Why All-Pro Football Still Trumps Madden

[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?

[sambowie]

Love APF but there should of been enough customization that users could create all the NFL teams along with their current rosters and allow other users to download them. For example, they should have set up a system where you could design (or copy) a logo on your computer and have them placed on the helmet. They also could have provided a stadium creation tool. It would have been a great way to get around the no-NFL-license problem if the community was involved.

Maybe we'll see another APF, but with 2K hemorrhaging money it's unlikely.

[BroMontana82]

my biggest concern with madden other than the obvious things like the blocking, stat glitches etc. is the fact that sliders aren't nearly as effective as they should be...especially penalty sliders.

[Rocky]

Re: Why All-Pro Football Still Trumps Madden

As much as I enjoyed my run with APF, I simply cannot agree.

APF has a ton of holes.

Run a base 3-2-5 with the following personnel each and every single down.


Ronnie Lott and Joey Browner at the 2nd string FS and SS spots

Lem Barney and Terry Mcdaniel at the corners

Eugene Robinson as your deep safety

Run coverage DL of choice, or a LB, depending on your preference

Stop everything.

What you really have, is a 3-4, for all practical purposes, but this set up is superior to the base 3-4 in the game, in virtually every way.

You will never have to get out of this formation, as Joey Browner, and Ronnie, are basically playing outside linebacker, and the run blocking AI, will not consistantly pick them up.

Apparently, you don't even need to do that for Madden's run blocking AI to get messed up.

[grunt]

Re: Why All-Pro Football Still Trumps Madden

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.

I place a strong emphasis defense and APF to me was more of a defensive game. Like said before I can stop fades and quick routes with generic corners. Most of the guys here played me and I took more pride in my defense than my offense.

[grunt]

Re: Why All-Pro Football Still Trumps Madden

As much as I enjoyed my run with APF, I simply cannot agree.

APF has a ton of holes.

Run a base 3-2-5 with the following personnel each and every single down.


Ronnie Lott and Joey Browner at the 2nd string FS and SS spots

Lem Barney and Terry Mcdaniel at the corners

Eugene Robinson as your deep safety

Run coverage DL of choice, or a LB, depending on your preference

Stop everything.

What you really have, is a 3-4, for all practical purposes, but this set up is superior to the base 3-4 in the game, in virtually every way.

You will never have to get out of this formation, as Joey Browner, and Ronnie, are basically playing outside linebacker, and the run blocking AI, will not consistantly pick them up.

So, you have one gold and I believe 3 silvers on your defense. You should have a dominant defense. I love safeties because they are hybrid players that can play in and out of the box. Now, you have a strong defense and a weaker offense . Sound pretty balance to me.

So, you never lost a game with this team?

[lasthour]

Re: Why All-Pro Football Still Trumps Madden

Both games have flaws. No one is denying this. Both games are good games also.

Tell me which game digs a little deeper and actually represents the actually abilities of a NFL player and separates them from one another better? If you study these games, I do not see how you can come away saying Madden has an edge on 2k's football games all around.

[jyoung]

Re: Why All-Pro Football Still Trumps Madden

The fade is definitely an easy route to complete in APF because of some animation issues, but it's still stoppable if you shade your defender to the outside and leave safety help over the top.

As for the 3-2 defense with all those safeties playing up front, no league would ever allow anyone to run that kind of defense since so many guys are playing out of position.

When you are playing these games with good sportsmanship in league matches instead of going against random cheesers in ranked matches, I think All Pro Football just gives you a better game of football than Madden.

Both games are fun, and both games have their share of issues, but Madden just has too many "WTF" moments over the course of a game, whereas All Pro Football generally gives you a straight game of football from start to finish with a lot fewer reminders that you are playing a video game instead of the real thing.

I like both games, and I play both of them in leagues, but if you asked me to pick one, it'd be APF.

[Joeyland]

APF did have some issues, but most of them were correctable, or just minor.
APF did however, do a-lot right. I not sure what Madden does right, outside of the marketing, and creating ancillary revenue streams.
Yes APF was by no means perfect.
What if 2K had the license, and EA did not?
Would a generic EA football game create the same die-hard fan base that APF has almost 3 years later? I think not.

[ZMB17]

madden 10 trumps all pro idiots

[marcoyk]

Nice article. Makes me want to give APF 2K8 a try!

[CreatineKasey]

Grunt, yeah I am a defensive minded player also. With that, I still feel like when someone beat me with a quick snap fade situation its cheap points. My defensive stats were definitely inflated at times because of this.

wEEman I agree. If I had to pick one game to play for hte next 5 years, it'd be APF no question.

[BedBug]

Ironic that this came out today because I just started playing APF yesterday again for the first time in about 5 months. I have Madden 10 and at first I didn't think I'd go back to APF or 2k5 but I just can't get into Madden's gameplay enough to keep the game long term. I tried 2k5 first but i think it's finally starting to really show it's age. 2k sports fans have to realize that Madden just isn't ever going to be the football game they want because in order for that to happen i think Madden needs a complete engine overhaul which it won't get. Graphics are good for the most part but I think they are inferior to 2k8. Comparing animations from a Madden game to a 2k football game is just stupid. There is no contest about the fact that 2k reigns. I pulled off a flea flicker 70 yd bomb td pass in apf 2k8 yesterday and it was just a thing of beauty. I watched the replay 10 times before I went back to the game. Like so many people have said, if APF had a franchise mode, I wouldn't even entertain the thought of making a Madden purchase.

[NoDakHusker]

APF 2k8 has great gameplay, but lack of franchise mode keeps it's replayability lower than madden. madden has made great improvements this year. it has its problems, but overall i am actually content with madden this gen. for once.