ESPN NBA 2K5 (PS2)
Developed by: Visual Concepts
Published by: Sega

The Bad

1. Isomotion is more like slowmotion… takes way too long to respond.
2. Graphics weak at times, such as the aliasing of the key and 3 point markings all jagged.
3. 24/7 Streetball mode is okay… too Tony Hawk-ish, but not very exciting. For some reason my 6′5″ player cant even dunk. They spent too much time on this part and not the real game. You can keep scoring on the same simple move.
4. The action with little spin shots and hop steps looks like a real game on replay, but half the time these little extras arent controlled by you. It’s annoying when you go to cut, and your guy is doing a cross-over you didn’t tell him to.
5. Lack of defensive crouch, and protect ball dribble on offense.
6. Impossible to steal even with steal slider cranked up. It’s ridiculous, you sit there hammering the button, and the ball is right in front of your nose, unprotected, but you never get the steal.
7. New post up moves are okay, but you can’t back someone down and spin, dribbling to the basket for some reason. You always just turn to face the defender instead.
8. Why hasn’t anyone since NBA Courtside on the N64 introduced the ability to switch dribbling hands quickly, without fancy crap, and without using up turbo?
9. Sometimes when the crowd gets too loud, the sound gets all distorted and scratchy.
10. Really cheesy looking animated player heads with the stats bar during the game, making strange angry faces. It looks like Super Nintendo.
11. Annoying hiphop soundtrack to everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Good

1. You can’t argue with the $30 price.
2. A lot more plays to call on offense.
3. The ability to lead a player with a pass.
4. Pretty decent animations.
5. The hop step is a sweet move and alley-oops off the backboard.
6. Apparently the franchise mode is insanely in depth now… haven’t tried it yet though.
7. You get rewarded a lot more for executing plays, like if you use a screen, you usually hit the open shot.
8. You get to control how you want to change your shot in midair.
9. A.I. seems pretty decent.
10. Dunks are more realistic looking and harder to get, which makes them rewarding. And you actually dunk when you’re standing still under the basket, unlike the usual weird shot you get because you aren’t running to the hoop.

Rating: 7/10 blings
Overall impression: Bit of a letdown compared to 2K3

– Kube

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