Well, I won't go THAT far...but I don't agree at all that the PS2 animations for running were even close to OK let alone better than the ones now...
First off, look at your arm right now....pay attention to the distance between your wrist to your elbow...now, go get a football and compare that same distance...finally, re-watch any ball carrier in that video and see how the 'carrying the ball' is represented...that is U-G-L-Y and it ain't got no alibi...its ugly.
Next, look at the ridiculous arm swing on ALL running players and note that none of them are distinguishable between "Has the ball" and "does NOT have the ball". The animations have no variety, they float too much across the field, the depiction of changing directions and cutting is hilariously bad to non-existent...the momentum of the players is laughably bad, the change of direction on impact if totally absent...there's just a whole lot wrong with those animations that make it look really bad to me.
Now, I also think that 2K's animations were chunky and just as bad (in some cases worse) back then and still do today. I see people praise FIFA and bash Madden, but look closer at the two...a lot of the movement IS the same, but the sports are totally different and that makes a HUGE difference. I guess I am more easily satisfied after the abomination that was player locomotion on Madden NFL 2006 on XB360...I still have nightmares about the conga line of defenders running in lock step military formation down the sidelines...(shudder)
