Why All-Pro Football Still Trumps Madden

[StormJH1]

Prefacing this post with the comment that I have traditionally been a Madden-basher, dating back to the exclusivity deal, I'm beyond that now, and purchased Madden 10 on release day and still love it. Is it without problems? Of course not! But I find it funny that games like NFL 2k5 and APF 2k8 get excused from their MANY shortcomings, for no other apparent reason than the fact that people hate EA.

The lack of any type of legitimate franchise (or even season mode, when you consider that most single season modes allow for trading, free agent acquisitions, etc.) cannot be glossed over...it was a MAJOR omission. In fact, for a football game that was primarily targeted at the hardcore football gamers (the people who kept the ghosts of NFL 2k5 alive in everyone's minds), omitting a franchise mode (even a barebones one with generic players), along with ratings systems and other features is simply inexcusable.

Also, please stop pretending like the gameplay in APF is bulletproof. Try scrambling away from a defensive tackle with a speedster like Randall Cunningham, and recognize that you can get caught in the open field on a pretty regular basis. Of course, only the people who play the game might even notice this, since 2k decided to "hide" all their player ratings. Defense (particularly pass coverage) is still practically unusable with human controls, and there are other unrealistic things that happen in the pass game that would've been universally ripped if they occured in a game with "Madden" on the cover.

APF was a failed experiment because 2k, once again, got so freaked out by the Madden behemoth that they focused a large portion of their time and resources chasing around hundreds of former NFL players that nobody today really cares about, rather than focusing on a making a quality title for football gamers.

IMO, APF and Madden aren't even true competitors. Anyone can go pick up 2k's valiant football effort for 7 dollars at your local GameStop, so why the need to constantly compare and contrast. And if APF is clearly so much better than Madden, how many people on your friends list would you ever see playing that game? Honestly? Perhaps if 2k had given us a reason to play more than a handful of games with it (or online with designated friends), we might have come back for more.

[StormJH1]

Quote: Originally Posted by ANDROMADA 1

Its a nice article.I guess it boils down to what does 2k have to offer this year?The obvious answer is nothing and they should be ashamed for that.Ea has put out a product that has no competition that is actually quite enjoyable to me.I overlook most flaws in games that I buy otherwise I would have nothing to purchase and in this case the people that I play with make all the diference in the world.In no way do I feel that APF trumps Madden.That is absurd....dont believe me, just read some of the threads here about various issues...Both Games have ISSUES.I would rather Have the NEW ISSUES and DEV interactions than Rumors followed by more rumors with no official 2k statements.

Good point. What's the most frequent complaint against buying Madden year after year? "Oh, you're getting nothing more than a roster update." With APF, not only was the gameplay only a mediocre refinement of 2k5's last-gen engine, but you don't even get a "roster update" because:
(1) The game isn't made or supported anymore
(2) The game lacks an NFL license
(3) There were never real "rosters" to begin with b/c you had this strange alternate universe where fake players and retired NFL vets play in a "league"
(4) Roster management never would've worked in a game with no ratings, transactions, drafts, or franchise modes anyway.

Rather than always hiding behing the "big, bad EA" argument, why are those shortcomings overlooked?

When people evaluate Madden or NCAA, they invariably say stupid things like "Well, this game lacks true field degradation and time of day progression, so those are deal-breakers for me" Crappy, niche features that nobody notices are "deal-breakers", but the total failure to provide anything looking like a professional football league of any kind is not!?!

[jyoung]

I don't think the assertion in this article is that All Pro Football is the more complete game compared to Madden but that it simply trumps Madden when it comes to gameplay.

Hard to argue with that, in my opinion, because even though both games have their flaws, All Pro Football has a lot less of them overall and has a lot more of the sport's fundamentals down (blocking, tackling, pass rush, route running) that Madden still hasn't figured out yet.

[2krules]

Quote: Originally Posted by StormJH1

APF was a failed experiment because 2k, once again, got so freaked out by the Madden behemoth that they focused a large portion of their time and resources chasing around hundreds of former NFL players that nobody today really cares about, rather than focusing on a making a quality title for football gamers.

It's a big stretch to say no one cares about the legends. I've read lots of comments on the 2K site from people who love the legends. I like them so much that my Rams team in Madden is the 1979 team instead of the actual current roster.

As far as "quality" is concerned, APF is a quality game with a big feature missing - Franchise.

[Michael Vick]

you guys are all idiots. i literally burned my all pro football because it was litterally THE WORST GAME I HAVE EVER PLAYED. it is fun to pick your players but the gameplay is just so awful. everything about it sucks

[STICK-SK1LLZ]

yo phobia you the only one thinking gay homie... grow up son..... when i say i got stick skillz, every gamer knows what i mean... we refer to controllers as "sticks".. i'm the baddest madden player online.. if anbody has elite package on ps3 play me sometime stick-sk1llz!!!!!!!!!!

[CreatineKasey]

Greazy, you and I both played for years and I definitely agree with you on this one. There are problems in APF that some would definitely see as game breaking. Your defense revolved around stopping the fade route if there was anything more than a generic WR out there. that alone limited what defensive plays you could call and turned many matches into "dink and dunk until you try to pressure and then I audible to the fade" which simplified an extremely complex game.

APF is generally an offensive biased game and I feel Madden is more balanced. APF would give the offensive player the benefit of the doubt more often than not with throws on time that were into coverage, with momentum, and with when the ball is snapped. Quick snapping in that game can completely ruin it also.

I personally prefer APF's kicking system, I like having no visual meter... it keeps us inconsistent and that's more real. Let's not all forget the corner kicking glitch where your returners slide out of bounds inside the 10 because of momentum and ball tracking issues.

What I'm getting at here is yes, APF's gameplay can outperform Madden's, but it needs a 5 page rulebook to do so. Not kidding. I, like Greazy, also enjoyed APF more in its hey day over M10. I really enjoyed the creating a team idea. You really grow attached to your players, style of play, and builds because you yourself chose it.

So that's where we sit. Hopefully 2k does us a favor and makes a little college football with an unlockable "pretend" *wink wink* dynasty mode with a playoff feature.

[CreatineKasey]

I think stik skillz needs a mountain dew eh phobia?