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...or watching Barry Sanders singlehandedly shred a defense for a 40-yard TD run. I've been glued to this game since I brought it home...
THE GOOD: the graphics and sound are amazing. Much better than the Madden line of games. The game is supposed to be rendered in 1080p, but comes on in 720p for some reason on my TV. I went into the PS3's display settings and turned off 720p, and that fixed the issue. Players retain dirt and scuffs on their uniforms, and celebrations after TD's and sacks are excellent. The game really gets the feel for each individual player. Gone are the ratings based on 0-100 scales. When you choose a player, it tells you exactly what this player does well. You have total control of every single player on the field in pre-snap: hot routes, blocking schemes, formation switches and audibles all before you hike the ball; zone coverage, blitzing, shifting, drop off and pinching on defense...all of this can be tailored for each player one at a time, meaning, for instance, you can blitz your weak side LB ("Will") by hitting 3 buttons. You really have to learn the button layout, though.
The gameplay is fluid and fast, but not too fast. The QB can slide in the pocket, duck under and avoid sacks with the ease of the Left control stick. RB's and WR's have a slew of moves. What's different here? Used to be, players moved on a horizontal axis, making them look and act almost like horses on a merry-go-round, with a pole running up through them. Now, player movement is very fluid, very smooth, and players you would expect to just seem to "glide"...OJ Simpson, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, etc. After years of playing both the Madden games and the 2K games, I'd have to say that this version looks the most realistic--the tackles, the moves, the blocking, players knocked off balance, the ball movement...your QB will even throw a wobbler into the ground (or worse--into the air and up for grabs) when he is hit as he throws.
Also, it's great to be able to build your own team of NFL Legends. Right now, I have 4 teams which I've built, including designing their home and away uniforms, and I compete with each of them. You'll be pleasantly surprised by many of the names included in the game--too many to name here. The CPU teams are made up of legends as well, though, so be prepared to get your butt kicked the first time you play.
Essentially, you pick 11 players from the "legend" database. This field of players is broken down into 3 tiers: Gold, Silver and Bronze. You get to choose 2 gold players, 3 silver players and 6 bronze. The game fills the rest of your roster with random players; suspiciously with familiar names (my back up QB's name is "Archuleta"). True, you don't get to pick anyone beyond the 11 legends, but the random players are pretty darn good, and you do get to choose how the roster is filled: your extra WR's can be balanced, possession or deep threats; your extra RB's can be finesse or power runners; your D-linemen can be run stoppers are pass rushers, etc. I've heard complaints be early reviewers about the uniforms, but as long as no one's in pink, who cares what they are wearing? The uniforms are OK, and you create your own when you make a team from the helmet to the shoes. Also, the stadiums are absolutely over-the-top. One has a huge shark coming through the top of the scoreboard...it's awesome.
THE BAD: there are negatives to this title. You can only play with your created teams. I would love to play with the team called "LEGENDS" as it has 11 gold tier players on it, but it is a CPU only team. The choices for gameplay are very, very thin. You can play a quick game with one of your created teams against a CPU team, or start a season, where you basically play a round-robin against the other CPU teams, then go to a playoff series. If you do win the league championship at the end, it's over. This was a real downer for me. This is also why I created 4 teams, because I really wanted to play with Ditka, Night Train Lane, Eugene Robinson, Reggie White, John Elway, Ronnie Lott, etc. etc. etc., but you can only have 11 legends on your team at a time.
It seems the developers spent way more time on the offense. As fluid as it is, the defensive backfield is still a tad shaky in it's player movement (a la NCAA Football 06 or 07), especially strafing, and potential INT's seem to bounce right off DB's chests and facemasks. Watching a sack unfold is gorgeous, though, and linemen can swim, club, spin and bullrush to gain an advantage over their blocker, which makes rushing the QB the most fun aspect of playing defense.
Kicking is a nightmare. 2K uses the right stick, much like the EA games do, but there's no kick meter. You pull the stick back to start the whole process, and right before the kicker actually makes contact with the ball, you thrust the stick forward. You won't know if you did it right until you see the flight of the ball. A text indicator comes on screen to let you know how well your timing and aiming was, but it's an after thought--if your kick was bad, you'll know as it sails out of bounds.
Online play can't really be reviewed here, as there aren't many players out there yet. I'm sure by next week, it will be jamming. There are quite a few options out there, though, like Tournament play, online seasons, custom play and quick play, and all are separated by difficulty level. I saw one profile player already had a record of 12-1 as of last night (the day the game hit the shelves) but there were only 44 others players online at the time, so wait for later reviews to discuss online play.
ALL IN ALL, I love this game, and it has exceeded my expectations in so many ways, but it falls short in a couple of small but key aspects: the anonymous "extra" players (who have no visible ratings), the thin gameplay options, the frustrating circus that is "kicking," and the dropped INT's. But nowhere else can you find this vast field of NFL Hall of Famers. I can only compare it to last year's games, so it may be unfair, but I will say that this game blows Madden 07 away in nearly every aspect of actual gameplay, but not in it's menu items.
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First thing first, judge this game for what it is not what it isn't. Clearly, this game is not Madden and it's not an NFL licensed game, however, it's a great football game. The football play is first rate and it's equally fun to play both offense and defense. I've played multiple defensive positions and they're all solid. The concept is great and it's a lot of fun to build your team from the Gold, Silver and Bronze players from the Hall of Fame. I own Madden 2008 as well, which is also a good game, however, I find myself keep coming back to All Pro Football, it's just a hell of a lot of fun to play.
