I agree in regards to 2K8 but 2K5??? Yeah right.
Metacritic
Xbox 92/100 average
42 critics...all positives, no mixed or negative reviews. Includes a perfect 100 rating by this very site.
PS2 90/100
37 critics...again, all postives, no mixed or negative reviews.
EA/Tiburon/Madden fans may be sick of seeing, hearing and reading about Madden being compared to 2K5 every year but Madden will always be compared to 2K5 because 2K5 is the game that forced EA to buyout everything and challenge nothing. Eight years and a console generation later, EA/Tiburon still cant match let alone surpass 2K5. EA/Tiburon cant even match or surpass 2K5 despite the fact that its been gone for eight years. Hell, if EA/Tiburon cant even surpass 2K5 or currently, its spirit, EA better pay up for that exclusive license because if they dont and if 2K sports gets the NFL license (exclusive or not) 2K15 is going to crush them just like they did a decade earlier.
Quite simply, ESPN NFL 2K5 will never ever be surpassed unless its by Visual Concepts and 2K sports themselves. Its just not going to happen because quite simply, if it was, it would have already. And for those who know about FlyingFinn's 2K5 editor, he did more with 2K5 than EA/Tiburon have done in eight years.
Sad, so sad.