APF 2k8 Impressions

Griff0rd

TNA Moderator

OK well I got in some good time on the game last night after getting it. AS far as gameplay goes, the on field action is by far the best of fany football game on the market right now. Madden 07 doesn't hold a candle, so we'll have to see if 08 is any kind of an improvement. The new animations and just overall smoothness of the game are awesome. THe little things add up. For example when you run into a blocker, instead of the glitchy moments you got in madden, your back will reach out and put hus hand on the blocker and will use him as a shield. This among many other little gems add to the realism of the gameplay.

The team editor and all that you can do with your team is phenominal as well. The depth that can go into making your team fit the vision that you want is unchallenged by any sim on the market. THe stadiums are equally impressive.

For someone who relies heavily on the franchise mode to keep this game appealing may not find as much interest in it as those who just want to play. However there is an in game online league feature that will help and for some will be more than enough to fill in the gap that the lack of franchise mode leaves.

I will give this game a strong 8.5 of 10 There is plenty of room to build on with the franchise options that can be added. With a franchise mode much like that of NFL 2k5 I would have been inclined to give it a 9.5... But a VERY good title to get them back into the market.

Twist of lEMOn

I'd say a solid 8.5 to, I wish they had time to do afew more updates with the Grass textures and Franchise mode but you take what you can with a new game trying out a new console. So far its been easy to pick up and the only problem right now is my Playbook (which I still have to go through)

Spinoff360

+ Nice animations.

+ Decent presentation.

+ Gameplay is still pretty good.....

-..... but is nowhere near NFL 2K5.

-Typical 2K Glitches.

-Presentation problems. Like constantly not seeing replays when they are talking about them. Something that has been a huge problem in the NHL 2K games. Typical glitch or just stupidity?

-Awful modes since basically all you can do is play nothing but exhibition games. Even season is nothing but exhibition games since the whole point is kind of making trades and stuff.

-Awful graphics.

-Choppy during cutscenes.

-Awful sound (Could be linked to the 2K Glitches.... there are moments where there is no commentary going on and the crowd are dead silent).

-Awful roster options.

-A large list of legends made pointless unless you want to create a ton of teams.

-Rating system is not innovative and is just stupidity. Basically it reminds me of playing an NES game like Ice Hockey where the player is good at one certain thing. Picking a couple of things to be good at is not an accurate way of rating a player since every little thing the player does is important and not just the couple of things they are really great at.

-Emmitt Smith doesn't even look 1% like Emmitt Smith. He looks like one of the random generic players.

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Basically everything I said before I played it applies but it is even worse than I thought it would be. This isn't 2004 anymore and times have changed. EA are the way to go on next gen consoles and NCAA Football 08 is far better than this. This has potential but this year is garbage and with how pathetic the mode selection and stuff is then this should have been a value priced title just like NFL 2K5 was despite the fact that that was a great game.

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Twist of lEMOn

Im not going to lie if you think NCAA 08 is better then this in anyway but Gamemodes and Graphics for grass, your high on PCP

Inogenius

I'll give it a rental from GottaPlay.Com. If I like, I buy.

I usually side with Spin though.

WackoJako

It seems pretty solid thus far. The graphics are good but not great. I agree the abundacy of legends isn't too needed except for online play as you only get a limited amount. I can see myself having a hardtime getting deep into a season in this game as I'll want to trade up my team and get different players. Seems good, however i think it wouldn't have suffered from being like 39.99 instead of 59.99 Still I'll get good use of it with the online leagues.

Blitzkrieg

It's going to be a while before I chck this out.. NCAA Football '08 is calling my name!

Twist of lEMOn

Well I finally got abit more in to the game and I have to say its pretty well done on the game play side of things it blows away anything EA is doing right now. The running game alone is one of the most realistic i've ever seen in a football game, if you have the right people it can be a deadly weapon for gaining yards if the person you playing dosnt call the right plays. Even off broken plays the running game is still effective on one play I tried running up the middle with Emmitt Smith only to meet a wall of my O-Line blocking, with a juke to the outside I was still able to pick up a good gain for first down, though thats alittle hard to do the fact that your not forced in to running foward allowing you to do that is an improvment.

Passing and kicking takes abit to get used to if youve been away from the game 2k5 or havn't played a 2k football at all, I know the first time I played the game I rolled out with Aikman, pressed the X button which caused Aikman to do a 180 and tossed the ball to my main reciver Alvin Harper who was on a Slant route and the ball sailed right over Harpers head and out of bounds. after I calmed down The balls started getting to recivers abit more and noticed that theres actually a pretty good upside to staying in the pocket. Kicking also feels alittle foreign but its easy to get the hang of, my only gripe is that its abit to sensitive to angles, sometimes ill jam the stick directly foward and it still goes alittle left, but thats a minor problem.

The play box on Offense and Defense are INSANE, while Defense may look alittle lacking its got everything you need from 3-4,4-3,4-4-5-2, Bear 46,Nickel etc etc etc on that side of the ball. The offensive play book is about 3 times the size of that, theres atleast 7 diffrent ways to line up for every formation then you get in to the plays for each of lining up, its alittle crazy. but if your in to that its a good option to have for switching up plays.

