My two favorites of FOF2007.

[Cringer]

So I am sure all this has been gone over several times. But because even though I bought the game the first weekend it was out, I didn't really play it until this last week and am just getting to love the game more the previous versions.

So my two favorites....

The fact that players ratings are all over the place. I drafted a DT, Marvin Barrymore, with pick 1-9. He had a future rating of 78 at that time. after the draft I move him to DE because his run defense was a little low, his weight was 284 (too low for me to be at DT), and I needed a DE anyways. After the change, despite there wasn't supposed to be much of a change, he dropped to 62 future. His bars didn't change much, but did drop a little bit. His overall potential dropped more after his rookie year, to 57, with his current up to 53 now though. He wasn't going to be denied greatnes though. His second year he blew up (and in combo with a down year for the league in regards to defensive stars) and he won DPotY with 15.5 sacks and 50+ tackles. His ratings have gone up the last two years and he is now a 85/85 player with his bars being higher then ever. I love the way ratings move around.

Next is the consistency of computer teams. Good teams stay good for multiple seasons. Cincinnati and New England have won their divisions all 6 years of my league. Indianapolis and Jacksonville are always battling it out in the AFC South, with Houston breaking through only twice. New York and Dallas are usually battling it out in the NFC East, and New Orleans has been an NFC South power for several years now. FOF2004 seemed like things would yo-yo up and down for teams way too much. I like this way much better. It is making things much more fun for me.

[devynd]

Next is the consistency of computer teams. Good teams stay good for multiple seasons.

I've started an all-AI multiplayer league (with an initial allocation draft of randomly created players) and run five seasons so far. There has been a fair degree of consistency. Four teams have won three consecutive division titles (one of those has won four total) and seven others have won consecutive division titles (two of those with three total). Four divisions have had only two champions, the others three. Five teams have played in at least two Conference Championship Games; four of those have done so in consecutive years, and one team reached the first four in a row, winning three, before falling to 5-11 in Year Five.

There is still some variety, though. No team has won the Bowl more than once: one team split two appearances and another lost two of its three; those two teams played against each other twice, in Years One and Four. The #1 seed in one conference has fallen in the Divisional Playoffs the last three years, but only five Wild Card teams have qualified for the 20 Conference Championship Game berths, only two of those advanced to the Bowl, and neither won it. On the flip side, eight teams have failed to make the playoffs in five years, and six others have made it only once. So in at least one small sample, there appears to be enough consistency for a league to have a recognizable character.