Note: This comparison pertains to the Xbox 360 versions only. All games played at the All Pro difficulty level.
I’m going to let you know right off the bat: I’m going to lament Electronic Art’s exclusivity deal with the NFL. I know this is old news, but it’s still irritating nonetheless. The whole thing is antithetical to the competitive aspect of both sports and capitalism. This pertains not only to the video game world, but also to the overall corporate scheme of the NFL, including the much maligned cable-rights dispute last year.
Hopefully the NFL comes to its senses and refuses to reward EA Sports with another monopoly when their exclusivity contract expires, thereby refusing to further alienate many fans like me, whose patience for such outright greed is growing thin. It’s awfully hypocritical for the NFL to condemn its players for deplorable behavior, when the league as a whole is so guilty of greed and exploitation of consumers and fans without whom the league would be nonexistent.
There, I’m done. I love football!
Kudos to 2K Sports for again finding a way to compete with the juggernaut that Madden has become. Many ESPN NFL 2K5 fans feared that 2K Sports was done with football after EA’s NFL exclusivity deal was announced. Happily, 2K has managed to release another great game this year and one that, regardless of NFL rights, should encourage further competition in football video game ingenuity.
Although the two games are very different in some fundamental and obvious ways, - and owning one isn’t necessarily a reason to not own the other - they nevertheless beg for and require comparison. And so, I humbly offer this comparison for consideration.
General – More and more Madden seems to be an arcade-style game that is year-in and year-out becoming increasingly dependent on implementing gimmicks, without tweaking the gameplay mechanics much at all. APF2K8, on the other hand, seems more dedicated to an ‘on-the-field’ experience, which I find much more satisfying. The only problems with 2K8’s approach are the bizarre death-mask-chewing-on-a-cud facial animation renderings and the absolutely embarrassingly terrible place-holder-quality voice acting. I applaud 2K for their efforts to make the game feel more authentic, but I feel they should’ve done better than to have what seems like interns approximate what they think John Elway might have sounded like on the field. I don’t know much about how he actually does sound, but I know this much: he doesn’t sound like a squeaky-voiced 22-year-old.
AFP2K8 has also continued with its sometimes lame color commentary and comparatively un-lame half-time and post-game shows, which I find entertaining and not necessarily superfluous. Madden eschews this approach in favor of getting you into and out of the game faster, which is very no-nonsense and can be appealing for those of us who just want to play and don’t want to have the game constantly interrupted by annoying announcer generalities.
Article comments
1 - Matt Paprocki
Kory, you've missed a number of points. Not sure what the "new catch pass" button feature is on Madden, but they have had that mapped to Y (or triangle) since the Playstation era. It's not new, and not required.
Your Madden pass completion percentage seems to counteract your claims of an increasingly arcade style game. If anything, Madden is becoming more like the 2K series in every aspect of its play, including the tough to beat defenders.
As for the franchise mode, you state:
"make it exclusively a part of 'Franchise Mode' and make any player available to use."
How would they make it exclusively in franchise mode? You're basically in the Franchise mode when you play it, piling up stats year after year. If you're only playing as a single player, it doesn't make much sense to run the front office at the same time.
I agree with making any player available, though it would seem counter active to be able to play as Brett Favre given what little time he likely has left. You already have the option to create a player and import a NCAA Legend.
This piece fails to recognize the number of improvements the Madden team has made, and this is from the standpoint of a longtime, die-hard 2K fan. You're complaints with Madden seem directly correlated to your playing skill, not with any major gameplay issues.