Last year we saw some extremely enjoyable battles on the NFL field, Philadelphia's 4 and 26 play against Green Bay and Vinateri's field goal to win the superbowl being just two. Arguably the biggest battle however was the one that was fought out in the gaming world between the popular favourite Madden and the Smokey dark horse of ESPN. The dust has all but settled on arguments about which game was better, with opinions still divided. In truth both games were extremely good and it really came down to personal preference, the case however for ESPN is extremely persuasive and Madden bet to watch out in 2005.

What really strikes the ESPN novice, like a smack in the jaw from Warren Sapp, is the integration of the ESPN licence. The brand name might not be as familiar to Australian fans, but those with Pay TV will recognise the use of Sportcenter's set as a background and the familiar banter of veteran broadcaster Chris Berman. The way Boomer is used within the game is quite fantastic; he speaks with vibrancy and enthusiasm and really adds to the game with his weekly roundups. Expect lines like "Starvin” Marvin Harrison made 8 for catches for 160 yards or "Marshall, Marshall, Marshall Faulk had a great running game this week. What we also get are some unlockable Sportcenter ads, the one about the talking monkey is particularly amusing, some of the best unlockables ever in my opinion.

The other notable inclusion into the ESPN franchise is the edition of First Person Football. It's a very interesting idea which serves to illustrate some future possibilities rather than nailing everything first time. The basic premise behind the mode is that you're actually seeing things through the viewpoint of a chosen player; whether that is Quarterback, Wide Receiver or even a Defensive Tackle. It's quite enthralling being Tikki Barber and being sledged by the Defensive line about fumbles. The mechanics of the mode are a little difficult and rigid, for example it's very hard to throw to the side lines with a QB because of the lack or peripheral vision. What it does do very well however is instil a sense of atmosphere, the sound of someone being tackled hard is a mixture of groans, cries and screams... Beautiful.

The bread and butter however is the franchise mode and frankly it's not really great in ESPN. Whilst Madden installed a new (slightly gimmicky) owner mode where players can control money issues and moving teams to different cities, ESPN still has a comparatively bare bones feel about it. True it still has a very solid franchise mode including trades, drafts and free agent wire, but it doesn't really take that step extra. After playing Championship Manager 4 on PC and witnessing the extreme depth of managing a team where you can build stadia, interact with the media and deal with volatile player attitudes (Thanks Mr Di Canio), ESPN still feels like it has a lot of improving to do in this area.

This minimalist issues of Franchise mode are slightly more acceptable however when you consider just how good The Crib is. Basically for doing a variety of tasks, some easy (win a game on rookie) and some extremely hard (restrict the opposition to 0 yards total offence) you can decorate your slick looking pad with posters, rugs and game balls of your favourite team. What's better however is upon victory in the superbowl you're presented with a nice shiny playable Air Hockey table. Now everyone can revel in the beauty that is two player Air Hockey.

Its terms of playability I have to say that ESPN is the most enjoyable of all the top NFL contenders. In both offence and defence you feel you have control over making a play, whether that be spinning as a running back to avoid a tackler, or swotting down a pass as a safety. With careful adjustment of the sliders ESPN presents itself as a football game which is rich in instant appeal but has enough layers of depth to keep you interested.

Specifically, an advantage ESPN has over Madden is that you feel that you're playing defence rather than just watching the AI make plays, everything happens at a pace in which you have enough time to switch players and make the play. For instance if you select yourself as a Defensive End you can attempt to sack the QB, and if need be, switch to a Corner Back and try to make an interception – Madden always seemed to be at a pace that didn't allow me you do things like that. ESPN gives you all the defensive adjustments and audibles you could hope for and makes defence a fun and inviting proposition. At the other end of the spectrum offensively the game is just as strong with real life playbooks and hot routes enhancing the experience.

Possibly the most talked about and debated facet of ESPN is the issue of how many broken tackles a running back can break. Let me say just this playing the Miami Dolphins can be absolutely painful as Ricky Williams just kills you. The most fundamental problem appears to be when you run at diagonals you invoke a unique break tackle animation. The animation looks like the RB is fending off a dead body rather than a 300+ pound defensive tackle. Also the defensive AI appears to run at the wrong angles, so that instead of meeting the RB head on they seem to run past the ball carrier and perform a dive tackle, which 99 times out of 100 is useless. Gamers can expect improvements in this area for ESPN2K5 with Sega announcing the implementation of Maximum Tackling. In the end you shouldn't let this weak point put you off the game as reducing the running backs effectiveness through sliders is extremely useful.

Graphically the game is dominated as previously mentioned, by the ESPN logo. All the in-game menus and scores are replicas of real ESPN broadcasts. The graphical engine used in game is just as impressive, animations such as when a running back puts his forearm up against a blocker to gain protection looks extremely lifelike, also expect flawless representations of NFL Stadia, field surfaces and players. The Xbox's added grunt noticeably improves the detail in areas such a player uniforms and crowds with the later looking like a 3-D environment rather than paper cut outs.

The way Chris Berman hosts ‘NFL Countdown' and ‘NFL Primetime' is a joy to behold. Expect long and accurate discussions of pre-game and game proceedings with little or no repetition, its flawless end of story. This is the benchmark for presentation in sports games. It also sets the tone for fantastic commentary that is pin sharp. When I was 7 points up on my 10 yard line and 4th and 5, I decided to go for it, the commentators immediately quipped that it was a silly decision and I had no reason to go for it on 4th. It's the most accurate play-by-play commentary in a sport game.

Online capability is mostly an underwhelming experience, plagued by small bugs. Meaning a lot of the times a fantastic football game is transformed into cheap games full of onside kicks. Things get a lot better if you control who you play against and with a few carefully selected friends with good connections ESPN can be brilliant lag free fun. But do beware of the possibilities for cheating however when playing against strangers.