All Pro Football 2k8 impressions

Sport73 · Post by **Sport73** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:51 pm

I've played a few games and can report the following:

My FIRST impression was very negative. Poor graphics (textures are 'odd' with too much distance between threads in cloth) and blocky player models. Generic grass, and overdone lighting effects. Coupled with gameplay that felt exactly like 2k5 and a lack of WOW presentation value, and I was ready to give up.

I popped in NCAA, which looks gorgeous by comparison, and played a half a game. Then, something odd happened; I found myself wanting to put APF back in.

I did and proceeded to have 4 VERY enjoyable games. I learned to appreciate the animations and general graphic approach, and the gameplay mechanics.

It's still early, but I'm beginning to think this title has it where it counts: on the field.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:12 pm

I had to end Festivus and come back into the office to get something done tonight, but that's one thing I don't understand about people's frustration with the lack of a franchise mode in this game. During the season, when I've got football on my mind between weekly Steelers games, if I want to sit down on the couch and experience an hour long videogame that feels just like football, I wouldn't hesitate for a minute to pop in this game and play online or off. I also recognize maybe that's just me.

nyisles16 · Post by **nyisles16** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:32 pm

played 2 online games vs dave360, & have to say - evem with no franchise, this game is going to be a good one.. I love the sliding catches they make - one, a ball went through my WR hands, only to be picked off by a sliding DB right behind him.. I have created a bunch of "legendary players" & even they struggle in a game (heck, my gold start Bo Jackson only managed 38 yards the first game, & my FB ran better!).. I think we are going to be in for some good football this year..

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:00 pm

The single player AI looks to be pretty Martz dumb. With 41 secs to play in half it called a TO after a sack to kick a FG instead of running the clock down.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:18 pm

XXXIV wrote:The single player AI looks to be pretty Martz dumb. With 41 secs to play in half it called a TO after a sack to kick a FG instead of running the clock down.

Martz dumb..that's a good one

SoMisss2000 · Post by **SoMisss2000** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:25 pm

APF is alright. would be better with real teams. they definitely haven't been working on this game the last couple years

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:30 pm

My initial impressions after a few games or each product. These will mainly be APF thoughts:

+ added animations are really nice.
+ side lines and crowds are also cool
+ Reach tackle system is kind of neat, not the gimmick I thought it was.
+ Legends really stand out, signature moves are great.
+ Its basically 2K5 game play with some slight adjustments (this may change after I play more)
+ Presentation is still the best in the business.
+It is just refreshing and fun to play I really forgot how much fun 2K football can be.
+ Wow a f***in holding call, 2 actually in the first quarter. I didn't think it was possible to implement this penalty anymore after 2 straight years of EA games.

- Graphically it looks like 2K5, which in 2007 is not up to speed. I just don't think this game looks very good. I realize that is my opinion
- Its basically 2K5 game play with some slight adjustments
- It is not as responsive as NCAA, guys tend to get caught in animations. makes playing LB a real issue
- Lot of big plays to legends, I mean lots every score was 60+ yards
- I'm not and have never been a fan of the announcing team, and i didn't hear much new stuff yet.
- The filed pass stuff with the generic voices for the legends sets all kinds of records for lameness.

? DB AI I am still watching. I have a gold or silver SS and he has twice bitten on the wrong receiver leaving a generic player wide open in the middle of the field for scores.
? For all the talks about pockets I have been able to break contain at will with Cunningham. I'll try a less mobile QB.
? Customization options look ok, I haven't messed with them much
? Is there going to be any kind of long term play value for me to justify the price tag

I think it you've enjoyed the 2K series at all, then you will enjoy this game. I also think however after playing APF that NCAA has made some great strides in the game play department.

APF outclasses it simply by the sheer amount of little touches in the game, to me this is what makes APF more immersive like a real football game. But I really don't think when it comes to actual game play the difference is that great anymore. In fact in terms of player control NCAA outclasses APF easily.

I'm certainly enjoying APF a lot more then I thought I would and the same goes for NCAA. I don't think you can make a wrong choice this year. I really don't see either one leaving my collection.[/b]

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:31 pm

SoMisss2000 wrote:APF is alright. would be better with real teams. they definitely haven't been working on this game the last couple years

I am starting to get the same feeling...feels like old 2k which isnt a bad thing...but Im not seeing any radical differences except for the f***ed way to kick...

dave360 · Post by **dave360** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:43 pm

XXXIV wrote:
SoMisss2000 wrote:APF is alright. would be better with real teams. they definitely haven't been working on this game the last couple years
I am starting to get the same feeling...feels like old 2k which isnt a bad thing...but Im not seeing any radical differences except for the f***ed way to kick...

