I Hate All Pro Football 2K8........

[Pappy Knuckles]

I was sitting around playing APF last night when a buddy of mine came over with his brother. Both of these guys are big Madden fans, so they weren't really all that enthusiastic about playing it. However, after noticing how realistic the animations were they both decided to give it a try. They LOVED the legends concept. Once they got on the field it took them a bit to get adjusted to the controls, but when they figured it out they ended up having an absolute blast. Being able to run around with guys like Pepper Johnson and OJ Simpson was a lot of fun for both of them. This game is not only great for us real football fans, but the mainstream gamer as well.

I think 2K has really found a winning formula with APF 2k8. If they continue to add legends and make additions to the offline aspect, this series should be able to continue indefinitely. I have been playing this game pretty much nonstop since its release and I don't see myself slowing down. It's like the joy that I got while playing 2K5 is back. Only this time the gameplay is more polished than it was before and the A.I. is much improved. I'm a happy camper right now.

Has anyone else had similar experiences while introducing the game to friends?

[johnnywhiplash]

Quote: Originally Posted by mike01

I have been having a ton of fun online with APF. It's all about strategy. And I've had my non legend players really step up a lot of the time. NCAA to me is really hurt from the flat out terrible long passing game and defenders making too many ridiculous plays that have you calling BS all the time. Still can be fun if you are playing against the right person because there are a lot of good things about it, and it is way better than last year.

And for me APF suffers from the opposite problem: the Db AI doesn't do much of anything. Corners, posts, outs are all money most of the time. And it doesn't seem to matter who I'm using, be it the Montanas or the Harbaughs of the game. I have to make sure I'm staying true to real football play calling rather than just going for the corner I know is going to be wide open 85% of the time.

Again, I think it's a lot of fun--glad I bought it--but it's far from perfect. Seen a variation of suction blocking, inexplicably blown assignments, no D-line shift (which be honest, if Madden all of a sudden didn't have a D-line shift, there would be a huge outcry of how EA doesn't care about the consumer, NFL license has made them soft, etc...), seen a reception go THROUGH Jerry Rice's head for a TD, and on and on. Doesn't happen a lot, and when it does it's animated nicely, but there's still plenty of screwy stuff. The best was Reggie White bursting through the line untouched only to run AWAY from Dan Marino to engage a blocker instead. Guess that big lineman isn't as scary as big Dan.

Tell you the biggest thing I think APF does that NCAA doesn't (and likely Madden won't either), is the feeling of the hit and general atmosphere. Went from playing a game with a friend on AFP directly into starting my Cardinal Dynasty on NCAA, so the comparison was fresh. Saw a wicked hit on NCAA, looked as vicious as anything on AFP, but it didn't have the same "oomph" to it. Didn't feel like the same wicked hit although the animation was just as nice. And then there wasn't the response to it from the crowd that AFP provides.

AFP does a good job of portraying a stadium full of people at a football game whereas NCAA (and likely Madden) only really goes sideline to sideline, endzone to endzone. Don't know what it will take for Tiburon to start paying attention to that aspect of it, but it really does help pump up APF.

[scamden311]

The passing game is what gives All Pro the edge in my opinion.

The ball physics in NCAA are just awful this year.

Both good games, I just love the way APF plays.

[Brian_OS]

Quote: Originally Posted by scamden311

The passing game is what gives All Pro the edge in my opinion. The ball physics in NCAA are just awful this year. Both good games, I just love the way APF plays.

Agreed, someone go tell Clay his Thanksgiving day dinner is rotting on the table.

[SageInfinite]

I'm glad I decided to make this thread because its bread some healthy conversation. Hasnt taken a bad turn yet .

The DB AI still has issues no doubt about it. I've seen some brain dead plays no doubt about it. I'm suprised 2k didnt tighten this up more. I thought they worked hard on it but I guess not hard enough.

With that said it still plays an amazing game of football. I also thing for everything the game does wrong on the field, there are so many things that it does right that makes the bad more forgivable.

I think alot of players that bash Madden/NCAA for what it doesnt do right on the field, would be more forgiving if the game was fresh. If it had some pop to it. Meaning PRESENTATION. I just want EA to make the on field look more authentic.

Neither game is perfect, but All Pro is fresh on next gen. EA's games just seem to dry for me at the moment. They have depth tho that All-Pro doesnt have. So hopefully I'll get back into them. Sometimes I wish I never played it. Its like a beautiful girl you meet and you know she doesnt have everything you want in a woman, but you can't stop wondering and changing the situation in your mind, so you wish you never met her.................

[Bizzy Da Kid]

Quote: Originally Posted by Buddy Knox

I was sitting around playing APF last night when a buddy of mine came over with his brother. Both of these guys are big Madden fans, so they weren't really all that enthusiastic about playing it. However, after noticing how realistic the animations were they both decided to give it a try. They LOVED the legends concept. Once they got on the field it took them a bit to get adjusted to the controls, but when they figured it out they ended up having an absolute blast. Being able to run around with guys like Pepper Johnson and OJ Simpson was a lot of fun for both of them. This game is not only great for us real football fans, but the mainstream gamer as well. I think 2K has really found a winning formula with APF 2k8. If they continue to add legends and make additions to the offline aspect, this series should be able to continue indefinitely. I have been playing this game pretty much nonstop since its release and I don't see myself slowing down. It's like the joy that I got while playing 2K5 is back. Only this time the gameplay is more polished than it was before and the A.I. is much improved. I'm a happy camper right now. Has anyone else had similar experiences while introducing the game to friends?

My 2 buddies hated it.

The fact that they couldn't pick teams right away. They wanted to use the other teams available. Control scheme, gimmicks (charge up this and that), playbooks, hot route, line shifts and so on and so forth.

We played 2.5 games before they wanted to play something else. We played 5 games of NCAA08.

[The Chef]

[quote=Buddy Knox;2037600799] This game is not only great for us real football fans, but the mainstream gamer as well.QUOTE]

This is the one part I dont understand, it almost sounds as if someone who enjoys NCAA more, or even enjoys it at all for that matter, isnt a real football fan. I enjoy APF and have yet to even play my copy of NCAA but thats not because I am so deep into APF, more because of my wait for the rosters that were just finished for the PS3 recently. I invisioned this game being my first attempt at playing online and quite possibly in online leagues and NCAA as my normal fix for a deeper gameplay experience that I will only play offline, each offers something different and I can appreciate each game for what it offers.

On a side note, its almost a blessing that EA has the exclusive deal because if they didnt I seriously doubt we get the APF with legends game that we currently have, or at the very least it wouldnt have gotten near the attention it has.

[johnnywhiplash]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageTheInfinite

I I think alot of players that bash Madden/NCAA for what it doesnt do right on the field, would be more forgiving if the game was fresh. If it had some pop to it. Meaning PRESENTATION. I just want EA to make the on field look more authentic.

Absolute agreement. That's really what I was getting at before with the "oomph" thing. Looked at a comparable moment in both games, and because of all the atmosphere in APF, it enhanced it that much more even though the hit was animated beautifully in both games.

Here's another thing that APF football could have done to help replay value: after you complete a season, you get to add another Legend of any tier to your team. I understand why they felt they needed to Legend tiers,but it takes some of the fun away. It would be so cool to do an all-time bears team or an all-time 49ers, but you can't because so many of them are gold level guys. Worse, the CPU teams don't follow those rules. The last CPU team I played had 5 gold star guys, 5 silver, and only one bronze. But if you could earn more spots by winning, then that would be cool and an incentive to keep playing until you had the sickest team on the block. Maybe next year.