I've had Live 2005 for a while and loved it but I just recently got 2k5 and find it so much more realistic. The physics and animation are much more realistic and 2K5's Association mode kills Live's Dynasty mode in a heartbeat. But after reading ign's review of both games, they seemed to bash 2k5 by saying it was less realistic than Live? What's up with that? Well I was wondering who has palyed both, and which do they like better. If you've only played one, your comments arej ust as valid.
Well in my opinion, ESPN NBA 2K5 is much more realistic, but it's "fun factor" will wear out alot faster as well, I mean playing with friends you can reject them 4 times in a row with NBA LIVE and it's still fun to shout "Get that out of here!" into their faces, where as you can't do that in NBA 2K5 (unless you're really lucky) Also in 2K5 you can't dunk in traffic which is realistic because not too often do I see T-Mac, Kobe or even Carter do a windmill when there are 3 defenders in front of you, but you can do flashy dunks on fast breaks, i'd post a full review but i'm too tired and can't really be bothered, so in short.... They're both equal, both have advantages & disadvantages. In my opinion anyway.
I think 2k5 is better. The graphics in nba live 05 are real weak but the gameplay is pretty equal. espn and ea merged so does i really hope that means one really good game this year.
I only have and played Live 05. Live is fun but it's not realistic at all. Blocks and steals are way to easy to get. I once went threw a whole season averaging 12BPG by Yao. And I also reached 20 steals in one game with Rafer Alston.
2k5 is a whole lot better, IMO...better graphics and gameplay and more realistic...I thought Live 2005 was a huge step down from Live 04...I used to play Live 04 religiously and thought it was awesome, but 05 was a huge disappointment to me...2K5 has done its job...its harder defenses and just more realistic gameplay overall...
One thing lacking in 2K5 that makes Live so awesome is the Dunk Competition. It takes a while to lose it flavour, but when you can do EVERY single dunk possible it does get boring. Its still great for parties though.