I'm not crazy about the kicking either but after spending about 45 minutes with it in practice mode, I don't think I'll shank any more extra points or kick the ball off out of bounds. Isles and I had two great games today, but they both said "connection lost" in the fourth quarter. Has anyone been able to get thru an entire online game yet?

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 10:43 pm

The game does have a kick...I just gotta kick out of John Jefferson beating Tom Brookshire ddep on a pass from Lenny Dawson...

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 1:11 am

I had a $10 gift cert at TRU and got this game. Was between this and ncaa but I'll get into College football later so bought this.

First Impressions I had were .......... ehh...............

Maybe it was my fault since I drafted Montana, Rice, Craig, Fridge Perry, Carson, etc... Sort of like a mini super team, just to try it out. And also the game was on Pro level default, so the game seemed way too easy for me.

Then I got to mess around with a few things and restarted my team with players I liked, mainly 80s players. And I put the difficulty level at All Pro.

Liked the game much better. Played a game vs emmit smith and he was a one man show. Game had good balance and so far I am 'ok' with it. It's not the greatest game to come out or anything like that, but it's decent. It's not one of those games I cant stop playing, but good for pickup and play in the season mode.

Online play was very smooth, almost felt like offline.

DB play for the most part was ok, although I had one DB where he completely gave up on Jerry Rice for some reason.

One more thing, I put the game speed to fast and the game was way too fast. I think the default normal speed is the best pace for the game.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 1:40 am

I think this game may be a "grower" for some people, provided they stick with it.

Has anyone else come up with a custom camera angle (how refreshing) that they really like? I just created a side TV broadcast type view that I think I'm really going to enjoy. I've only run a quarter so far from this view but it's surprisingly playable so far. I'd like to see a little more flexibility with the custom cam in future editions, but great stuff.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:30 am

I love the kicking game in APF. I'm probably the only one.

I missed a PAT which I slipped in the snow.

Well after more time with this game, you can clearly tell the limited feature set is due to this being the first of the series.

Here's that will limit my enjoyment with the game.

-I don't think the pre-set CPU teams have specific playbooks. I could be wrong. Which means even though they give the ball to their star players they don't have a playbook geared toward that team.

- no automatic playbook options. You have to select a play one by one. You can't select formation and have every play loaded into your playbook. On top of that, you have to manually put in plays that will highlight your legends. I wish this was automated so the playbook generator would know I have Elway, Sharpe and silver WR and it would select plays geared towards those players.

- some questionable AI at times in the game. Seems some of the NFL 2k5 play calling issues have popped up.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:46 am

smac and I got in an online game with no problems.

I'm not sure but I think you can see what the other guy is doing in MP with adjustments, one time on O, i saw "show blitz" pop up.

I'm liking this game a lot more as I play it, but man I keep seeing dumb DB play, the TD I gave up to Smac, bu CB just let Rice run right by him.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:48 am

JRod wrote:I love the kicking game in APF. I'm probably the only one.

I missed a PAT which I slipped in the snow.

Well after more time with this game, you can clearly tell the limited feature set is due to this being the first of the series.

Here's that will limit my enjoyment with the game.

-I don't think the pre-set CPU teams have specific playbooks. I could be wrong. Which means even though they give the ball to their star players they don't have a playbook geared toward that team.

- no automatic playbook options. You have to select a play one by one. You can't select formation and have every play loaded into your playbook. On top of that, you have to manually put in plays that will highlight your legends. I wish this was automated so the playbook generator would know I have Elway, Sharpe and silver WR and it would select plays geared towards those players.

- some questionable AI at times in the game. Seems some of the NFL 2k5 play calling issues have popped up.

-I like the kicking game, myself. I might have to plunk down and invest in a kicker, however, because the short kickoffs from the anonymous kickers are just killing me.

-I'm glad that you can modify your playbook as much as you can, but you should be able to do better than pick plays one at a time. On the other hand, I can kind of understand what VC were thinking, because a fully loaded formation has about seventeen pages, which is to say, way too many plays to flip through in ten seconds. It's more time than I want to spend if I want to properly customize my different teams, but I may just do it and be done with it.

-The uniform editors are surprisingly fun. I made a team of all 49ers and modified the LA uniforms to look like the old SF unis. Fun, fun and more fun. Looking forward to doing the Jets and creating Joe Namath to QB them.

-My offense has been very hit or miss. I've scored 7, 10, 0, 7, 38 and 45 points. Both my offensive explosions have come with my Marino/Payton tandem, so maybe that has something to do with it. The ball just flies out of Marino's hand.

-Pass rush in single player is terrific, but it's not quite as well done in multiplayer. Chris Doleman was a beast against the AI, but he got shut down against generic LTs once I went online. On the other hand, I had a lot of pressure coming at me when playing teams with stacked DLs, so who knows.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 3:33 am

I played 2 games in season mode and one thing that really stands out so far is that each team plays so differently based on the players they have. I got bowled over by a team that had emmit smith but dominated defensively another team where they didn't have that many pro stars.

