Defense. Last night, the Patriots had players open all night over the middle.

Y'all know how it is, there's this pressure to start a Franchise but who wants to start one when your team stinks. That's what's so frustrating...I'm tired of practice & Quick Games!

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eugreene2 said:
Thanks for the advice everyone but some of you are assuming too much. I'm not one of those guys who played Madden like an idiot & ran around in the backfield & just threw it up. lol But I do know guys like that so it's comical. For ESPN, it's more about controls. My fingers were so use to Madden controls that I never looked down at the controller because I had the feel of the buttons down. I don't know how many times I have wanted to throw to receiver Y & hit X or B & pressed A. It's driving me crazy so I know I need to practice. And forget Defense. At least on offense I may be missing occasionally but I have no clue on Defense. Last night, the Patriots had players open all night over the middle.

Y'all know how it is, there's this pressure to start a Franchise but who wants to start one when your team stinks. That's what's so frustrating...I'm tired of practice & Quick Games!

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Well, another thing I often preach is for new players to start reading more of the offense and defense. Meaning before the snap, pay attention to who unguarded or in single coverage. On D, one thing the CPU loves to do is take full and complete advantage of your playcalling mistakes. If they see they're best WR in single coverage against your adverage DB, you can best believe that he'll take advantage and throw him the ball. If they see your Middle LB blitzing, then they'll more than likely complete a short pass up the middle.

When you see these types of mis-matches on D, you need to make the proper adjustments. And its not just shifting you O-Line or LBs to 1 side. You need to take advantage of the defensive hot route feature and start double teaming, bumping n running a single DB and spying the offenses RBs.

The most important thing on D is picking your plays. One thing you should consider, if you have'nt already done so is waiting for your opponent to pick his offensive play first and seeing what formation he's in and how many WRs, TEs and RBs he has on the field. That'll make your defensive playcalling smater. And once you learn what defensive play stops what, then you'll pick your plays quicker. But remember, always attempt to read the offense before they snap the ball. If you see a that you're gonna leave a man open, then do something about it.

[Gagnon39]

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Heelfan71 said:
Play "All Pro Default" and keep playing. AFter playing Madden for so long, the game will feel awkward, I know. But just keep playing and it will get better and better once you get used to everything.

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How right you are...I've been playing Madden for so long it took me forever. At first I thought the game played too quickly, at least the animations. I still do to some extent but unless Madden unleashes a beast of a game, I see myself spending my football gaming hours on ESPN, that is until Fable, Halo 2, Knights of the Old Republic II and the 10,000 other great games that are coming out this year arrive...

This is the most excited I've been about gaming since I was 11...a lot of games to REALLY look forward to.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

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eugreene2 said:
Thanks for the advice everyone but some of you are assuming too much. I'm not one of those guys who played Madden like an idiot & ran around in the backfield & just threw it up. lol But I do know guys like that so it's comical. For ESPN, it's more about controls. My fingers were so use to Madden controls that I never looked down at the controller because I had the feel of the buttons down. I don't know how many times I have wanted to throw to receiver Y & hit X or B & pressed A. It's driving me crazy so I know I need to practice. And forget Defense. At least on offense I may be missing occasionally but I have no clue on Defense. Last night, the Patriots had players open all night over the middle.

Y'all know how it is, there's this pressure to start a Franchise but who wants to start one when your team stinks. That's what's so frustrating...I'm tired of practice & Quick Games!

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Ohhh...the fun of D in ESPN. It all comes down to knowing the strengths of your team and your opponents. And then it comes down to playcalling and execution. Kinda simple huh.

What I mean is that if you are getting burned by the same receiver (ex. Marvin Harrison for the Colts) then you need to go to the defensive matchup screen and put your best (and/or fastest) CB or S on him. And do your best not to let him catch the ball behind the coverage. Know that if you play the zone against a good QB and WR combo he is gonna find a spot in your zone and catch it. Just be sure he doesn't get a lot of YAC afterwards. You can always play the risk/reward game of going to man coverage. You can shut a WR down but if he gets by his man he's off to the races. The key is getting pressure on the QB so he has to throw before his WRs get open. And if you get them in 3rd in long go to a zone and place your DBs close to the first down marker...then pressure the QB so he has to deliver it before they can get a first down as soon as they catch it. It just takes practice.

Believe it or not, the computer AI usually puts your DBs in a good position to make a play on the ball. Take control of the DB as soon as the ball is in the air and when it gets close to you and the receiver press Y. Messing with the analog stick will probably move your guy out of position.

[sportsgeist]

Yeah if this is your first time don't kill yourself playing on the Legend or even All Pro settings or you could ruin your whole experience.

Until you and your friends play enough to make playing 2k5 second nature you're gonna play pretty bad. Like others have said watch both the Offensive and Defensive training videos. Then go through all the basic training and hit the practice field. Do special moves first. Run your player around to see how they move and try doing all their moves too. Then go to Offense only to see where your receivers and backs are supposed to do on all your plays. Them do a full scrimmage. Keep running your plays until you complete a pass to all the receivers on that play and on running plays run through the right hole but sometimes try going other places to see what your player can get away with like cutting against the blocking and all that. Unless you have a really good RB try using the right analog stick for your jukes and spins because it will become your buddy running the ball and when you use the QB evade feature. You don't have to keep your finger on it and all you have to do is flick it real quick. Your thumb will be close enough seeing how it will be on the turbo button anyway. If you have a finesse back just flick the stick right before he gets hit and he should be pretty good at getting out of tackles. As far as passing goes you need to really really read the DBs. With players being double covered and using your pump fakes someone should get open. Also use your QB automatic drop backs. usually by the end of his drop back the main receiver for that play should be open. Of course then you need to take in consideration who is sticking them and are they good enough not to get tied up by the defender sticking them.

[Qb]

I'm also new to ESPN after finally tiring of Madden last year. I bought a dreamcast just to play the original NFL 2K, but I moved up to PS2 and only rented last year's ESPN. I really like how ESPN is more focused on match-ups, strategy and making adjustments at the line of scrimmage. It's a much more realistic representation of the NFL. Madden is more focused on who has the best (usually fastest or strongest) players, which can be fun for two player games, but just doesn't capture the NFL. Look at the Patriots and Panthers. Good teams with great gameplans that were executed to perfection, but lacked any true superstars.

Anyways, I've been playing a few games when I get a chance and I am getting better. Passing for the most part is Ok, as I have a good understanding of how it works. Take your drop, read the coverage and throw with the proper timing. My only problem is I sometimes take a lot of sacks when no one is open (playing with the Steelers and Tommy Maddox probably doesn't help) but I don't throw many INTs.

However, the running game confounds me. I try to follow my blockers and occassionally will get more than 5 yards but almost never more than 10. Usually it's just 3 yards or under and a cloud of dust. And I usually audible out to a pass when the D stacks the line (which is very effective, if you see the safeties cheating up, audible to a pass and throw it over the top...especially to Burress) so it's not like I'm running against 8 or 9 in the box.

I've been working on some sliders to help both me and the CPU run the ball, but I was wondering if anyone has any tips. I saw earlier than Heelfan said not to hit turbo until you reach the line of scrimmage. Was this in reference to running the ball? I try to find the hole then sprint through it, but I usually get wrapped up by a DT or ILB. Any thoughts would help.

And one more thing, my sliders rate as a 1.48 in the difficulty modifier in the crib tally. I don't know if anyone else has seen this, but I think it's a pretty cool feature, as it sums up the difficulty of your custom settings.

Q