I keep hearing about how 2K5 is the greatest NFL game of all time (well, next to Tecmo Super Bowl, of course) and APF 2K8 has the best gameplay, so I decided to try them out. First impressions, two incredibly solid games despite being on two decades-old consoles. However, as an owner of 11 Madden games, starting from the first, there's a bit of a learning curve. Controls are fairly similar, but different enough to have plenty of wrong button presses. But the biggest issue I have are the playbooks.
Obviously, games from this era are going to have tons of under-center formations with 21 and 22 personnel. That's not a problem, I prefer smash mouth football anyway. But most passing plays don't seem to have basic route concepts. There are some Dragon (slant/flat) and Lion (double slants) plays, some with Drive-like concepts (drag/dig), and of course, Four Verts (2K calls it 50 All Gos, but without the HB option). Granted, I haven't gone through EVERY playbook yet. But learning concepts is better than learning plays, this is how I became a somewhat-competent Madden player.
So basically, any tips on how to approach this game from a Madden perspective? This is for the standard, vanilla games, I figure I should learn that first before diving into any mods or custom stuff.
Oh, yeah, first full game I played on 2K8, all default settings and difficulty/sliders, I'm down 4 points, 2 seconds left, ball on opponent's 2, Coach wants to kick a field goal, LOL. I call a play, hot route to a hitch, receiver runs 1 yard upfield, gets stopped short. Ugh.
Obviously, games from this era are going to have tons of under-center formations with 21 and 22 personnel. That's not a problem, I prefer smash mouth football anyway. But most passing plays don't seem to have basic route concepts. There are some Dragon (slant/flat) and Lion (double slants) plays, some with Drive-like concepts (drag/dig), and of course, Four Verts (2K calls it 50 All Gos, but without the HB option). Granted, I haven't gone through EVERY playbook yet. But learning concepts is better than learning plays, this is how I became a somewhat-competent Madden player.
So basically, any tips on how to approach this game from a Madden perspective? This is for the standard, vanilla games, I figure I should learn that first before diving into any mods or custom stuff.
Oh, yeah, first full game I played on 2K8, all default settings and difficulty/sliders, I'm down 4 points, 2 seconds left, ball on opponent's 2, Coach wants to kick a field goal, LOL. I call a play, hot route to a hitch, receiver runs 1 yard upfield, gets stopped short. Ugh.