NFL Fever (2002):

Highs: One of the very first games to appear on Xbox Live.
Lows:  Just about everything.  
Comments: Despite being available during the beta-testing period of Xbox Live, this game was very poor in terms of actual playability.  NFL Fever wasn't exactly a sim game, nor was it an arcade-type football title.   Issues such as no player fatigue and embellished player attributes made NFL Fever very one-dimensional, and very boring.
Score: 2.0
 

NFL 2K3 (2002):

Highs: Online football, satisfactory graphics, tight controls, very good on-field experience.
Lows: "Money plays" that were near unstoppable, "double trigger trick" that could easily be exploited by users of powerful runningbacks, innaccurate player ratings, and the ever present "divergence errors" between online gamers.
Comments: 2K did well considering that this was their first game for Xbox Live.  Several league rules needed to be set in place to ensure that game-flaws would not be exploited.  Some NFL player ratings were woefully inaccurate.
Score: 8.0

Madden 2003 (2002):

Highs: Madden card system allows for decent replay value offline.  Decent on-field experience.
Lows: No online play.  Player models are very outdated.
Comments: Madden 2003 is yet another minor evolution in the series, not a revolution.
Score: 7.5

NFL 2K4 (2003):

Highs: The removal of several glitches that were exploited in 2K3.  
Lows: The overly embellished running game.  Too many consumers complained that rushing was too difficult in 2K3, so Visual-Concepts tweaked the running game..........too much.  The balance between passing and rushing suddenly became lopsided in 2K4, as did special teams play.   Also, "The Crib" was a complete waste of storage space on the disc; there was no need for this portion of the game.  More development time should have been invested for the on-field experience rather than the "bonus" of getting a hotline call from David Arquette or Carmen Electra.
Comments: Too much emphasis was placed on The Crib instead of where it should have been: on the field.  This game was a minor setback compared to its predecessor.
Score: 7.0

Madden 2004 (2003):

Not available for review.


NFL 2K5 (2004):

Highs: Tight gameplay, improved visuals, online league play.
Lows: Inaccurate and inconsistant player ratings (w/online updates), online divergence errors, questionable defensive A.I. in the secondary.
Comments: A huge improvement over 2K4, 2K5 provided the experience that we had been looking for (despite its flaws).  The divergence errors still created several issues during online league play. It's quite unfortunate that 2K Sports lost the NFL license to EA Sports; an NFL 2K6 would have been stellar.
Score: 8.5

Madden 2005 (2004):

Not available for review

Madden 2006 (2005):

Highs: Only online football game for the Xbox 360 at launch.  Also, the only game with the NFL license.
Lows: The passing game, inconsistent experiences with A.I..  Not many extras.  Very poor showing for a "next-gen" title.
Comments: A very poor appearance for the Madden franchise, possibly the worst ever.
Score: 5.0

Madden 2007 (2006):

Highs: Improvement over Madden 2006.  Updated player rosters via Xbox Live.  Good stadium renderings.
Lows: Again, little to no improvement over player models;  Martin Grammatica looks to have the same build as David Boston. Very suspect defensive A.I., "frame boosting" for LBs, inconsistent gameplay where it seems (through hundreds of hours of experience) that gamers may not have complete control over the outcome of a game.  "A.I. interference" seems to be too common an occurence.  Questionable team/player rating adjustments from Xbox Live updates.  Many in-game glitches and reality flaws affect the outcome of games.  No challenging poorly called (and clearly erroneous) play results. Unrealistic passing when on the run.  Does not follow NFL rules with regard to illegal forward passes, two-feet rule for sideline catches, pass interference, the distance a ball must travel for onside kickoffs, etc.
Comments:  Madden 2007 was a huge improvement over Madden 2006, however, it had its own set of flaws to contend with.  Too problematic for online league play due to the many glitches coupled with A.I. interference (that directly influenced the outcome of many games).  EA should no longer use their old slogan, "If it's in the game, it's in the game."  There isn't much realism to be found in Madden 2007.
Score: 6.0
 

All-Pro Football 2K8 (2007):

Highs: More realistic on-field experience than Madden 2007.  Improved blocking, more "intelligent" players. Realistic animations.  Decent roster of former NFL players.  Fantastic stadium renderings. Excellent pre-snap tweaking ability for offense and defense.  Online league play.
Lows: Somewhat generic feel to game.  Recycled playbook and commentary from NFL 2K5. Questionable omissions to legendary roster: no Eric Dickerson, Jim Brown, Tony Dorsett, Herschel Walker, Cris Carter, Tim Brown, Steve Largeant, Lawrence Taylor, Darrell Green...  There are simply not enough players to draft in a 20+ team league (customs not considered).

The fact that O.J. Simpson is in the game and can be put on a team called the "Assassins."   This illustrated low-class on the part of 2K Sports.  Most gamers and football fans would have much rather seen the likes of Jim Brown, Erik Dickerson, or Tony Dorsett instead of Simpson.

Some of the Achievements are not very rewarding despite their difficulty (e.g. set a single game record for stripping the ball).  Special Teams scores would be an ideal Acheivement to have.  A few games influenced by inconsistant A.I. on both sides of the ball.

The online league feature through 2KSports.com (around launch), was essentially their hockey pages copied and pasted over to a new server with some new graphics.  Some scheduling and in-game settings details reflected NHL 2K8 information, and not APFB2K8.

Comments: While the actual on-field play is much more realistic than Madden 2006, there is no Franchise Mode longevity, nor are their many additional options to keep this game fresh and exciting.  Once you wrap up a season, there is nothing more to the game other than trying new combinations of players and starting up a new team.  This game would have been better priced at $39.99.  Additionally, dropped connections should be something of the past, but they are not.  This affects league play tremendously with regard to statistics and leaderboards.  More admin control should have been provided to setup specific conditions of a game (for instance, if a game got dropped at halftime, an Admin operator should be able to re-set the game for just a half, and key in the score prior to the disconnection).  Additionally, more detailed game summaries should be available online (i.e. the post-game summaries should be made available for viewing in online leagues as well - - that way, issues such as reported clock abuse can be quickly analyzed).
Score: 7.5