ScottyP
July 18th, 2007, 08:22 AM
So I finally got to play a few games last night and after getting the feel of the controls and timing again, I settled in and played a few games. So far, very impressed. My rundown is as follows.
Menus/Presentation Horrible. What's with the scrolling through menus and the selected one gets larger crap. Let's leave that to the Macs. It wouldn't be so bad, but everything ends up looking mashed together. The menus could have been much cleaner. They work, but don't look very nice.
Presentation is alright. The field pass thing is kind of pointless. They could have cut to players without having to call it something. I'd prefer to see better stat overlays than my QB saying that we need a first down. No kidding.....
Created team - I threw a team together and a uniform, set the options and difficulty and immediately started a season with the San Francisco Pride. I realized at that point that my team sucked and would need some changes. Plus, my away uniform was totally white and atrocious to look at on screen. The edges of the uniform just made it look as though my team was floating above the field or something. I forgot to change up the away uniform while in the editor. Oops. Exited, changed up the team, and uniform colors and started the season over. Flattened the first team with OJ rushing for almost 200 yards and Theisman throwing for 150 or so. Then I realized that I hadn't turned the difficulty up after I restarted the season mode. Oops again.
Gameplay - Amazing. The work at the line of scrimmage is the best I've seen in a football game to date. Rips and swims work like they should, pass protection works like it should, holes open up where you would expect them to .... until that beast at MLB stuffs up your lane. The QB is no longer a scramble around and chuck the rock 60 yards position. You either stay put and hope your protection holds or move out and get rid of the ball short or throw it away. The wind up for long throws is fantastic. Want to throw a 50 yard bomb? It's going to take you a second to get it off. I got sacked a couple of times thinking I could just flick the ball down the field in the blink of an eye. The couple that I did get off to receivers that had come open were awesome.
The rest of the passing game is dialed as well. Screens actually work. The player runs through the ball and doesn't just stop out there. 3 or 5 step drops ... you better know which one you picked or your timing will be off with your receivers. To those people who say the recievers don't run routes fast enough .... I don't see it. The game speed is perfect even at the default settings.
The momentum takes a little getting used to, but isn't unrealistic. It's just different. Make sure you know where you want to head because if you get moving the wrong way, it takes a bit to get going a different direction.
Generic Players Haven't really got a feel for these guys yet. I have a WR who does ok and is great on kick returns and my TE got open for a TD catch. They drop an awful lot of balls though. I'm going to have to work on switching to them and manually catching the ball. On defense, they can be suspect if they don't have a little help at times. Going up against a legend can be a challenge, especially if you are slightly out of position.
Graphics/Animation Not the quantum leap forward that I would have hoped for, but certainly a step above 2K5. Colors are vibrant and the stadiums look great. Animation is top notch. Watch the way a receiver adjusts constantly while running under a deep ball or what a DT finally beat his man at the line. Animations are smooth. There are a few hitches cutting in between field pass and the actual gameplay, but it is very minor and still better than other football offerings.
Sound The hits sound terrific. Big shots sound like a train wreck and the crowd comes alive after a big play. The players talking is a little cheesy and sort of robotic sounding, but it adds something unique to the game. The soundtrack could be better, but that is just a personal opinion.
Pros
Great controls
Pretty animations
Sound effects
Infinite possibilities on how to build a team
Cons
No franchise - This is the big one
Computer teams are always the same
Inability to edit or control any other teams
The "custom" stuff is really pretty limited.
So far, I'm liking it and it should keep me busy for quite some time just tinkering around with building what I consider the perfect team. I'll look forward to a newer version with all the modes in place, cleaned up menus and more customization.
Menus/Presentation Horrible. What's with the scrolling through menus and the selected one gets larger crap. Let's leave that to the Macs. It wouldn't be so bad, but everything ends up looking mashed together. The menus could have been much cleaner. They work, but don't look very nice.
Presentation is alright. The field pass thing is kind of pointless. They could have cut to players without having to call it something. I'd prefer to see better stat overlays than my QB saying that we need a first down. No kidding.....
Created team - I threw a team together and a uniform, set the options and difficulty and immediately started a season with the San Francisco Pride. I realized at that point that my team sucked and would need some changes. Plus, my away uniform was totally white and atrocious to look at on screen. The edges of the uniform just made it look as though my team was floating above the field or something. I forgot to change up the away uniform while in the editor. Oops. Exited, changed up the team, and uniform colors and started the season over. Flattened the first team with OJ rushing for almost 200 yards and Theisman throwing for 150 or so. Then I realized that I hadn't turned the difficulty up after I restarted the season mode. Oops again.
Gameplay - Amazing. The work at the line of scrimmage is the best I've seen in a football game to date. Rips and swims work like they should, pass protection works like it should, holes open up where you would expect them to .... until that beast at MLB stuffs up your lane. The QB is no longer a scramble around and chuck the rock 60 yards position. You either stay put and hope your protection holds or move out and get rid of the ball short or throw it away. The wind up for long throws is fantastic. Want to throw a 50 yard bomb? It's going to take you a second to get it off. I got sacked a couple of times thinking I could just flick the ball down the field in the blink of an eye. The couple that I did get off to receivers that had come open were awesome.
The rest of the passing game is dialed as well. Screens actually work. The player runs through the ball and doesn't just stop out there. 3 or 5 step drops ... you better know which one you picked or your timing will be off with your receivers. To those people who say the recievers don't run routes fast enough .... I don't see it. The game speed is perfect even at the default settings.
The momentum takes a little getting used to, but isn't unrealistic. It's just different. Make sure you know where you want to head because if you get moving the wrong way, it takes a bit to get going a different direction.
Generic Players Haven't really got a feel for these guys yet. I have a WR who does ok and is great on kick returns and my TE got open for a TD catch. They drop an awful lot of balls though. I'm going to have to work on switching to them and manually catching the ball. On defense, they can be suspect if they don't have a little help at times. Going up against a legend can be a challenge, especially if you are slightly out of position.
Graphics/Animation Not the quantum leap forward that I would have hoped for, but certainly a step above 2K5. Colors are vibrant and the stadiums look great. Animation is top notch. Watch the way a receiver adjusts constantly while running under a deep ball or what a DT finally beat his man at the line. Animations are smooth. There are a few hitches cutting in between field pass and the actual gameplay, but it is very minor and still better than other football offerings.
Sound The hits sound terrific. Big shots sound like a train wreck and the crowd comes alive after a big play. The players talking is a little cheesy and sort of robotic sounding, but it adds something unique to the game. The soundtrack could be better, but that is just a personal opinion.
Pros
Great controls
Pretty animations
Sound effects
Infinite possibilities on how to build a team
Cons
No franchise - This is the big one
Computer teams are always the same
Inability to edit or control any other teams
The "custom" stuff is really pretty limited.
So far, I'm liking it and it should keep me busy for quite some time just tinkering around with building what I consider the perfect team. I'll look forward to a newer version with all the modes in place, cleaned up menus and more customization.