EA vs ESPN ----> NHL 2005

Null · 08-17-2004, 01:44 PM

well, reviews and comparisons are coming in...

Which will you be getting?

EGM Scores -
EA NHL 2005 [ 6.0 ; 6.0 ; 7.0 ]
ESPN NHL 2005 [ 8.5 ; 8.5 ; 8.0 ]

Price -
EA [ 49.99 ]
ESPN [ 19.99 ; clear winner ]

Gamepro Comparisons -

Hockey Authenticity
*EA - The expected action-packed, arcade feel.
*ESPN - More realistic and true to the sport, but harder [Winner]

Career mode
*EA - RPG-like "video-game" approach
*ESPN - Fantasy hockey feel to building roster and staff [Winner]

Fighting
*EA - No meters; can opt in; great feel [Winner]
*ESPN - Great new redesign with tight new controls

Online
*EA - Tournaments and head to head only.
*ESPN - Clear winner - usuals plus leagues and even Party mode! [Winner]

Arcade mode
*EA- Free4all mode lacks creativity
*ESPN - Party mode mini-games absolutly rock! [Winner]

Skating/controls
*EA - Needs tuning- spastic, jerky feel
*ESPN - Butter-smooth and natural; handles instinctivly [Winner]

Checking
*EA - Difficult to line up and connect - needs tuning
*ESPN - Wins by a hair- hits connect easier but lack bone-crunching feel [Winner]

Graphics
*EA - Unbeatable gorgeus arenas, scary-real player faces and movements [Winner]
*ESPN - Respectable but lacks wow power.

Commentary
*EA - Same tired, no-name duo in the booth-EA needs to hire some pros
*ESPN - Gary Thorne and Bill Clement - hard to top the voices of hockey [Winner]

So which will you all be getting? my mind was made up after owning both NHL 2004 and ESPN hockey last season. ESPN was clearly better, and now with better online modes and a 19.99 price; damn, no way im saying no to that.

and i also expect some of the canadians here to come say thoes arent the voices of hockey. and i understand that but it was the magazine that said it, not me.

My choice. ESPN. Will i be seeing any of you online with me?

[Edit] For Joeiss, this is from Gamepro...

Espn's franchise mode is reaping the benefits of a stronge overhaul; the focus is on building your team and staff, so you can hire/fire coaches, move prospects between the minors and majors, squabble over contracts. Your minor-league team is now a fully functional team istead of just a holding pool, and scouting plays a much bigger role as you assign scouts to regions around the world, then take several different looks at promising players, even running them through some drills. It feels much more like a fantasy-sports approach, the kind of thing that sports nuts can really get lost in.

Release dates:
EA - 9.14 for PS2 // 9.20 for Xbox
ESPN - 8.30 for both PS2 and Xbox

Typhoid · 08-17-2004, 02:07 PM

About the commentators for EA. They arnt no-name commentators. The EA hockey games are made in Vancouver, and the commentators for all EA hockey games have been the Vancouver Canucks commentators. It doesnt bug me, probably because i always associate their voice with hockey anyways.

( You do know each team has its own commentators right? 2 guys dont do each team in Canada...)

The guys for the Canucks are Jim Hughson, and Jeff Garret, it used to be Jim Hughson and Don Taylor ( Don Taylor is the guy who would make the "funny" comments in the games.)

But meh. Just plain Meh. I like EA hockey games, i always have.

But i think i'll pick up both.

Im picking up EA because i love ea, and im picking up ESPN, just because its gonna be like $30 cdn...

Null · 08-17-2004, 02:10 PM

well no one said they werent involved with the sport. but as far as the hockey world is consirned, they're no name. same with any teams personal announcers.

i never minded EA's untill they got the goofy color comentary guy who made all the lame ass jokes thro the whole game. got sick of it then.

And it took me a while also to get over my EA attraction, i never wanted to let go of the EA brand name but once switched i havnt looked back yet. i felt like i was actually playing hockey again. instead of an arcade game.

Typhoid · 08-17-2004, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Null

well no one said they werent involved with the sport. but as far as the hockey world is consirned, they're no name. same with any teams personal announcers.

Every commentator is no-name to a city that doesnt listen or watch that particular team. I cant tell you ANY other teams commentators, because i dont listen to them, so thenn they are no name to me. Its geographical. And i think they pick the Canucks guys because geographically, they have to drive down the street to do the voice acting, instead of spending tons of money and flying " name brand" hockey announcers ( please name me some)

As the hockey world is conserned then Null, name me some top notch hockey announcers, and what team they announce for.