The injurys are very well done to, I finally saw one in a quick game against the Rhinos, Mike Singletary tackled Troy Aikman just as he made the throw, as he tried to get up he got a cramp in his arm and he instally stopped and grabed it. Later in that game Gale Sayer jumped to grab a catch and broke his ankle on the way down which you could fold under him on the catch (needless to say a /BARF moment) very nasty.

Online its very smooth if your connections are clear, I havn't had problems with any online games where I didn't forget my laptop was on lol, The frame rate will drop from time to time but it never disrupts the game

Overall I've got to say, APF as much as it lacks in franchise and afew legends, Online Wise it dosn't have the problems that NCAA 08 has with Online lag. Its gameplay is far and beyond NCAA and Madden and its lasting playablity is probably far beyond what it the lack of franchise leads it to be. Besides the Grahpics theres not much "wrong" with APF2k8 it just feels like a solid sim football game which is enough for a 8.5/10 from me

Griff0rd

TNA Moderator

First of all the "typical 2k glitches remark is a bit stupid in comparisson to Madden. There are far less menu and gameplay issues in this game than in Madden previously.

"Awful modes since basically all you can do is play nothing but exhibition games." One of the main draws of this game for people is a feature that EA doesn't have and that is the on-line season which is handled in game. There is room for it to grow with more options like a franchise and such, but 2k made it clear that they were focused this installment on getting the best out of the gameplay that they could... and delivered greatly. SO the "nothing but exhibition games" quote is a farce.

The graphics IMO are still better, at the very least = to that of an EA football game. The issues would be in the grass texture... but player models look excellent and move excellent.

As far as the crowd being silent... there are times in real life when the crowd will basically go dead... If you watch any sport you'll know this. It isn't a glitch as you can still hear the crowd at a dull roar. Once again you are trying to be over critical.

The roster options are phenominal. And there is no way that you can argue that there are "too many legends" If anything I am looking forward to the expansion of more that were not picked up on this one for the next installment. When you get into a league much like what we have going here, where you draft players, then your list seems a lot smaller. And the game uses about every legen on the list in season mode with the other teams that it creates. Even with all of that aside it's great to have as many options as possible when creating your own team to fit your style of play...

"Rating system is not innovative and is just stupidity" To each their own. In this effect it brings another feel of realism and picking up your team to fit your own style rather than looking at numbers to make your team work. I prefer this and EA must have liked it as well as they have stolen aspects of it in "their new weapon system"

As far as players not looking like their real life counterparts... you're blind. Which would explain your take on the graphics.

Basically like I said before... I can't take your impressions seriously without a good chuckle.

Spinoff360

I don't know why I am going to bother replying to this when you are just a typical 2K troll but what the hell.

Madden has never been as bad as the 2K Sports games. It is something even a lot of 2K Sports fans will admit to that the 2K Sports games are pathetically bad for glitches and it isn't something they ever fix. The exact same glitches show up every single year in their games. In this case it seems like NHL 2K glitches have even managed to carry over to APF which is just sad really.

Can you trade or anything in the online leagues? No? So yes it is nothing but exhibition games. This isn't a launch game for their excuses to work. They have had three years to work on a new football game and then they release this garbage that belongs back in 1995. As for the gameplay the only new thing is the kicking system. Other than that it is pretty much the exact same game as NFL 2K5 but doesn't seem as fluid. So yeah not making a new gameplay engine took up all of their time for sure.

And you can't take me serious? It looks decent in cutscenes but is wrecked by many of the pathetically bad typical 2K Sports graphics like the static hair and feeling the need to show players without helmets. During gameplay it looks 100% like a last gen game and is one of the worst looking next gen games released so far.

And in real life when the crowd goes silent you will still hear the commentators rambling on about something instead of every sound going 100% dead. Or you will hear the players saying stuff. Also a crowd going dead silent after a home team scores a TD usually doesn't happen. It seems like a glitch where the sound will cut out since you should be able to hear something instead of sudden dead silence.

Oh and the commentary is kind of funny but not for a good reason. I love when they comment on a player not reaching his full potential yet like a player will actually eventually reach their potential when they will always be the exact same player in this game.

There would not be too many legends if you could build a team how you want, trade etc. But instead you get to make a team that is mostly pathetically bad generic players and you can't even control any of the pre-made teams..... seriously WTF? So in order to experience more legends you have to keep making your own teams. And without trading or anything in season mode and stuff it is just exhibition games with some stats tossed in.

Actually it is something EA have been doing for years but do the right way. Players will have certain skills they are the best at and get a little boost to that skill but every other skill isn't some generic stat. Just because a player doesn't excel at a certain skill doesn't mean they are a generic average player at that skill. Like I said 2K Sports have basically just released a game that uses the rating systems from NES games like Ice Hockey.

No that would obviously be you. Emmitt Smith is one of my favorite players of all time so I think I know what he looks like and in this game he looks nothing at all like he should. The face doesn't even look the slightest bit like him. Same with some others like Dan Marino. Basically it seems like with some players they could only get permission to use their names but not the likeness.

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