Off Topic: Front Office Football 7.0 Now available!

[Steelgrave]

It will be interesting to see how this game stands up compared to Beyond the Sideline (BTS) from OOTP when it is released.  If FOF doesn't evolve quickly, it will remain a niche game with a small audience since no doubt OOTP will have a fairly large following to jump on it.  OOTP's biggest issue is making sure it doesn't turn out like the release of their Hockey game.

Nothing wrong with competition.....

Not at all. I'm certainly keeping my eye on BTS and it's a day one purchase for me if it's half as good as I'm hoping!

[fabius]

Does this have a 2D match engine or is it pure text-sim?

[Grim.Reaper]

Does this have a 2D match engine or is it pure text-sim?

FOF game playing is all text based...more emphasis is on GM/coaching duties then game playing itself....to be honest, I never call a game, just simulate.

[Steelgrave]

If I'm in the playoffs, I call my games. Otherwise, nah!

[fabius]

Thanks guys. Back in the day I had an amiga American Football game that got me into the game itself.

Anyway, calling the plays is what attracts me. It's almost the ultimate sport for tactics and strategies as the decisions are constant with a quick reward or otherwise outcome.

[Grim.Reaper]

Thanks guys. Back in the day I had an amiga American Football game that got me into the game itself.

Anyway, calling the plays is what attracts me. It's almost the ultimate sport for tactics and strategies as the decisions are constant with a quick reward or otherwise outcome.

If you like calling the plays and don't need a career based games, two excellent games.....

www.dksports.com (personally believe game calling aspects stronger than second and ten, but more expensive)
www.secondandten.com (good game based on board game concept and you get a ton of pro and college seasons with the purchase)

Both of these are season replay games, where you basically just coach for a season....but you can have a great time trying to relive history.  Dksports also releases a projection season at the start of the football season that allows you to play along with the current season, which is nice.

Of course there is also stratomatic football, but for me personally I like the game play of the other two games far better

[fabius]

Thanks Grim, both of those look decent. May just hold out to see how Beyond the Line turns out though for a multiple season game.

[Grim.Reaper]

Thanks Grim, both of those look decent. May just hold out to see how Beyond the Line turns out though for a multiple season game.

Always room for multiple games:)  I am hoping BTS is still coming out this year, haven't heard a lot of talk recently.  I imagine they are being really cautious as a result of the hockey game poor release.  Would be great if released by start of next season.

[fabius]

Always room for multiple games:)  ....

Very good point, you tempter you  :)

So do you have a preference between those two, and why?

[Grim.Reaper]

Always room for multiple games:)  ....

Very good point, you tempter you  :)

So do you have a preference between those two, and why?

Both games are good, but if I only had to choose one, it would be Action PC Football.  In the long run it is more expensive then SAT10, but I enjoy the gameplay more than SAT10.  Some reasons I like ActionPC more.

- Every year a new version is released with new features and enhancements, SAT does not appear to release yearly updates. This is important to me since I like to see the game get better and better each year.  Of course you do have to pay for the new version of ActionPC.

- The play calling options are much more in depth then SAT...now if you don't like more options, then SAT might be better for you.

- I believe SAT was based on a board game and sometimes feels that way, which if you like board games might be a good thing. APC just feels more like a game to me and I like that better.

- APC has the video chalkboard where the plays are actually displayed on the field with x's and o's performing the play....SAT has nothing like that, just PBP text to see what happens on the field.

- I like the fact APC releases a projection season at the start of every NFL season that allows you to play the CURRENT season, versus just historical seasons. I like to play along with the current season. SAT does not have this ability.

- I like some of the statistic/record reports better in APC

- APC has integration with Windows Narrator in the game which allows you to hear the play by play text via sound, versus just having to read it

- For the college side of the game, the developer also releases bowl games after the college season so you can play along with them during the actual bowl season....kind of nice to do that sometimes

SAT10 does include a ton of historical seasons with the base game which makes it overall the cheapest solution since each season for APC football you have to buy.  SAT10 is also a little prettier and has a more modern user interface.  I own both games so of course I think they are both worth it:)

If your unsure what to try, SAT10 has a 3-day demo you can try, while APC football doesn't have a demo, it does have a 30-day money back guarantee...you can play the complete version and if not to your liking, you can return it no questions asked within 30 days.

