When the NFL sold their soul, I mean, exclusivity rights, to EA Sports,
what was a competitive genre for games became a struggle to find a
niche outside of the NFL (for everyone whose name isn't Madden, that
is). Midway found success early on with Blitz: The League, although
comparing EA's franchise to B:tL is like comparing apples to
steroid-pumping, foul-mouthed oranges with severe anger issues.
It took them a while longer, but 2K Sports and Visual Concepts believe
that they have found their niche, by offering Madden-esque gameplay,
but instead using names you know from the history of the NFL (unlike
Midway's LT and Romo, most of the roster of stars 2K has assembled are
widely respectable, OJ Simpson comments aside) since they can't use the
names you know from today's game. Also gone are the numerical stats,
replaced with gold, silver, and bronze stars, and 'attributes' like
Pocket Presence and Brick Wall. This is very effective for the game,
since it avoids questions of who is the better quarterback, Dan Marino
or John Elway, but details what each quarterback excelled at - Dan's
Quick Release and John's Cadence, for example.
The gameplay experience begins by prompting you to create your first
team - not only what players you will have in what positions, but your
team name, city, stadium, and entire look, which can be incredibly
satisfying. Your team's strength is preset - two gold players, three
silver, and six bronze. This is a key point to part of the game's real
value, which I'll address shortly.
After you create your team, you are automatically dropped into a 'quick
match' setup screen, which may prompt you to wonder if you accidentally
bypassed the menu screen. No, in fact, there is no menu screen, a menu
overlay can be brought up using the right thumbstick. I found this to
be a clumsy and unintuitive mechanic, and far inferior to the
traditional interface.
So now, you think, it's time to start up the single-player mode. This
may or may not be true. If you haven't played 2K5 since... well, 2K5,
then you'll need to go through a quick match or two to figure out the
game - there are no tutorials on game mechanics. If you are an Xbox 360
Achievement... enthusiast, you'll need to play through the season
mode... several times... to get all the achievements available, and for
that I pity you. And since it's a pretty fair description of myself,
there's some feeling sorry for myself that goes along with it. If
neither of these two descriptions fit you, don't bother with the
single-player mode. It may as well not exist. There is no incentive, no
impetus to progress through the season, no sense of drama or
progression other than playing through a string of games. Also, your
opponents may have as many as six (SIX!) gold star players, or as few
as none. This lends itself to the game feeling horribly unbalanced at
times. This mode is not fun, and it seems as if the developers just
skimmed over it, as if it wasn't important.
The multiplayer mode... ohhhh, the multiplayer mode. Games can be set
up as single games, tournaments, or even entire leagues. You are
playing only with other people's created teams - which means two gold
stars, three silver, six bronze for EVERYBODY. No one team is really
stronger than any other, there is only well-built and less so. Finding
games, tournaments, and leagues is easy and intuitive. Clearly, the
bulk, if not the entirety, of your experience with this game should be
spent online.
As for presentation, the sounds of the game are wonderful, and the
majority of player animations are attractive and realistic, although
the player models are thin and lanky (typical for 2K football) and
voiced not-so-well. The arenas are animated beautifully, and the
commentators are colorful, perhaps even too much so, and in the case of
reporting injuries, inaccurate.
If you are looking for a single-player football experience, this game
is not even to be considered, there's simply not enough value here.
However, this is, quite likely, the most detailed, strategic, and
faithful online multiplayer football experience that has ever come out
for any system. If you enjoy multiplayer football, or never played it
but want to give it a shot, this game comes highly recommended. With
any luck, All-Pro Football 2K9 will be the total package.
