Just wanted to say: don't know if you remember, but I gave you HUGE props for your APF review. To this day I don't think I've ever read a review that went into such detail regarding different facets of the gameplay, you seemed to have a set expectation of things, etc. I only contrasted it against your Madden 09 review because it's remarkable that a year later you didn't really seem to have that same expectation level. In retrospect, I think you M09 review is actually more detailed than the current M10 review - but that's neither here nor there. Just saying that I don't think you held Madden to the same expectation you held APF from a gameplay standpoint. And imo that shouldn't be the case. EDIT: And that's not a "2K5/APF" thing. I'd throw last gen Madden as shouldn't be held as a standard bearer also.
I agree with you somewhat that if there was a direct comparison Madden 08 was the better value, even then. But that wasn't the discussion - I don't think the same things could be expected of the two games because one's licensed and the other isn't. But you would think that if one was to have more expected of it from a gameplay standpoint it would be Madden, simply because it's the less restricted title. MORE should be expected of it. Yet too often we get reviews where the reviewer comes off as surprised/happy something works, rather than expecting that something to meet a certain level of expectation.