06-15-2007, 03:54 PM
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#1
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(aka Alberto)
OVR: 44
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 33,173
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Official OS APF Media Day Impressions Thread
Here we go. I got the oppourtunity to watch andplay APF at a media event in DC today with Anthony Chau of 2k and Matt Blumenthal (TheletterZ f/k/a ZXLT) of OS today for about 2 hours. Here are my quick impressions:
Release date: July 16. Chau stated that they were more concerned about Madden than NCAA when considering the release date. 2K thinks this was the best time to release the game because in the past they tried releasing the game after Madden and got crushed, the same day as Madden and got crushed and only found success when they released the game 2-3 weeks before Madden.
Demo: Expect one sometime during the week before the 16th.
Number of teams: 20 plus the team you create. 21 total.
Number of Legends: Up to 260.
As most of you know already there is not a franchise mode in APF. There is a very basic single season mode. 16 games and playoffs. That’s it once you start the game; you must select 11 legends, 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 6 Bronze. After that you fill out the rest of the team by selecting squads. For OL you can choose between a Run focused, Pass focused or Balanced. For example, if you selected Earl Campbell and Emmitt Smith as your RB’s and want to run a rushing focused offense, you probably want to choose a squad of OLs that are great at run blocking.
Once you select your groups of players for backups and unfilled starter positions, you can edit your team. You can edit the team name, logo, uniform, city and helmet for your team. The key words here are YOUR TEAM. You can only edit your team not any other players or teams. So for the few people that were hoping that you could turn this game into a mini NFL…it’s not happening. One note about editing your logo, you can’t create a logo but you can select one (there are about 140 total) and edit the colors. I asked Chau about this limitation and he said they did it for 2 reasons. First, they didn’t want people to create vulgar logos. Second, they don’t want people to create NFL logos because 2k would potentially like to bid for the NFL license in a few years and doesn’t want to upset the NFL. Once you are done editing your uniform, your season starts and its very basic. No NFL primetime like show. No multiplayer seasons. I also didn’t see if there is a way to edit your fake player’s names (although it could be in the game).
Chau stated that lack of time was the only reason that they did not include a franchise mode. Now people have heard me state that APF has been in development for 18 mos and others state it’s been a year but here is the definitive answer from Chau. When EA bought the license, 2k reassigned the team to NBA and College Hoops. 2k still kept 3 or 4 developers on the football team just to tweak the code and add animations just in case 2k decided to return to football. During this time, 2k execs kicked around a number of possible games. They considered a high school game, a story driven game a legends game and a futuristic game. About a year ago, they decided to go ahead with the Legends idea and then created a team. So while they have been working in a football game for more than a year, principal development has only been going on for a year.
There are 240 legends and almost all of them are exclusive. Some like Payton are not exclusive and will appear in other games (That’s why Payton and Sanders were in Madden screenshots). They signed every legend to individual contracts for different amounts. There are 20-30 individual signature animations from Unitas’s throw to Roger Craig’s high leg running style. There are also individual QB drop back animations. One thing that most people here already know is that APF does not have ratings. At first I hated this idea but this game has convinced me that ratings should be a thing of the past. Chau stated that the reason they did away with ratings was because it’s impossible to tell the difference between a player rated 95 and one rated 93. For example, if Marino was rated 95 and Elway was rated 93 it really doesn’t tell you anything about the player’s skill. APF uses individual abilities to distinguish between players. Marino excels in pocket passing while Elway is a better scrambler. It’s a clearer and better ratings system and one I wish 2k would use in other games.
There are 30 stadiums to choose from (20 are over the top and team specific and 10 are basic real life stadiums). Chau stated that the artists loved having the freedom to create fantasy stadiums like the firebird and Beast stadiums and not to be limited by the design of NFL stadiums. If you’ve seen the screen shots then you have a good idea how the stadiums look. The crowd looks decent but it is not as interactive as the NBA 2k7 and MLB 2k7 crowds.
Now onto gameplay. We were playing an 80% build of the game so there was still a lot of clipping between plays and a few strange animations during some tackles (very rare) but this should be cleaned up by release. My first impression is that this game feels like an improved 2k5. Many of the animations are from 2k5. Many of the after play celebrations are from 2k5. The controls are from 2k5. The only new control feature is in the kicking game. In APF, the power of the kick is controlled by the right stick. The harder you push forward on the stick, the further the kick will go. Chau stated that the similarities to 2k5 is something that was planned by 2K. They wanted this game to feel like “a homecoming” for 2k5 fans. While playing the game, I saw a few new gang tackle animations and the individual animations by Payton and Craig look amazing. One great new feature is the ability to throw while being sacked. This all depends on the ability of the QB and the position of the tackle but I love this addition. The weather effects look great (I love the rain bouncing off the helmets) but may be overdone. The game we saw played in the rain was in a torrential downpour and I’m hoping that there is some variation. Catching animations are the best I’ve seen in a football game and the DB animations within the first 5 yards are extremely realistic.
One negative is the presentation. There is a very barebones halftime show, no pregame show or intro and the stat overlays are very infrequent and have look bad. The biggest presentation feature is the Field Pass. The Field Pass is a closeup of a player while they shout out instructions or talk trash on the field. It’s a decent feature but it kind of reminds me of those cutscenes in Madden that get repetitive after a while.
The game looks much better in action than in the trailer. I asked Chau about the trailer and he said it was a mix of two different builds and that’s why the player models look poor in the trailer. He stated that 2k is still working on the player models as we speak and is looking to make players like Okoye and Woods bigger than they appeared in the trailer.
Online: No fantasy draft but online leagues. Can only play with your created teams. The leagues will allow users to have the same players on different teams.
OJ Simpson: 2k knew that they would get some flack for signing him but they feel this game is about having the best players in the game and about what the players on the field not off of it.
Here are some random notes that I took while playing the game
- 30 different TD and after sack celebrations
- Steve Young and Cunningham are in the game
- Blocking animations are well designed and OL form a pocket and pick up the correct assignment.
- No DB issues in the game from what I saw
- Customizable playbooks
- The Signal stealer ability will only work a few times a game depending on the defensive players on the other team and how often the defense calls the same play.
- Animations are tied to each player’s ability.
- No Jim Brown
- The laces of the football face the goal on field goals and kicks
Last edited by aholbert32; 06-15-2007 at 05:17 PM.
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