So far so good. At the end of the day, it's still a $20 game. I guess that is good or bad.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:54 am

I like what I've played so far. In my opinion, 2K sports football players have always looked a little "different" than EA player models. Can't put my finger on it, but the way they animate and move is just different. It took me a few minutes to adjust, but once I did, I had a very enjoyable experience.

I played one online game and I had one of the coolest things happen that I have ever seen in a football game. At the end of the game, I was just messing around and trying to complete a bomb just to see if I could and I called this play called Alley Oop, which basically has 4 receivers line up on the right side and all go deep. My qb is Montana and I had Drew Pearson and John Taylor as two of my receivers. Anyway, time's running out and I have time for one more play. I call this Alley Oop play from about midfield. I throw the ball up and it hits a defender's hands in the front of the end zone, Drew Pearson dives for it and as he's stretched out on the ground, another defender tips the ball and it lands on Pearson's back. John Taylor is on the ground beside Pearson and reaches over and pulls the ball in for a TD. Before I could even get to the replay screen, the guy I was playing had already done it. He ran it from several different angles in super slow motion and it was just a thing of beauty to watch. I think he was convinced that the ball hit the ground, but it never did. That had to be one of the coolest moments I have ever seen in any sports game.

Personally, I like APF and I think there is definitely some fun to be had with it, but I really don't think it can be someone's only football game. It's a great change of pace, but I still need the NFL and NCAA. It's gonna be tough to get people other than us hardcore sports guys to drop 60 bucks on this game. I think this game would do much better at a $39.99 price point, which I am betting it will be at before Madden even comes out.

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:18 am

Somebody with a very good (if twisted) sense of humor put together the following clip on GT:

http://gametrailers.com/player/22431.html

ROFLMAO

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:48 am

The fact that you can make a team called the Cleveland Steamers is worth the price of admission.

Really enjoying the refinements to the engine, even the kicking game. Visuals are great (minus the field textures) and the legends/fictional team approach agrees with me more than I thought it might. I had a run with Sanders last night that I just loved... teammates actively seeking out defenders and making blocks, while I slipped between for 20+ yards. It was beautiful.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:58 am

Slumberland wrote:The fact that you can make a team called the Cleveland Steamers is worth the price of admission.

They can play their arch rivals, the San Francisco Glory Holes.

Thanks for the impressions. The game does sound like fun, and if the price drops I could see myself picking this up.

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:58 am

I have a couple of questions regarding how the rosters are decided.

If you're playing an exhibition game, do you select your team prior to the game?

If you select Payton as you RB, could he still be on another team, or just yours?

Do the CPU get re-shuffled at all (exhibition or season), or are guys like Montana and OJ always going to be on the Minutemen?

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:08 am

Brando70 wrote:The game does sound like fun, and if the price drops I could see myself picking this up.

Yes... at $40 this game should be a no-brainer. I am hard-wired to support anything with a uniform editor, however, so my sixty smackeroos never had a chance.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:30 am

At $40 I'd have it right now, thanks to these positive impressions. Not at $60, though. Stupid gamefly had this listed as 'available now' when I cleared a spot on my queue by buying Crackdown (thanks to some gamefly bucks it wasn't a terrible deal) but it never showed up on my 'games you have out' list. This morning it appears as 'low availability.' Looks like I might get this by the time the playoffs start. . . .

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:32 am

I'll give these a shot, but am not 100% sure.

matthewk wrote:I have a couple of questions regarding how the rosters are decided.

If you're playing an exhibition game, do you select your team prior to the game?

The first thing you do in this game is make a team. You can make 8 of them and edit them at will. So in single player exhibition you choose which user made team to play and then which preset team to play.

If you select Payton as you RB, could he still be on another team, or just yours?

I'm not sure but in exhibition but I am pretty sure the way it works is if you select a legend for your team, he doesn't appear on a pre-set team during season play. I could be wrong.

Do the CPU get re-shuffled at all (exhibition or season), or are guys like Montana and OJ always going to be on the Minutemen?

I doubt it shuffles in exhibition as for season see my above answer. But I think the answer is No. The pre set teams are set and there is no way to edit them.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:37 am

Gotta tell you I really had a great time with this last night, much better time then I had with NCAA last night. Although I think i will get more play time out of NCAA eventually I was just having more fun with APF.

I think it has somethign to do with I haven't played this game style in several years, so while it is no different them 2K5 it feels very fresh to me. That may wear off, especially if the DB's keep doing dumb things and If I start feeling like i am fighting to control my defender. But right now it is a breath of fresh air.

I tell you one thing it is making me realize, all sports games should be on a two year dev cycle.