GameSpy Review of All-Pro Football 2K8

All-Pro Football 2K8 would have been an excellent NFL 2K6. Unfortunately, the game has just been released a couple years too late. The team clearly hasn't kept up with the competition in terms of graphics and presentation, as this year's game doesn't look that much better than the last outing. On the other hand, there's a lot to like here. The concept behind the game is perhaps the only way one could realistically compete with EA's NFL license. By featuring the most iconic players from football's history, you can put together rosters that are a who's who of NFL greats. But even with a league made up of all-legend teams, you need the gameplay to back it up. Fans of NFL 2K will be pleased to know that in terms of raw playability, All-Pro delivers.

Late to the Party

Graphics are the first thing most people notice, which may keep the broader audience from being too excited about APF 2K8. You'll often wish that you didn't have to sit through so many close-ups, as players have a fish-like appearance to their mouths and their eyes have a tendency to awkwardly roll back into their heads. These guys just don't look very good. The player models haven't gotten much better since NFL 2K5, and the crowds are laughably bad, a collection of colored boxes and wiggly flesh-toned pixels. If you're looking for a visual showcase for your system, All-Pro should be pretty far down your list.

Legends of the Game

It's important to discuss the niche that All-Pro Football 2K8 is trying to carve out for itself in the EA-dominated football market as well. Die-hard football fans will probably want to play with today's athletes, and keep up with regular roster updates, but there's definitely a place for throwback aficionados and lovers of the game's history. This first step is an important one, but one that should be improved upon in order to assure future success. Simply put, for a game with a "hall of famer" concept, you need more of the top guys.


The Quarterback position is well served with Dan Marino, John Elway, Joe Montana and older greats like Johnny U, Otto Graham, and Roger Staubach available in the gold star tier. It's a good list. Wide receiver, however, is nearly dominated by Jerry Rice, one of only four players available at that position at the top tier. Where's Cris Carter, Lynn Swann, and Lance Alworth? Joe Perry shouldn't be the only gold-star fullback on the roster. All-time greats like Jim Brown, Bronko Nagurski and Larry Csonka should all be here.

Where's the Real LT?

On the defensive side of the ball, the rosters are also split between the robust and the sorely neglected. Some of the top pass rushers of all time are in the game, and the in-game versions of Reggie White and Gino Marchetti are absolute monsters, but Lawrence Taylor needs to be talked out of his contract with Midway's Blitz license. It's a travesty that the greatest defensive player of all time isn't included here.

A game featuring retired greats can definitely succeed, but if you can't get the NFL license, you'd better be able to pony up the dollars to get more of the top guys in your game. This is a great start, but without a deep enough character creation system, it's difficult to make realistic versions of your favorite hall of famers. Perhaps a create-a-player mode with more than six faces to choose from or an option for adding facial hair will be more useful in a future game. You also can't name your own teams, so the closest you'll get to the Miami Dolphins is something like the San Francisco Sharks, or the Hialeah D's. As it stands, there's no real reason to create your own guys or your own custom teams, since the players included in the game have more abilities than the custom guys, and the included teams have the more impressive stadiums. That being said, it's plenty of fun to field a team with Walter Payton or Barry Sanders at halfback, and taking part in the magic as it happens. The way players work, which is fairly ingenious, is that players are not ranked in terms of attribute specific ratings like speed, tackling, or hands. Instead, each player can have up to five special abilities that differentiate them from other players at that position. Barry, for instance, can break tackles by pressing the A button, is quick out of cuts, has quick feet, top notch speed, and has second-level spin and juke moves. Is there really a difference between a 96 speed rated running back and a 92? With 2K's system, each player has clearly defined abilities that immediately impact their performance on the field.

He's Got Moves

These are game-breaking abilities, and really set the star players apart from the rest. The effect they have on gameplay is enormous, but this is perfectly in line with what these players were able to accomplish on the field. Don't feel that you're wasting a gold star slot on an offensive lineman like Anthony Munoz, for example. He'll not only keep your QB composed in the pocket, but his quick feet, strength, and run-blocking skills will clear lanes that a grandmother could run through. This makes an enormous impact on your offense throughout the course of a game. The hardest part about evaluating what each player can bring to your team is in deciding where to spend those two gold star slots for your team. Allowing you to choose only two of these guys is really tough.