Buy All Pro Football 2K8 Now
All Pro Football 2k8 = slightly juiced up NFL 2k5
Now I'm not saying that this game is not fun, as you can tell by my fun rating. I enjoy the game very much. 2k sports continues to put out a line of quality products and most importantly, a good football game. Being able to play with the retired legends in this game is amazing and jumping right into the fantasy draft was awesome. Everything I loved about 2k5 was here.............
With that being said....... This game is basically a souped up version of 2k5.... and I'm talking Honda Civic with three different colors of body kits souped up. The graphics are honestly not that impressive, for a next gen game I would expect more. The controls feel a little sloppy at times, especially on defense when trying to tackle some of the legendary backs or receivers in this game. Lastly, the commentary sounds completely recycled from NFL 2k5 (although, there was a rather funny discussion that went one between Peter and Dan about them never hugging).
I have enjoyed APF 2k8 so far, it's a refreshing change from Madden. The overall gameplay is fantastic, you don't run into your lineman's backs and stop, your runner adjusts and turns to get by them. The way that the players interact is PHENOMINAL!! Your running back is never down from just the slightest contact with the defense. If you have a shifty back like Barry Sanders and throw a spin move on a 300 pound linemen or linebacker, a lot of times he is gonna leave them reaching for air just like Barry DID!! On the flip side! There is also gonna be that situation tho when he gets bottled up and one guy will stand him up and here comes two linebackers to take you down for a loss. These are the kind of small things that make football games enjoyable.
To sum it up, Will APF 2k8 give Madden a run for it's money?? Probably not this year. APF 2k8 is an excellent start for the 2k series into the next gen console market, but there in lies the problem. Dated graphics and features really hold this one back from being an excellent title without the BUT after words.
Read Best Reviews of All Pro Football 2K8 Here
First of all. If you aren't going to rate this product with an open mind, please:
A) Put your hand down
and
B) Do NOT write a review for this game
With that said I am going to give you my ratings, per my personal catagories, also; please note that I am not going by stars, but thumbs (I.E.Two equals excellent, One and Two Thirds equals great, One and One-Half equals good, et al.):
Fun: Two Thumbs Up
Obviously, this game happens to be the most inthralling game that I have played. You litterally feel like if you were in the game! Hearing home the crowd go off for every hard hit, every defensive stance, and every touchdown. It is 100% mesmerizing to watch a game, let alone play it, you hear the crowd chant, and the ruckus that is in the crowd is truely amazing. Obviously, 2K Sports have done their homework, and it is surreally done.
Plus, it is ALWAYS fun to have a Sweetness-Moose-Rice Combination on your team (Like mine). Good memories.
Gameplay: Two Thumbs Up
Although the physics engine looks GREAT, there are very minute things that would need to be tweaked. Things like when a diving defensive player goes to stop a Runner/Wide Reciever. They dive, but it is like the player bounces off of the player, then fall to the ground.
While this is pretty entertaining to watch this, it would still be much more believable if the defensive player looks to at least go for a shoe-string tackle.
But other than that, it still is a good physics engine. Plus, you cannot discount the bonus of having to taylor your game to your opponent. Things like, when you see that your opponent's defense has one side
loaded with Bronze/Silver/Gold Linemen or Linebackers, you could opt out to run to the opposite side, or you could try your luck going to that side; if your opponent has all-star Cornerbacks and Safeties, you could opt out to either use your running game, or try your luck passing.
This included into the bonuses that your star players possess all of this adds on to the realisim of the game; added onto their characteristics and mannerisims.
Plus, this whole give-and-take strategy proccedes throughout the game. It is a real jewel of this game. You could have the best offense, but if your opponent has the best defense, it becomes a struggle; which is something that is TRUELY realistic of this game.
Graphics: One and One Half Thumbs
While I could go on, and on, about the amazing job that Take Two have done on the Gameplay of this game.
Too bad that I can't say the same about the graphics. This happens to be the only weak spot on the game. While pretty good, it still looks only a little better than that of a PS2.
While the stadiums are beautifully designed, it still looks fairly choppy, something that you'd wouldn't expect on a PS3. The character models looks very good also. Too bad that this game suffers from arms, legs, and sometimes shoulders dissappearing into their opponents/teamates.
Again, this is something that one would have expected to see in a PS1/PS2 game, but with the power and design ceilings that the newer generation systems have, it is concerning that this little kink could not have been fixed through the proccess.
Another thing that is concerning is the field construction (or should I say distruction). It still looks like the field destroys in a manner of the last gen systems. Where you only see moderate distruction on the field during rainy games.
This was something that I saw applied better in Madden 2007, reguarless of how pathetic that freshman attempt at a next generation game, during a rainy game, you could see puddles develop in certain parts of the field, thoughout the game.
While the game could do much better on the physics and graphics department, this are fairly minor gripes to a SURPREMELY good game.
Highly recommended for purchase and rental, and I am offically sold on All Pro Football series, and cannot wait to see better impovement to the graphics and physics systems; along with a couple of add-ons of a career and other single player modes.
Therefore, I am giving this game a grade of One and Three Quaters thumbs up!
Overall Rating: One and Two-Thirds Thubs up!
A great game, and if you are ANY bit of an American Football fan, it is HIGHLY advisable to have this game in your collection.
Want All Pro Football 2K8 Discount?
if you want realistic football with suction tackles or tumble-weed animations, this is the game to get. you really have to have skill to play this game, even on rookie. the movements and animations are so real with realistic head tracking on the ball, meaning if your receiver or cornerback is not looking at the ball, he's not going to catch it. this is the only game where you can have Jerry Rice and John Elway on the same team.
