I'm a bit surprised that there wasn't a thread or Operation Sports news story for this: ESPN NFL 2K5 recently turned 20. It released on July 20, 2004.
I personally haven't touched NFL 2K5 in years, but I know it's still an important game to some people. For starters, it was a quality football game for its time. Not only did it play a great game on the field which was at least on equal footing with its contemporaries, but it was a well-rounded video game (sports or not) to boot. It featured presentation well ahead of its time in sports games, utilized the entirety of its console generation's feature set (custom soundtracks on XBOX, hard drive support on PS2), the Virtual Identity Profile system was something which I don't think has been done in sports games outside of racing games since, and it was stuffed full of extras such as celebrity cameos and The Crib.
It's also a game with a legacy, as it became a rallying cry for disgruntled football gamers following EA Sports obtaining exclusive licenses for the NFL and NFLPA then following that up with the disastrous Madden NFL 06 on the XBOX 360. That disappointment and how long it endured through many subpar Madden releases throughout nearly that entire console generation undoubtedly contributed to 2K's final NFL-licensed offering retaining such longevity.
Anyway, I figured the occasion was worth mentioning.
I personally haven't touched NFL 2K5 in years, but I know it's still an important game to some people. For starters, it was a quality football game for its time. Not only did it play a great game on the field which was at least on equal footing with its contemporaries, but it was a well-rounded video game (sports or not) to boot. It featured presentation well ahead of its time in sports games, utilized the entirety of its console generation's feature set (custom soundtracks on XBOX, hard drive support on PS2), the Virtual Identity Profile system was something which I don't think has been done in sports games outside of racing games since, and it was stuffed full of extras such as celebrity cameos and The Crib.
It's also a game with a legacy, as it became a rallying cry for disgruntled football gamers following EA Sports obtaining exclusive licenses for the NFL and NFLPA then following that up with the disastrous Madden NFL 06 on the XBOX 360. That disappointment and how long it endured through many subpar Madden releases throughout nearly that entire console generation undoubtedly contributed to 2K's final NFL-licensed offering retaining such longevity.
Anyway, I figured the occasion was worth mentioning.
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