2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

[Troopershorty51]

I feel like no other year had so many amazing sports games. Nowadays I feel like franchises don't make any progress from year to year and many sports are down to just one or two studios making games but back then there were many more choices and they also seemed to be higher quality games.

From what I can remember both NBA live 05 and NBA 2k5 were solid (I think I owned each at one point on different consoles.)

Madden 2005 is considered one of the best Madden games ever made and NFL 2k5 is still regarded by some as the best football ever made.

MLB 2k5 was much better at the time than the current 2k games are now. I consider MVP 2005 to be the best baseball game of all time (Although The Show is incredible too), I know many people still play it with updated rosters today, and MLB 2005 was pretty good too.

NCAA football 2005 was a really good game and I haven't seen much about NHL 2005 and FIFA 05 but I'm assuming they weren't terrible.

MLB Slugfest: Loaded and NBA Street v3 also came out and while they weren't great they still gave even more choices and were fairly solid games.

What do you guys think? Any year you think that has been better?

[AUChase]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

I was primarily playing NCAA at this time and NCAA '05 may have been my favorite NCAA ever, but a lot of people liked the following year's NCAA '06.

I was heavy into LeagueDaddy leagues back then.

I will say this: NFL 2k5 was an awesome game and I enjoyed it more than Madden, but In my opinion, It wasn't as life changing and it's not the end all be all to football games like some people believe.

[Troopershorty51]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

I was primarily playing NCAA at this time and NCAA '05 may have been my favorite NCAA ever, but a lot of people liked the following year's NCAA '06.

I was heavy into LeagueDaddy leagues back then.

I will say this: NFL 2k5 was an awesome game and I enjoyed it more than Madden, but In my opinion, It wasn't as life changing and it's not the end all be all to football games like some people believe.

Yeah I'll agree to that but the Chris Berman show in 2k5 felt revolutionary and it still hasn't even been duplicated well to this day in a sports game.

[Majingir]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

I think that has to be one of best overall years for sports games.

NHL 04 and NBA Live 04 were AWESOME(everything from menu music, to gameplay, to just overall look of the menu screens and GM/Franchise mode)

MVP Baseball 2005(no need to explain lol)

Those were the ones I played, and others saying NFL 2K5 best nfl game veer

[VDusen04]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

2005 was a fun year for gaming. I was a 2K gamer at that point and once NFL rolled out with a $20 price tag (then each other game followed)... that was a pretty awesome series of events. I was a fan of NHL 2K at that point too. Brand new NFL, NHL, and NBA games, all for $60 total - not bad.

And as has been mentioned already, MVP 2005 was incredible. My friend and I still play that one from time to time.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aYfc8YXhmzM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Edit: Also, College Hoops was a good game that year as well.

[TheShizNo1]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

First year I had ever bought a baseball game. Had NFL, NBA, and MLB 2K5, Madden, NCAA, and NBA 2005 also. I discovered MVP 2005 about two years later. Best time for me for sports games.

[Troopershorty51]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

First year I had ever bought a baseball game. Had NFL, NBA, and MLB 2K5, Madden, NCAA, and NBA 2005 also. I discovered MVP 2005 about two years later. Best time for me for sports games.

Yeah I'm pretty sure I owned like 7 sports games from 05.

Let's see...

NBA 2k5
NBA Live 05 (Probably my most played NBA game ever)
MVP 2005
MLB 2k5 (Can't remember if I owned it or rented it)
NCAA Football 2005
NFL 2k5
Slugfest: Loaded

So yeah I had 6 or 7 that year... that's crazy. Most I get a year now is like 3, maybe 4; usually The Show, NCAA football, then NHL, FIFA, or Madden.

[Herky]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

Madden 2005 and MVP 2005 ruled my world when they came out. I've never played Madden franchise mode as deep as I did in that version.

[Redacted01]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

For MVP 2005 alone. That game got years and years of play out of me.

[superjames1992]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

ESPN Basketball 2K4 and ESPN College Hoops 2K4 were awesome.

NCAA Football 2005 was the first NCAA game I really played extensively. It has its problems with dropped passes, but I wasn't a stat stickler back then, so it didn't bother me much.

And, of course, MVP 2005 got a few years out of me. I thought Madden 2004 was pretty good, too. I wasn't as big of a fan of Madden 2005, though.

[sydrogerdavid]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

Don't forget All Star Baseball 2005 (or 2004). It was just as great as MVP with a deep franchise and expansion mode.

[KingV2k3]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

I concur!

Madden 2005 (with the legendary "Manifesto" sim / gameplay engine tweaks) and NFL2k5 are still both the G.O.A.T. of their respective PS2 eras...

NBA2k5 was very solid

Also bought my first (legendary) Baseball game that year (MVP 2005) as well as the only NHL game I've owned (to date), NHL2k5

I only play two or three titles a year now, but those FIVE made '05 the "year of all years" for me as well...

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

Everything was good that year except for FIFA. FIFA sucked back then. It was all about Winning Eleven series back in then if you wanted a good soccer game. FIFA didn't start getting good until FIFA 10 IMO.

[UK0wnag3]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

Everything was good that year except for FIFA. FIFA sucked back then. It was all about Winning Eleven series back in then if you wanted a good soccer game. FIFA didn't start getting good until FIFA 10 IMO.

I really got back into FIFA at FIFA 09. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 & 5 were amazing, but then the move to next-gen swung the pendulum.

[55]

Re: 2004-05 - was it the best year in sports gaming ever?

I logged well over 1,000 hours on MVP Baseball 2005, which is at least twice as many as any other game ever.