Null · 08-17-2004, 02:20 PM

lol. your missing it.

its not ANY teams.

Gary Thorne and Bill Clement are ESPN's announcers. thats a sports channel, a cable sports channel. they cover EVERY team, and whatever games they're assigned to they go and do a game a night thro the playoffs, US wise they're considered some of the best in the hockey world.

Now canada's announcers im not sure of. but im pretty sure i hear the same announcers covering different teams during 'Hockey Night in Canada'. They're not team specific, they're general announcers. thats what im talking about when i say the 'hockey world'

Don Cherry and his skinny sidekick, even tho they dont announce games, they'd be considered some of the best hockey analists? in the hockey world. They arent for any one team. they're for hockey in general.

No body knows any one elses personal team announcers except thier own city and fans.

Typhoid · 08-17-2004, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Null

lol. your missing it.

its not ANY teams.

Gary Thorne and Bill Clement are ESPN's announcers. thats a sports channel, a cable sports channel. they cover EVERY team, and whatever games they're assigned to they go and do a game a night thro the playoffs, US wise they're considered some of the best in the hockey world.

Now canada's announcers im not sure of. but im pretty sure i hear the same announcers covering different teams during 'Hockey Night in Canada'. They're not team specific, they're general announcers. thats what im talking about when i say the 'hockey world'

Don Cherry and his skinny sidekick, even tho they dont announce games, they'd be considered some of the best hockey analists? in the hockey world. They arent for any one team. they're for hockey in general.

No body knows any one elses personal team announcers except thier own city and fans.

Ive never heard of those first two commentators, possibly because i dont have satalite, so i dont get ESPN. And yes, Maclean and Cherry are well known, but they arnt Commentators, they are analysts, like you said.

And CBC i think has a few that do games, but you must remember, they dont do EVERY Canadian game, just 2 of them ( sometimes 1) every Saturday, i still have no idea who they are, because they only announce a mere fraction of Canuck games.

You do know, *cough* up here in Canada, we do have more than one channel that carries hockey. I think each Canadian team only has maybe, 7 games on CBC a year, ( not including playoffs) so the majority of games are announced by...yes.....the home team commentators.

Jim Hughson and John Garret do the announcing for Sportsnet Pacific, thats a sports channel too. The channel just happens to only carry Canuck games.

Null · 08-17-2004, 02:29 PM

its slightly different in canada being only 6 teams. so they cover less games.

for us around detroit, most other channels are blocked out when the home channel covers it. but still, The comentary people who do any team they're assigned to are more known to the general public, obviously any city knows thier home announcers more, general hockey annoucers are more widly known.

point in case. i garentee more people in canada know the hockey night in canada announcers more the the canucks personal announcers. i'd love to see a game use thoes guys, i enjoy listening to thier games also.

and i think almost all the teams have thier announcers on the sports net cable channels. thats why its sports NET, its a network of them. redwings announcers are on the Fox sports net. for us its Fox sports Detroit.

Dyne · 08-17-2004, 04:23 PM

You know what, after reading this.. I think I'm interested in buying ESPN. I mean, for that cheap.. it's a steal. I don't own any hockey games, either.

Typhoid · 08-17-2004, 04:26 PM

I was wondering about extras for both games, you left that out.

Like, can you "win" or "earn" old jerseys, teams players stuff like that? Old logos and stuff? Because i know EA already has the old jerseys, but i was wondering if you can get old teams, like the Jets, or teams like that.

EDIT:

What about like, extra leagues, and international stuff? Because i know EA NHL 2004, had 3 euro leagues, and it had an awesome international thing, including "movie" clips for when you win a medal, flag raising, and anthem playing.

What about ESPN?

And EA had 20 years of dynasty.

How many does it have this year, and what about ESPN?

Null · 08-17-2004, 04:54 PM

not sure. i know ESPN 04 had the old jerseys and all that. not sure about old teams, but it would be a neat idea.

i saw pics of the party mode on ESPN, it looks like a blast. lol. they said it reminds them of Mario Party games. but they're hockey ones.

Joeiss · 08-18-2004, 12:21 AM

Thanks for making this thread, Null. I have been reading information about ESPN Hockey 2K5 for the past month or so, and I have allready decided that is that game that I am going to purchase.

I'll answer some questions and post some info/pics about the game in this post.

