I wanted to believe in All-Pro Football 2K8…

I wanted to believe that a football game could not only exist but excel outside the confines of the NFL and its exclusive license.  I wanted to believe that the care and attention to detail of a terrific developer could outpace the lethargic stance of a financial juggernaut such as Electronic Arts.  I wanted to believe that APF 2K8 would keep me from spending more of my hard-earned money on the newest reiteration of the Madden franchise.

And so I sit with APF 2K8 (Xbox 360 version) finally in hand and find myself disappointed beyond description.  Perhaps I was expecting too much, but I can’t help but feel like I’ve once again paid $59 for a football game with $19 worth of content.

Since the red, white, and blue shield of the NFL (oops I probably owe the NFL some ungodly amount of $$$ for speaking their name in public without their expressed written consent) and its players were sold to the highest bidder, you’ll find only past legends of the game here.  This is evident from the second you start up the game, as you’re immediately tasked with creating your own team of 11 legends from a wide and diversified list.  The remainder of your roster will be filled out with cookie-cutter players that are so meaningless to your team and irrelevant to the outcome of future games that many of them will share the exact same jersey number.

On the field, the action is solid but not without fault.  Running the ball is a joy, as you’ll find APF 2K8 has some of the best blocking logic you’ll ever encounter.  Massive tackles like Tony Munoz will level the man in front of them before charging into the next level of defenders to cut the legs out from that pesky middle linebacker ready to blow up your play at the line of scrimmage.  Passing the ball is an average affair, pulled down by a horrendous amount of dropped balls by any receiver who is not a legend.  On the defensive side of the ball, you find more mediocrity as tackling is clunky and at times impossible when a back like Barry Sanders has the ball.  The advertised ‘Reach Tackling System’ is all but useless.  The kicking game is about on par with other football games although the actual kicking mechanic will take some getting used to and most non-legend kickers will consistently struggle connecting on any attempt longer than 30 yards.

The league itself feels flat and without substance, nothing more than a generic list of cities and clubs with no history or personality whatsoever.  Rivalries are non-existent, and while the over-the-top stadiums themselves are bursting with life and emotion it all come off as generic at best.  I guess I was expecting something along the lines of Blitz: The League which did an admiral job of conveying to the gamer that they were part of an established league with its own personality.

And why can’t I play as any of the pre-made teams?  In APF 2K8 the only teams playable are the ones that you personally assemble.  For a game that hypes freedom of play and customization, I sure felt shackled at the game setup screen.

Graphically the game is NFL 2K5 (Xbox) with a thin coat of next-gen gloss.  The presentation is still well ahead of the competition with great play-by-play commentary and a TV broadcast feel, but falls short when forcing you to endure a well-known legend speak mindless trash talk in a generic voice nothing close to his own.  And why is Barry Sander’s cabbage-patching after a touchdown?  Has the world gone mad?

The game’s biggest strength lies in its online play.  You’ll be able to take your self-made teams online for a solo match or even join a full online league or tournament (see EA it can be done).  Online games run smoothly with little to no lag and finding competition never seems to be a problem.

Even after dishing out all this criticism, I hope the game sells well enough to green-light All-Pro Football 2K9 if nothing more than for the sake of competition in this sect of the industry.  But for the time, I’ll just have to swallow my pride and buy Madden 08.

I wanted to believe in All-Pro Football 2K8 but I just can’t.