[DennisS]

I own the hockey game..and I don't have very many hours in it, despite a strong interest in the subject.

OOTP is different, I have been playing that game since ... 2002, and am one of the original posters on their forum board.

[fabius]

Always room for multiple games:)  ....

Very good point, you tempter you  :)

So do you have a preference between those two, and why?

Both games are good, but if I only had to choose one, it would be Action PC Football.  In the long run it is more expensive then SAT10, but I enjoy the gameplay more than SAT10.  Some reasons I like ActionPC more.

- Every year a new version is released with new features and enhancements, SAT does not appear to release yearly updates. This is important to me since I like to see the game get better and better each year.  Of course you do have to pay for the new version of ActionPC.

- The play calling options are much more in depth then SAT...now if you don't like more options, then SAT might be better for you.

- I believe SAT was based on a board game and sometimes feels that way, which if you like board games might be a good thing. APC just feels more like a game to me and I like that better.

- APC has the video chalkboard where the plays are actually displayed on the field with x's and o's performing the play....SAT has nothing like that, just PBP text to see what happens on the field.

- I like the fact APC releases a projection season at the start of every NFL season that allows you to play the CURRENT season, versus just historical seasons. I like to play along with the current season. SAT does not have this ability.

- I like some of the statistic/record reports better in APC

- APC has integration with Windows Narrator in the game which allows you to hear the play by play text via sound, versus just having to read it

- For the college side of the game, the developer also releases bowl games after the college season so you can play along with them during the actual bowl season....kind of nice to do that sometimes

SAT10 does include a ton of historical seasons with the base game which makes it overall the cheapest solution since each season for APC football you have to buy.  SAT10 is also a little prettier and has a more modern user interface.  I own both games so of course I think they are both worth it:)

If your unsure what to try, SAT10 has a 3-day demo you can try, while APC football doesn't have a demo, it does have a 30-day money back guarantee...you can play the complete version and if not to your liking, you can return it no questions asked within 30 days.

Looks like  Action PC Football has  the edge, especially with current season and vid chalk board.

[DennisS]

Does action pc football have a career mode, or just single season? This is a gamebreaker for many different sports sims, including diamond mind, strat, and others.

[Nefaro]

Does action pc football have a career mode, or just single season? This is a gamebreaker for many different sports sims, including diamond mind, strat, and others.

Both Action PC and Second & Ten are single season replays.  No drafting, trades, free agent signing, multi-season carryover, etc.   :( 

They may have some kind of editing available to trade players straight across, more like a cheat, but they don't have career.  I know SAT has this and there is an overly painful & confusing series of things you can do to save a finished season and start the exact same team up in a new season.  But you also have to do some special junk to separate all the new players on all the rosters into a draft pool, making the assumption that they were all draftees and not FAs.  Then you can do some basic kind of arbitrary draft but without any of the financial or contractual stuff - just picking & choosing.  I wrote down the directions but never tried it because it sounded rather confusing the way it was explained.  At that point, I'd rather just play FOF since it has all the GM'ing stuff anyway, despite the playcalling/schemes and stat/game outcomes being better in SAT and ActionPC, IMO.

[Grim.Reaper]

Does action pc football have a career mode, or just single season? This is a gamebreaker for many different sports sims, including diamond mind, strat, and others.

You can play multiple seasons and record results in an enclypodeia that allows you to build statistical history but it is not a career game like ootp and fof where you have gm duties like nefaro indicated.  The main goal of these games are historical (or in actionpc case you can play current season) replay seasons and their focus is playing/coaching the games versus managing the career of a team.

I love career games as well but there is room for both types of games for me since I am a sports game junkie and both types offer something different.  But if your purely looking for the traditional career game, then these games won't be for you.