A football gamer for life

[NipKauf8]

I've been playing football games on a console since 10 Yard Fight, John Elway's QB, and Super Tecmo Bowl for the NES. I've primarily played EA's NCAA and Madden offerings. In 2007 I broke down and went next gen and purchased a 360 and NCAA08 and Madden08. I was so disappointed with these two games from a gameplay standpoint that I got rid of the 360 and happily went back to the PS2.

After playing NCAA Football 2007 for nearly four years, with some madden sprinkled in, I went back to the 360 and discovered a GEM in AllPro Football 2k8. This game is fun, and represents NFL Style gameplay better than any title to date. Even with that said, APF2K8 is incomplete from a presentation, roster, and gameplay mode aspect.

Unlike many here, I worked backwards with the 2K titles. As I said, I picked up 2k8 (for like 5 bucks) and heard 2K5 had a strong following as well. Back in 2004 I was never going to give another football gaming company a look outside of EA, but this year I bought a copy of 2K5. Are you kidding me?!!? This game has it all....it's not perfect, but it is loaded with features and plays a sound game. Mad props to 2k5! Graphically - this game on the original XBOX holds up surprisingly well to the next gen consoles.

After reading reviews and playing the Madden 11 demo, I was confidant EA finally got it right...ugh. I don't even know where to begin with how stale, listless, and pre-determined these games feel...not to mention the lack of an appropriate tackling engine...i'm not interested in seeing 7 defenders fall aimlessly around a 1-1 tackle. Really? Madden 11 for PS2 has a better tackling system than the next gen games.

I wouldn't be so frustrated with EA if we had additional options. Backbreaker? Meh...looks too fake...camera options are terrible...and I personally didn't see the huge advantage to the 505 engine. IMO.

The bottom line is that after playing APF2k8 and ESPN NFL2k5 this year, playing EA's titles feels like I'm taking a HUGE step back or accepting flawed gameplay simply for updates to rosters and uniforms. Think about that; playing the football games of 2010 feels like a step back when compared to a THREE YEAR OLD game (APF2k8) and a SIX YEAR OLD GAME (2K5) on a older console.

Unless something drastically changes with EA, I'm done blindly supporting them and their mediocre attempts to produce a football video game.