While it would be fine if every team had two gold star players available to them, it's infuriating to play against CPU teams that can field up to six gold star guys on a team. Sure, you can beat them if you're playing on the proper difficulty setting, but it feels like a very artificial way of ramping up the difficulty as you progress through the season.

While there may be issues with the implementation of the game's legend concept, the gameplay is pure football. While the players aren't as detailed as you'd like, the animations on the field are absolutely awesome. It's easy to see why EA tried to force 2K out of the market, as this game truly captures the collisions, the athleticism, and the drama of NFL football. Watch a player snatch up a tipped pass right before it touches the ground, or stare in awe as a receiver drags his back foot to keep a catch inbounds, and you'll see what makes this an incredibly playable game.

The Greatest of All Time

It's hard to decide between what's more impressive, watching Dan Marino put together a game-winning drive, witnessing an acrobatic catch in the corner of the end zone by Jerry Rice, or watching Barry Sanders dance around defenders and break multiple tackles before taking one all the way. Some might say it's even more fun to club an offensive lineman upside the head with Deacon Jones before destroying an opposing QB, or having Ronnie Lott lay a wicked hit on an unlucky receiver going over the middle and making him cough up the ball. Experiences like these really make the game. Gang tackles and player collisions feel just right, and there are lots of fun little gameplay touches that a player can strive towards mastering. High and low tackles, big hits, and reach tackles are all available to you on the defensive end, as well as the ability to quickly have linebackers or defensive backs home in on opposing players. If you've got an opponent's Randall Cunningham scrambling on you with reckless abandon, have Mike Singletary keep an eye on him and you'll soon see the quick-footed former Eagle become too scared to leave the pocket.

Money Plays

There's an incredibly huge playbook available, with only a fraction of the plays included in the default playbook. You can load up on trick plays like flea-flickers, bootlegs and halfback passes, or you can simply add different line formations to choose ideal blocking situations for your running lanes. Choosing plays tailored to your specific superstars is a piece of cake as well, as hitting the top button on the face pad will bring up your star receivers and running backs. It's a quick and easy way to filter your playbook so that you can focus on your go-to guy.

The online play works well on Xbox 360 and on the PlayStation 3, although there are many more active players on Xbox Live. We had trouble getting a match going on the PS3 version, although we attribute this to a simple lack of players searching for contests online. There are thousands of players on Xbox Live at the moment, and if you have both consoles at home, you're better off picking up the 360 version. It's hard to tell the two apart visually, as both offer 1080p resolution with solid frame rates. The PS3 version looks a bit jaggier, but the online community is really what sets these apart. You'll have far better luck with online leagues and tournaments on the 360, at least currently.

Dan and Peter Gotta Go

All-Pro Football 2K8 desperately needs a franchise or owner's mode, as anything else in addition to the season mode would have been great. A fresh new commentary team should have been put together as well, as the fictional team of Dan Stevens and Peter O'Keefe mail this one in. Some commentators have a natural knack for providing humorous or engaging play-by-play commentary -- "you can't coach that." Their lines repeat far too often over the course of a game, and the cheese factor is a bit too much to stomach. At least the Z-Trip soundtrack features some great hip-hop MC's. The Rush song is way overplayed, though, and you may want to remove it from your playlist. Yes, Rush fans, there can be too much of a good thing.

All-Pro Football 2K8 is a decent comeback from Visual Concepts and 2K Sports. The game shipped with passable production values, dated graphics, and a minimal number of play modes, so it's hard to consider this a good value at the $59.99 price point. On the other hand, if you're a die-hard football fan and want to once again experience 2K's style of play, then this is your only option. It's plenty of fun to play alone, online, or with friends. In the end, isn't that all that really matters?

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