Battling From Your Couch, 2008 Edition
EA vs. 2k Football and Hockey Executive Summary
Electronic Arts typically sells more sports videogames than some countries' entire exports. This, however, does not mean that EA puts out a great product every year. In the football realm, 2K had done an admirable job at it's NFL 2k franchise, and had arguably made a better game of football than EA had. Then the NFL made the unforgiveable move of granting EA the exclusive rights to NFL football for videogames. Well, 3 years later, 2k is back with a new football game that uses an imaginary league, but with Hall of Fame NFL legends. On the hockey side, 2k had also made a game that was arguably better than EA's only to have EA close the gap last year on the 360. Now we have full on competition, which is good for gamers. But which is better? Allow me to inform you of which next gen games are worth your money.
There are many gamers around who believe that EA is a lazy developer that puts out buggy games that have multiple flaws and issues. I share in that sentiment wholeheartedly. While there is no doubt that EA takes the crown this year in both football and hockey, that is not to say that there aren't certain issues with the games EA has released. It seems that when EA takes 2 steps forward they always take an additional step backwards.
Madden NFL 08 on the 360/PS3 is easily a better game than All Pro Football 2k8. It looks better, plays better and has more substance. The time off from being in the football game race shows on 2k. APF has a season mode....and that's it. No franchise. No dynasty. Just one season. You can, of course, play with a host of NFL legends like Elway, Payton and Montana. But you're playing on imaginary teams in an imaginary league. To top it off, the gameplay is just not as polished as EA's product is. Madden 08 looks magnificent, plays smooth and has a ridiculously deep franchise mode. If you own a Nintendo Wii, Madden is your only choice, of course. But while that game doesn't have the polish and features of it's 360/PS3 cousins, it does once again make great use of the Wii's unique controller. But Madden Wii does have a few "last gen" issues and bugs and it's online play is very choppy. But for those with a 360 or PS3, there really isn't much of a choice, in this gamer's opinion. Madden is a far superior game.
On the hockey side, 2k has out and out stolen the "skill stick" from EA and called it the "pro stick". Basically you control the puck with the right analog stick. In EA's game you also use the right stick to shoot, whereas in 2k you use one of the trigger buttons to shoot, which ends up being a bit awkward. Basically, EA has overhauled the AI in the game to make it very, very difficult to score, where you will score bunches in 2k's game. The hitting is toned down in EA's game, while the hitting is much more bombastic in 2k. It used to be that EA had the arcade syle game, while 2K was more of a sim. That has now switched entirely. 2k's game is now much more arcadey, while EA's game is a very good sim. EA's game has what EA called "adaptive AI" where the opponent adapts to your moves. It makes defense very difficult for the human player, and also makes offense more challenging because the CPU player will adapt if you keep doing the same things. The CPU goalies are also very difficult to score on. Almost too difficult. You'll play a lot of 2-1 games, and lose many of them for the first while. Even when you get good at it, you still won't score a ton. Your goals look and feel organic, as the physics engine is far superior to what 2k has to offer. But you score so infrequently that it almost seems random when you do. You can set up the box, cycle the puck and make a great play, only to have the goalie make a save that no human could possibly make in real life.
Both hockey games have deep and rewarding franchise modes. 2k's game actually has more depth than EA, but it's menus sometimes are achaic and don't make sense. 2k also has a host of really fun mini games and content that EA doesn't have. The pond hockey in 2k is a lot of fun again this year. But the full-on NHL experience is found in EA's game. The game just feels like real hockey.
One final note is that many of EA's NHL 08 disks for the 360 and PS3 have had an issue with the burning process and the reult is that the game will freeze a lot or you will get "Disk Read Errors". So if you can actually get a disk that works, EA's game is the better one this year.
Electronic Arts typically sells more sports videogames than some countries' entire exports. This, however, does not mean that EA puts out a great product every year. In the football realm, 2K had done an admirable job at it's NFL 2k franchise, and had arguably made a better game of football than EA had. Then the NFL made the unforgiveable move of granting EA the exclusive rights to NFL football for videogames. Well, 3 years later, 2k is back with a new football game that uses an imaginary league, but with Hall of Fame NFL legends. On the hockey side, 2k had also made a game that was arguably better than EA's only to have EA close the gap last year on the 360. Now we have full on competition, which is good for gamers. But which is better? Allow me to inform you of which next gen games are worth your money.
There are many gamers around who believe that EA is a lazy developer that puts out buggy games that have multiple flaws and issues. I share in that sentiment wholeheartedly. While there is no doubt that EA takes the crown this year in both football and hockey, that is not to say that there aren't certain issues with the games EA has released. It seems that when EA takes 2 steps forward they always take an additional step backwards.
Madden NFL 08 on the 360/PS3 is easily a better game than All Pro Football 2k8. It looks better, plays better and has more substance. The time off from being in the football game race shows on 2k. APF has a season mode....and that's it. No franchise. No dynasty. Just one season. You can, of course, play with a host of NFL legends like Elway, Payton and Montana. But you're playing on imaginary teams in an imaginary league. To top it off, the gameplay is just not as polished as EA's product is. Madden 08 looks magnificent, plays smooth and has a ridiculously deep franchise mode. If you own a Nintendo Wii, Madden is your only choice, of course. But while that game doesn't have the polish and features of it's 360/PS3 cousins, it does once again make great use of the Wii's unique controller. But Madden Wii does have a few "last gen" issues and bugs and it's online play is very choppy. But for those with a 360 or PS3, there really isn't much of a choice, in this gamer's opinion. Madden is a far superior game.
On the hockey side, 2k has out and out stolen the "skill stick" from EA and called it the "pro stick". Basically you control the puck with the right analog stick. In EA's game you also use the right stick to shoot, whereas in 2k you use one of the trigger buttons to shoot, which ends up being a bit awkward. Basically, EA has overhauled the AI in the game to make it very, very difficult to score, where you will score bunches in 2k's game. The hitting is toned down in EA's game, while the hitting is much more bombastic in 2k. It used to be that EA had the arcade syle game, while 2K was more of a sim. That has now switched entirely. 2k's game is now much more arcadey, while EA's game is a very good sim. EA's game has what EA called "adaptive AI" where the opponent adapts to your moves. It makes defense very difficult for the human player, and also makes offense more challenging because the CPU player will adapt if you keep doing the same things. The CPU goalies are also very difficult to score on. Almost too difficult. You'll play a lot of 2-1 games, and lose many of them for the first while. Even when you get good at it, you still won't score a ton. Your goals look and feel organic, as the physics engine is far superior to what 2k has to offer. But you score so infrequently that it almost seems random when you do. You can set up the box, cycle the puck and make a great play, only to have the goalie make a save that no human could possibly make in real life.
Both hockey games have deep and rewarding franchise modes. 2k's game actually has more depth than EA, but it's menus sometimes are achaic and don't make sense. 2k also has a host of really fun mini games and content that EA doesn't have. The pond hockey in 2k is a lot of fun again this year. But the full-on NHL experience is found in EA's game. The game just feels like real hockey.
One final note is that many of EA's NHL 08 disks for the 360 and PS3 have had an issue with the burning process and the reult is that the game will freeze a lot or you will get "Disk Read Errors". So if you can actually get a disk that works, EA's game is the better one this year.
posted by Deathsdoorstep at
8:48 a.m.
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