pakowitz

Year after year after year, the battle between licensed football games is typically one of the most knock-down-drag-out battles you'll ever see. Sega Sports' ESPN NFL and EA's Madden NFL are usually the top dogs in the battle, but then a funny thing happened this year. Not only are they the top dogs again, but they're the only dogs. Yes, as it just so happened, Microsoft, 989, and Midway declined to enter the football fracas this year, leaving only the two heaviest hitters to battle it out. And with ESPN NFL 2K5 retailing for a mere $20, the fight between the behemoths of the football game market is fiercer than ever. Price points aside, however, the question that still begs to be answered is: Which one is the one to get?

In this feature, we will be pitting the many aspects of Madden NFL 2005 and ESPN NFL 2K5 against each other to find out in which ways each game is superior. Which one has the best franchise mode? Which one has the best graphics? Which one offers truly superior gameplay? And which one is, hands down, the one game to own this year? By the end of this feature, you'll know more about this year's football games than you ever particularly wanted to.

As an aside, we should note that if you own a GameCube, GBA, or PC and you specifically want to play football on one of these three platforms, the decision has pretty much been made for you, because you can only get Madden on these three systems. However, if you own an Xbox or a PS2, then read on.



for the rest of this matchup, click here:


http://www.gamespot.com/features/6104789/index.html

subguy

I have both for the Xbox.....ESPN gets my nod

JKool

I agree with Subguy. In some things ESPN actually took a step backward this year, but in so many others it is a giant leap forward. My feeling is that for people who like football and not merely football video games, ESPN is the far superior product. I was raised on Madden, but since 2k2, I\'ve been ESPN all the way.

Saintsin04

Have both of them.........hands down, Madden