Best XBOX Football? Advice needed
 

I'm going to head over to BB to use some of the GCs I got for the holidays.

I would like to know the opinion of which Xbox football game is the best. I'm about to get the router to play Live, so that is a consideration.

Thanks for your help.

ESPN Football

ESPN Football

how does it compare to games like Madden?

Well, I haven't played Madden since the Genesis, but from what I've heard Madden 2004 isn't as sim-heavy as ESPN, and it has a better Franchise mode.

I just picked up ESPN last week and I can tell you it's awesome. I like the graphics much better than from what I've seen with Madden, and the ESPN presentation makes it look like you are watching a game on TV rather than a videogame. Add to that the first person football mode, and online play, and you can't lose. I also like the Crib, which is a mode where you unlock things for your house as you play. It's totally cool, and has a lot of really neat Sega stuff like sountracks and posters from older games.

So my opinion is, go for ESPN. You can't really lose either way but from what I've heard and now what I've seen, ESPN is the better of the two.

Jeremy

Madden is the king... I have given ESPN several tries, as well as NFL Fever, but neither come close to Madden. For whoever said that ESPN is more of a sim than Madden, I will have to respectfully disagree on that. ESPN is more arcadey, with faster than real life speed, on the dime cutbacks, exaggerated play of LBs and DBs, etc. I don't think that anyone will dispute that the graphics on ESPN are better though, so I'm not sure how much that counts in your decision.

By the way, my recommendation for Madden is based on the assumption that you mean pro football. NCAA 2004 towers over Madden and anything else!

I know you were gonna go to BB and all but some guy in the Video Game Exchange has ESPN football (used) for $25 shipped.

ESPN :up:

I SAY ESPN TOO!

ESPN

my vote goes to madden. I loved the sega sports football games. this year I gave madden a shot and was blown away by the amount of innovations they've made to video game football. they've made every position extremely fun to play. there are so many more controls and animations in the game to make everything exciting. every press of the button actually does something, on offense and defense. too bad its not on xbox live.

I'd say espn is a good sim of pro football, but madden is a great sim of an amazing superbowl. they made the game extremely realistic and exciting at the same time.

ESPN all the way. Madden has a better franchise mode (owner mode) but that is all. Madden is very arcadey. The people that say ESPN is unrealistic are the people that haven't played it for very long or they suck at it :D

yeah i agree with you, i got NCAA 2004 for Christmas and it's hands down the best football game i've played on the X-Box, doing my dynasty right now and i'm going to try to draft my created player onto Madden, i love it!

ESPN

Great great game.

ESPN.

madden may be a better football game, but if you want to play online, you don't have a choice - ESPN. i actually quite enjoyed ESPN before i gave it away.

goLucky plays NFL Fever though... ;)

If you want online then you only have two choices ESPN or Fever.
If are gonna play single player, then Madden or ESPN (Fever has a single player season, but it's weak compared to the other two).

ESPN is the strong chioce.

I believe that Fever has the best online play, because I didn't like the running game in ESPN, and Read and Lead passing.
-golucky

peer pressure is another reason to get either ESPN or Fever. most of my online friends got ESPN so that's why i ended up w/ it.

i just tried XSN w/ topspin and it's pretty slick once you have it setup. automatically updates results for you.

maybe Fever has an advantage there as it supports XSN.

ESPN all the way.

If you don't care about online, like me, I'd reccommend Madden.

The best thing to do is rent ESPN and Madden, as both are great games and it's really a matter of preference.

I'd pass on Fever, unless you want a more arcadey, less sim type game.

I'm kind of in between Madden and ESPN, but since Madden refuse to have online for xbox, I went for ESPN.

What's the learning curve like on ESPN? I haven't played console football since my Sega Genesis days, so I'm a bit timid about getting back in the pool. Playing LIVE is a huge consideration as well, which is pushing me more towards ESPN than Madden. Also, when bringing cake to a New Year's party is it considered bad taste to shape said cake into an obscene Italian hand gesture?

ESPN, IMO, has the largest learning curve of all the football games.

It's the most sim like IMO as far as having to have a good understanding of the game, being able to read defenses etc.

Very well said...

Yeah, you need to know what you're doing. Against the computer, you can usually pick "coaches pick" which randomly selects a play based on the play your opponent called. You can do this online as well, but chances are you'd be picked apart, slowly.

Just remember 0 WR most likely a running play. 1-2 WR, call a 3-4 or 4-3. 3 WR, call a nickel play. 4 WR, call dime. 5 WR, call prevent.

:D