All-Pro Football 2K8

"We judge to quickly!"

Finally the time has come to once again bask in the warmth of 2k's football franchise. For 3 years 2K has been nowhere to be seen when it comes to football all because of Madden's football license. However, 2K found a way around that by employing major football stars who are retired and creating an exceptional game out of it. All Pro 2K8 is the game that everyone videogames need in order to prove to the NFL that no one video game company should hold an NFL (or MLB) license. Before we go on I will say that I am a huge ESPN NFL 2K5 fan, however that doesn't mean that I am not going to take a lot of shots at this game, and I mean a lot!

Graphics and Animation
Insanely beautiful. This is easily the best feature in the game because the games has a huge variety of character animations and great looking graphics. The legends in this game look almost exactly like they do in real life. Replays allow you to see every nook and cranny of detail in character models and sideline characters actually become excited or react to game situations, rather than one of your players running straight through them like in Madden. The game looks and feels like a football game should and is pretty much eye candy.

Game play and Controls
Solid, yet repetitive. The game has all the controls that you would expect to see in the original ESPN NFL 2k5, and that's both good and bad. You can still make hot routes and pull off special moves, you can still set up defensive audible and virtually do every that you did in ESPN NFL 2k5. But there's the problem, the game plays the exact same as it's predecessor it becomes very repetitive after a while. Also, the QB scramble feature is very limited and can aggravate you because the quarterback doesn't immediately go to scramble mode. Kicking is okay, but can also become aggravating if you kick the ball too late. I've also experienced glitches where my running back just dives out of nowhere and I constantly get frustrated when an all-star running back can't execute a simple juke or spin at last second. Overall it's still a good game to play after you become experienced.

Create
This game harps on creating but fails to produce. You start the game by creating a team of 11 legends which is fun but becomes pretty dull after you've found the right team. I don't think there are enough legends for this game and they should have an 11 man scrub roster for you to pick from also. These players can also be legends, just not the greatest of all time. You also can customize just about every aspect of your team from color to location you play at, from logo to clothes which actually is funny because you can make your team look like an actual NFL team. You also have to select the non-elite players on your team and give them qualities that you think are essential to your team, however it just feels off when you start to play and your scrub player plays awful in comparison to the rest of your team. The game allows you to create players but this feature is very limited, especially on facial features likes face variety and beards. I tried to create Lorenzo Neal but he ultimately looked lack luster and I could only give him 3 all-star qualities on gold. And that's probably the biggest problem with this game, you have to unlock every single trophy in order to get more qualities and you can't play as pre-created teams by the 2K staff. You can't change the names of your scrubs, you can't even give them stats, and it's all on the abilities system. This is a good idea but it just fails overall and really lowers your appreciation for the game. Creating a playbook is actually the most enjoyable part of creating because you can have pretty much any play you can think of in your playbook and that's definitely a plus.

Presentation
If there's one thing that All Pro does extremely well, it's there presentation and color commentators. Dan Stevenson and Peter O'kieffe do the commentary for this game, but it's all pulled from NFL 2k5 and only has a few more sayings. This just shows that this part of the game was very rushed. Without the ESPN commentators this game misses the mark in this category. They definitely need to work on the half time and post game show and they just need new commentators in my opinion. The songs in the game are all good but there all Z-trip remixes, and that's both good and bad as you'll enjoy some songs and hate others. They do give you a free download for all those songs so that is definitely a plus. The fans in the game cheer and boo when the time is write and they don't always dance like crazed lunatics from every madden game. When players score touchdowns and commit sacks they will celebrate and actually talk to each other. Although somewhat corny, the fact that the players talk is a nifty feature.

Other Features
There are some but it's probably one the worst parts of the game. Season mode is one season and that's it, it makes you wonder why they call it 2k8 rather than just All-Pro Football. There are no leveling up player stats or drafting new players, but how can 2k do any of this without a football license? The game is built on quick play mode and facing off with other opponent created teams. No matter what online mode is solid and you get to face off with combinations of different players. Probably the coolest feature is the ticker on the bottom that gives you headlines and stats of actual games while you play.

Overall
I'm giving this game a 7 out of 10 because it is 2K's first jump from old consoles to next-gen, and they did make an enjoyable football experience for everyone who has or hasn't played this game. It does have a lot of missing features like no franchise mode and a lot of the game feels ripped from ESPN NFL 2k5, but that's why this is the first game and it's obviously really hard for 2K to work with no football license.

Now before you go off on me saying that I am just a 2K fan and madden hater and that Madden 2008 is 10 times better than All-pro, well let me clarify that you are right. I said it, Madden 2008 is a better game than All-pro 2k8 by far because they have had 3 years to create features and add a lot to their game. BUT Madden 2008 isn't the game that we should be comparing All-pro 2k8 to. Like the title says, we judge to quickly because we should be comparing this game to the FIRST next-gen madden game which was Madden 2006. Compared to Madden 2006 this game destroys Madden and is clearly dominate and has more features and more creativity than Madden 2006. It's impossible to control and enjoy Madden 2006 because All-Pro 2k8 dominates the game in every category. Don't believe me, well rent both games and tell me what you think. This is proof that Madden fears (or had feared in 2005) 2K and is hiding behind there NFL license to get people to forget about every football game except theirs. You're probably thinking it's unfair that I compare Madden 06 to All-pro 2k8, but is it anymore fair to compare Madden 2008 which has had 3 years on next-gen to All-pro 2k8 who is just dipping there toes in the water? I really do think that we judge to quickly.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/11/07

Game Release: All-Pro Football 2K8 (US, 07/16/07)