Does 2K have Fair-Weather Football Fans?

[jrivera34]

All-Pro 2K8 is still the best "playing" football game ever made IMO. Where 2K went wrong was forcing us to use the legends and not giving us the ability to play multiple season with a franchise mode. Instead of catering to their loyal fan base, they decided to try and keep the NFL fans by adding the legends. I would bet with the money they spent on signing legends, 2K could have used that money to include a franchise mode and still have money left over to develop All-Pro 2K9 and maybe even 2K10.

[Pappy Knuckles]

The day I heard EA acquired the NFL license it hit me like a ton of bricks. I never thought I'd have a emotional reaction to something in the videogame world, but it was definitely a sad day. As a person who first started playing 2K football on Dreamcast, I was pissed off that one of my favorite series was being taken away. Eventually the XBOX 360 dropped and I traded in my old console. NFL 2K5 wasn't backwards compatible for a long time, so I played Madden and NCAA for a couple of years. With no hope of a new 2K game, I became content.

Then came the news that APF 2K8 was on the horizon...

I didn't know what to expect, but I was definitely excited that I'd get to play 2K football again. It seemed like many other people felt the same way. Operation Sports was filled with posts of people saying they were sick of EA and would be happy with whatever 2K gave them. Most of those people seemed to be full of it because they played the game for about a week and then went back to 2K5 or Madden.

NFL 2K5 had a better single player options by far. Franchise, 25th Anniversary Mode, the Crib, it was pretty jam packed. To think that it only cost $20 is still pretty amazing. However, from a gameplay perspective, APF is a much better game. While it's still not perfect, it's definitely several steps ahead of what 2K5 was. If both games had NFL teams, I doubt people would still say that 2K5 is better. APF 2K8 is the best football game I've ever played.

[marktg30]

If 2K8 had longevity for single player mode and a bit more responsive/intuitive control system (especially for defense) I would agree with you. Honestly, I think Madden 05 had the most longevity of any football game, ever.

2K5 had/has a broken progression system and Madden 05 had a great system based on performance, etc. (2K5 had Westbrook ALWAYS go up and other players ALWAYS go down, or stay the same)...

I haven't played a game of football on my console in about a month and I am ok with that until EA or 2K release a good single player franchise/owner mode experience with enough depth to keep you busy and INTERESTED for years (literally).

[s38s38s]

I think this says it best, the majority of us are ALL Football fans and most are fans of the NFL; to say that we wouldn't want our favorite current teams and players in a good game is an unfair statement, of course we do but we don't but we still make do with this game and in its small community that remains it still flourishes for the most part. Seriously to have a game that took 6 months to make be better than the competition overall says alot about the developers behind the game. But I doubt 2k fans are fair weather b/c as soon as the game dropped people were hooked to the 2k experience. So what there's no Offline Franchise Mode, to next Gen is online gaming and if you want there are online leagues that include player progression and regression based off performance. I don't want to play the CPU vs the same teams running the same defenses and offenses against me. In my eyes the lack of Offline modes increases the longevity of the game. I can't think of the times I've been at work lookinfg at scouting reports, rosters, stats, and players to build an accurate team, to me that is all I could ever want in a Franchise to go out and do the work not sit in a chair looking at stats from the video game itself. though this game is nowhere near the potetial it could reach I love this damn game, I even played Madden 09 for months and after slumming through all its crap online and offline bugs to me this game is superior, and I'll play this game til the damn wheels fall off, matter of fact I'm a replace my copy just to make sure those wheels turn a little longer.

[kjell1979]

Here's the thing. If you're open to giving each football game a shot, does that make you a fair weather fan? Should we be blindly loyal to one game or franchise even if it doesn't live up to expectations? I don't think of sports games like teams you root for. It's perfectly acceptable to root for a team that's historically bad, if anything it almost grants you some karma when they finally turn things around. But to stick with an inferior product? I'm all for competition and I'm by no means a Madden fan. I hated what EA did with Madden 06 for the 360, that was a travesty. But in a sense 2K8 was just as bad.

For me the disappointment with 2K8 came when the game looked like 2K5 with a fresh set of paint and less features. 2K5 blew me away because it was so feature rich, yet had such good gameplay and looked so good. This is all in the span of a year after a good game in 2K4. They had 3 years to prepare for 2K8 yet it seemed like a generic remake like Tecmo Bowl Kickoff. The gameplay was still great and seemed to be tweaked for the better, but was that it for waiting 3 years? Yeah they made a good effort trying to sign retired players to deals, but still the game seemed like shovelware to me. I was content to continue playing 2K5.

Now I've since repurchased 2K8 (for $4 no less) and am willing to give it a second try. Maybe the lower expectations might soften my stance a little.

[Juggernaut XX]

Quote: Originally Posted by koshi

^ Recalling 2K5, the one big issue I remember was the high number of interceptions. But it also let you play as a d-lineman and actually feel like you were a part of the game, not only in terms of sacks but also in terms of putting pressure on the QB and shedding blocks to stop the run.

I agree with you that 2K5 did a much better job at allowing block shedding to occur. I also agree that the interception issues/QB AI were bad in 2K5. Did you know that there is a d-lineman glitch in 2K5?

You have some good points, but they further prove the validity of my initial question/statements. If both games have issues, why should 2K fans accept one games flaws, and not the other?

[Juggernaut XX]

Quote: Originally Posted by asu666

I'd snap up All Pro 2K10. They have to make the game for us to get excited and want to buy it. I think people are starting to realize that nothing is coming and Madden did improve this year so the window for 2K to move is getting smaller.

I agree that Madden has improved. I also agree that without fan support, the window for 2k to produce another football game is getting smaller each day.

[Juggernaut XX]

Quote: Originally Posted by Radja

they didn't give it a free pass. those things were pointed out.... at the time. however, when it was shut down, it was given much more leeway. people started to appreciate just how advanced that game was despite the flaws. how much good would complaining about the flaws do at this point in the game? 2k can't fix it. so you don't worry about the flaws and do your best. another reason the free pass now is given to nfl 2k5 is because there are multiple things that game had that madden has yet to install in the next gen version. seriously, even the ps2 version of winning eleven has half time and end of game highlights without using the hard drive. eventually something as simple as that can be added to a next gen version of a football game. (btw, by increasing the injury slider to 25 or higher in franchise the depth chart issue was fixed.)

Maybe after a few more years, people will start to appreciate just how advanced APF 2K is, despite it's flaws.

So, you are saying do not worry about the flaws in 2K5, and do my best? Should the same statement apply to APF 2k8?

I agree that in some areas, 2K5 is still better than Madden. Thanks for the tip regarding depth charts. I played 2K5 on my PS2, and nothing seemed to help.