What's The Best Football Game Ever?

[DavonBrown]

I'm going to have to try it out. I was reading IGN reviews for 2004-08 and 08 was the worst. I might pick it up anyway.

[elgreazy1]

In no order:
Tecmo Super Bowl
Madden 04
ESPN NFL2K5
All Pro Football 2K8

[simgamer0005]

Quote: Originally Posted by DavonBrown

I'm going to have to try it out. I was reading IGN reviews for 2004-08 and 08 was the worst. I might pick it up anyway.

Well in terms of an error free game, 08 was the worst. In terms of technology, control depth, and dynamic gameplay, 08 was the best. And 08 has some of the most exciting moves and gameplay in any NCAA game. The lateral feature is different in 08 than in 2005 or 06. There's a lot of things that make 08 a blast. But it's one of those games where you are going to run into bugs if you really mess with the settings. The bugs don't ruin the game as there are ways around then. A lot of times your defense has to rely on manual control, where in 2005 you could rely on your CPU teammates on defense. The receiver direct gameplay feature is one of the most innovate features in any game and it's in 08 on original box. So if you nitpick 08 on original xbox too closely, you'll find things that annoy you. But if you go into the game with an open mind, and just want to explore playbooks then it's great.

Oh and one other thing that 08 on Original XBox has that 2005 or 06 doesn't have is user stats. 08 keeps track of all the things that you do with user control. So if you play a long game and at the end of the game you can see how much of the tackles, knockdowns, etc you did with your own player. Just a nice little touch.

The playbooks are very expansive in 08 on original xbox. Most plays ever in any NCAA game. But there are some glitches when you start editing playbooks in 08 that wasn't in earlier games, so beware. It comes down to fact that in 08 on original xbox, there are more plays in some formations in team-specific playbook then you can find in custom playbooks. So you can find some team-specific trick plays in each teams individual playbook, more team-specific trick plays than any other NCAA game.

Things like that make 08 worth owning. And i'm sure the PS2 version is good. But 08 was the last NCAA game on origianl xbox, and graphically it is a huge improvement from 07. The lighting is spectacular. Just a great game all around with unlimited potential, hindered only by developer tight schedules due to the takeover of 360 / PS3 football gaming by EA.

If for nothing else, PS2 or Original Xbox owners owe it to themselves to play NCAA Football 08 just to see how close EA was to football perfection with that engine before they abandoned it for a new engine on the other systems.

[DavonBrown]

I'm going to buy it tonight. Did you like Madden 08?

[TheWatcher]

In no particular order:

Tecmo Super Bowl (all of it's iterations except for the PS1 version, and the SNES version of the original Tecmo Super Bowl)

Joe Montana Sportstalk Football (pick any of the Sportstalk series)

NFL Gameday (the original)

NFL 2K5

John Madden Football (Genesis and 3DO), Madden '92 or Madden '98 (all are a toss up for me)

... and out of that, I'd go with NFL 2K5.

[Tokyo-Night]

1:BACKBREAKER
2:Espn nfl 2k5
3:N/a
4:N/a
5:N/a

[GlennN]

Regardless of platform, I'd go NFL 2k5 tops, followed by Front Page Sports Football Pro 97 (for the PC). There is no close third, for me.

[DaveDQ]

All-Pro Football 2K8.

For "football game", this is by far the most organic display of football to date. From the formation of the passing pocket, to evading a sack when the pocket collapses, it really is something to behold. It's not perfect. The fields look horrible and the game seems to suffer from over saturation in the color dept., but I really can't see how you can argue against the quality of this game.