Announcers: Bob Cole and Harry Neal do the announcing for Toronto Maple Leafs, and Canadian teams in the playoffs only after Toronto gets knocked out. I believe all teams have their own announcing duo. But this is only for CBC games, I believe. Not sure about the radio/TSN/Sportsnet.

Price: ESPN is definitely a steal. $30 Canadian? Thanks, I'll go out and get a 24 of Canadian and this game for the price of EA's game, haha.

Old Jerseys: I believe this says it all. I am not sure if classic teams are in the game.. But if they are, they obviously wouldn't have player names (but you can do that manually! haha).

Dream Teams: There are 20 dream teams in this game! These teams were hand chosen by the likes of "Martin St. Louis, Jeremy Roenick, Chris Drury, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Levy, Marty Turco, Gary Thorne, Bill Clement and many more."

Franchise: Just check this out for random questions: http://www.espnvideogames.com/commun...ic.php?t=34281

And to top it all off... Heritage Classic, anyone?

Anyways.. ESPN is going to be sweet. And the fact that you can have prospect games that you can control before you draft players, that is even better! You can see how they play and everything before you pick them. And, for contracts, you can backload or frontload them, and have signing bonuses, and bonuses for points, assists, goals and titles (like norris, son smythe, etc).

This game is gonna be sick. I will be devoting many hours in my dorm room to my Maple Leaf dynasty, haha.

Typhoid · 08-18-2004, 01:13 AM

While the graphics look waaaay better than the last one, the faces are still meh. That doesnt say anything for classic jersey's eithe. :P I was talking more on an article or something.

But i will be picking up both games.

Heritage classic does look nifty, unless you can only play the two teams. :\

And im not really all to neat on the whole "dream team" idea. I play the game for real teams, past teams would be way better than dream teams IMO.

When does ESPN come out, its this month isnt it? But i also though EA was this month, thats what it said in OPM. Those dates are unreliable to me.

So at risk of sounding lame, when are the release dates again?

EDIT: Those pics are for Xbox or GC.

And i will admit, this game will give EA a run for its money. And i hate to admit it, but i am eagerly awaiting the release of this game. ( ESPN) But i am also eagerly awaiting EA, so meh.

Typhoid · 08-18-2004, 01:27 AM

Double post, yes perhaps. But look at the graphics....

-------------ESPN ------------

-----------------EA-------------

Im not making judgements, im just posting pics from both games to easily compare looks.

Null · 08-18-2004, 09:16 AM

it was already said EA's got the better graphics. no question there.
although IMO, espn's make the game seem more realistic.

but compare the 2 with actual gamesplay camera angles.

thats where it matters to me. i couldnt care less about replays.

when you get into the actual game tho, graphics mean so little. EA is a high scoring arcade style, which goals can get up into the 20's. EA hockey games always have the one way that seems to always score. This year its thier new wrap around goal. EGM already says it scores at least 50% of the time. which is just unacceptable.

ESPN is a much much more simulation style where much of the time goals stay below 4

EA is holding itself up in the hockey game community by reputation. people dont want to let go of the brand name they've held for so many years. ESPN is bulding a reputation on solid gameplay

one of the main things for me tho is the online stuff. EA has tournaments and head to head gameplay online only.
ESPN's will have all that plus leagues and party mode.

leagues are great fun online. its like playing a season with real people.

and i wrote the release dates in the first post;

EA - 9.14 for PS2 // 9.20 for Xbox
ESPN - 8.30 for both PS2 and Xbox

Typhoid · 08-18-2004, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Null

when you get into the actual game tho, graphics mean so little. EA is a high scoring arcade style, which goals can get up into the 20's. EA hockey games always have the one way that seems to always score. This year its thier new wrap around goal. EGM already says it scores at least 50% of the time. which is just unacceptable.

Then just edit the difficulty and aggression of the computer, ive never had a game go that high. In one player, the highest i got goals was i think 8. But i play on "Hard" with high aggresion, stick-checking,and blocking.

To me, graphics mean so much, because its a gme i play. I dont sim a season, i dont do that. The game is meant to be played, as in, playing the games, not simming everything.

Thats why graphics mean so much to me.

Its just to me, the graphics for the ESPN game look outdated. Judging by the horrible graphics, the gameplay better be the best gameplay ever made for any hockey game ever.

If i wanted a game that was only good for the off season stuff, sure, id get ESPN, and only ESPN, but i want a game that i ca play. A game with stunning graphics, that makes the people watching forget sometimes that it isnt real hockey.