Best Football Game Ever? (Madden/2K)

[JerzeyReign]

NFL 2k5 -- before COD4, that was the last game that made my 'thumb hurt' -- old school gamers know what that means

[DJ]

I'll leave NCAA out of my list, since the OP talks about Madden and NFL 2K. But, just want to say that if I were including NCAA games, they'd be very high on my list, as I prefer that game to Madden.

1. APF 2K8 I put so much time into that game, and it never got old. I LOVED the team-creation aspect, and the fact that you could only choose 11 guys meant you were going to have to coach/play around certain weaknesses of your team. I tended to build a lot of power-running teams, so if I didn't get the lead early or fell behind by 2 touchdowns, I was in big trouble. Hiding the player ratings and using a tiered-star system was a brilliant idea. I wish Madden/NCAA would do this, that way we wouldn't hear complaints about why guys don't have 99 speed. With the star system, you knew what a player did well, which again, was crucial in building your team. The route-based passing system has yet to be matched and the running game was a thing of beauty. Defense was great, too, with the ability to change your secondary's coverage shell, as well as individual defensive assignments. All the game was missing was a Franchise Mode.

2. NFL 2K5 The game has aged in the past 2 years, but that's to be expected. I had never played 2K football prior to this game and the $20 price tag was what I needed to give it a go. I instantly knew what I was missing. On the field, it felt so advanced compared to Madden that I felt overwhelemed at first (similar to how I felt going to NBA 2K from Live), but once I got the hang of things and un-learned some bad habits, the game really shined. I wish I had played the previous versions of 2K, even if they weren't as good as this game, only because I felt robbed once EA got the NFL license.

3. Madden 10 A big breath of fresh air from Madden 06-09. The pro-tak additons were good and the Fight for the Fumble was a cool add-on. You could see some nice building blocks with the presentation, but for some reason, were never followed up on. On the field, it still had many of the EA trappings of the past, but all in all, it played a solid game of football.

4. NFL Head Coach 09 Never was a fan of spectator or coach-mode games until I tried this. Running the day-to-day operations of an NFL football team was a blast. The NFL Network integration was great (why can't we get THAT in Madden????). The draft scouting was nice, the roster management was very in-depth and I loved how your in-game decisions would affect your standing with the fans, Owner, etc. I wish the on-field game looked better, as it was tough to call the plays and then watch things unfold on the field after a bit, and I never was a fan of simming games. I'd like to see a new version of this game with updated graphics and a better on-field simulator in terms of player movement, but I'm sure it's unlikely.

[Culture Rot]

Madden 2002, they got worse from there

[SECElit3]

I'll take some heat for this, but I am going to say Madden 12!

[Kanobi]

Quote: Originally Posted by The Duke

). 5. NFL 2k3 (my first 2k experience and my first non-madden experience since gameday 98. this game reeeeeally raised the bar on a lot of things: presentation (cameras, commentary, stat banners, highlight shows etc. this looked like a real-life broadcast. it was amazing to me at the time and is sadly, still better than what we have in madden 12. fingers crossed for 13), visuals (the detail and player models were better than anything else at the time, in my opinion. the lighting was great and everything looked awesome and realistic), animations (players moved with much more realism than id seen before. QB dropbacks, roll-outs, throwing animations etc. all looked far better and more realistic than what id seen in Madden. the tackling animations and tackle-break animations were all fantastic and everything moved with much more life-like realism than anything id seen before. In broadcast mode, this game looked amazingly real. and then they managed to improve well beyond that in ESPN NFL FOOTBALL (2K4) and NFL 2k5.

Ditto. NFL2k3 was my first experience with 2k football and it blew my mind. Hey, remember how unstoppable Ricky Williams was in that game? lmao!...I remember there'd be topics on forums specifically about the best defenses to use against him. Good times

[ItsOrangeBaby]

For my favorite football game I would need to go with Madden 2008.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

[Byron Yatch]

Nfl head coach 09, no question! Now that the sliders are fixed, its the best simulation ever. If you dont believe me, check out the sliders I posted and the pics to prove the stats...

[The ArkanSaw]

Just seen some gameplay vids of 2k5 and i was just thinking to myself what if they had 8 more installments...scary thought. The tackling animations are so great and the presentation is A+ even for todays standards. I may pick it up off of ebay.