The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Gameplay
ESPN NBA 2K5 is a basketball simulation video game which strives to emulate the National Basketball Association. Players mostly play in basketball games in several game modes, with real teams, such as the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics. Gameplay follows the rules and objectives of basketball and the game is presented like televised NBA games. Several game modes are available; 24/7 mode allows the player to create their own player, Association mode allows the player to play through an NBA season with a selected team, another mode lets the player compete in basketball tournaments, and a mode where the player plays street basketball is also available.
The game features Stuart Scott as a presenter, Bob Fitzgerald and Bill Walton as commentators, and Michele Tafoya as a sideline reporter. The player may customize several aspects of the game, and many aesthetical details are present.
Development
In the NBA 2K series, ESPN NBA 2K5 is the successor to ESPN NBA Basketball, and the predecessor to NBA 2K6. It was developed by Visual Concepts and published by both Sega and Global Star Software. It was released for Xbox on September 28, 2004, with a PlayStation 2 version following on September 30, both for North America. In European regions, both versions of the game were released on February 4, 2005.
NBA 2K3, ESPN NBA Basketball, and ESPN NBA 2K5 are the only three games in the series to feature ESPN licensing. Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons is the cover athlete. The first five games in the series featured Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers on the covers. ESPN NBA 2K5 is the last NBA 2K game to be released by Sega before the company sold Visual Concepts to Take Two Interactive, forming 2K Sports.
Reception
ESPN NBA 2K5 received "favorable" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.
Andrew Reiner of Game Informer praised Visual Concepts for still being able to make subtle improvements over the previous game in the series, despite not implementing drastic overhauls, as was the case with ESPN NBA Basketball and NBA 2K3. He commended how the developers focus on realism; one detail he cited was the sweat players amass as games progress. Reiner called the crowd design "amazing", particularly liking how they react to certain situations, and the said that player models were "superb". Reiner summarized his review by saying, "This is still the best playing, most rewarding, and realistic basketball game that money can buy."
