Is this game as good as everyone makes it out to be?

[jdhalfrack]

Hey everyone, first time poster here.

Some of you may already know me. I do a lot of work over at the football-freaks forum with the Madden NFL series. And, personally, I really like Madden. But, Redwolf keeps telling me about Maximum Football so I decided to check this forum out. It seems like an awesome game as far as the editing options go.

So, my question to everyone is this: before I piss my wife off and spend $40.00 on this game [;)], is this game as awesome as everyone makes it our to be?

I look forward to your replies [:)]

[DreamTeams]

I watched this game develop over several versions before purchasing, but it took a nice enough leap forward recently that I decided to give it a try. I'm very happy with the game. The ability to customize this game in so many ways is what appealed to me. It plays a pretty good game of football, as well. The AI is not as tight as you might find in Front Office Football, but it's improving and it's tweakable and so the game is gaining in popularity. Keep in mind that it's focus is on the coaching aspects and you'll find it slim on GM aspects. However, the developer says he plans to add more GM stuff in future versions.

[Silverbullet]

Although this game is good I feel it does not compare at all to Madden.
Creating a league, team, players, uniforms, helmets, stadiums, icons, plays and playbooks, etc. is extremely tedious.
It is not very user friendly to do these things.
I have a brand new very high end computer, and the animation is slow and choppy.
This game would greatly benefit from some good third party mods.
I am not trying to berate this game, I am just being honest in my evaluation of it. 
To be completely fair Madden has been around for a long time and has a large team working on it.
Maximum football is fairly new and is a much "smaller operation".
But for the "dollars spent" Madden is the better buy.
My 2 cents other opinions might vary.
 
 

[David Winter]

I have a brand new very high end computer, and the animation is slow and choppy

 
Please post a DXDiagnostic file. You might also want to have a look at your frame rates. Pressing F11 during the game play will show your average frame rate. My 7 year old computer gets upwards of 50 frames a second so a new computer with a good graphics card should be much higher than that.
 
If your computer does meet the requirements, then "choppy" animation is generally caused by the computer resorces being used by other things at the same time. This such as running email, msn messenger, or any number of other "system tray" type programs. Spyware is another major cause of missing system resorces. Windows Update (with it's little yellow popup) is very problematic in this regard. It likes to take over everything. Windows Vista requires more system resources than XP simply due to the requirements of the OS.
 
"Choppy" graphics and animation is very system specific I'm afraid.
 
thanks
David

[Tullius]

But for the "dollars spent" Madden is the better buy.

This is very subjective and depends on your expectations and play style. Madden is for me worthless and i have not spend any cent on it. I missing too many features to consider a buy.

[Lucas718]

This years dollars spent on Madden amounted to me losing interest in it within a month of buying it.  I bought MaxFB a year and a half ago.  I'm still playing it.

[redwolf1]

Glad you made it here, JD. [8D]

Hopefully the community can help to convince you of the merrits of the game (guess there isn't anything I can really add that I haven't said to you elsewhere - except that it is a breath of fresh air compared to Madden and it keeps getting better and better (...and you can play and enjoy both (like me [;)])).

<for those of you not in the know, Jdhalfrack is a talented and prominent utility maker for the Madden series>

[garysorrell]

I am a long time player of Madden and recent MaxFB convert.

I think comparing Madden and MaxFB is a bit dicey. Similar to the old arguments about Madden VS FootballPro.

They are both football games that can be played on the PC. There, thats the comparison.
After that, they go in very different directions, and for good reasons.

Madden is geared towards the boot up and play gamer. It also is primarily an NFL game. EA/Tiburon wants to give you the ability to be a member of the NFL, whether it be owner, coach, or player...or all of the above. The game has a huge development team, huge budget, an NFL license and a long history. It's very polished and popular. It's also, for the most part, the only game in town. No real competition. Blah, blah, blah. I know this isnt new info.

Max Football is a relatively new game, doesnt have a license, is developed by one Canadian guy(God bless him), and provides you with all the tools to create a football universe.
It also allows that universe to be totally fictional, or a past or present 'real' league if you wish to invest the time into making it. 3 Distinct rulesets that can also be mixed around.

It's true that Max can be a bit daunting, but only to those who likely expected it to be like Madden. Its a game that is geared towards a football gamer that likes to tinker, and likes football other than the NFL.

Im not going to criticize Madden. It's a great game. But not everyone wants to play the NFL. This is where Max is king.

In my opinion, if you like the NFL and all the financial/player contract/GM stuff, Madden is the way to go. Also the arcade play is fun and the user base is obviously huge.

If you enjoy playing FOOTBALL GOD, then go with Max. It allows you an incredible amount of control, and creativity is encouraged.
If you dont mind rolling up your sleeves and investing some time, go Max!
As far as pick up and play, you can do it with Max. It has 3 default leagues, one from each base ruleset.

[garysorrell]

Ah, well utility makers are VERY welcome here
Well, then take my above post as a comparison of the two styles of game and why I went Max.

I think that as the Max community grows, it will be all that much better. Some of us have started with graphics and a few utilities. If we get some utility heavyweights(wink wink) in here, it will really take off.


And most of the important stuff regarding leagues is kept in easy to access database format.

[Tbird]

I think Gary hit it on the mark
it really depends on what you want out of the game.

[Deft]

Ditto.&nbsp; I think you will find the members of the Max FB forum to be FBPro-exers from the 90's.

[Birddogg]

hi ,

im also kinda new to max fb so far i have really enjoyed it i do think the game could take on a much bigger scale if some gm features are implemented. either by the dev or 3rd party.

im more of a cpu vs cpu guy i always feel like im cheating if i jump in and coach my team against a cpu.on that note head to head multiplayer coaching could be really sweet in this type of game someday.

so in short i feel like the game is very good at what it does now id like to see a few more stats but its ok for now.hard to think all this was done by one person is that true? maxfb really does have lots of potential and already does a great job at simulating football.

at the very least id keep cheking on maxfb if the features you want are not there right now... they very well could be down the road it sounds like.

[long_time_fan]

Hi Guys,
I never really played Madden that much, so my ability to compare is somewhat limited.&nbsp; I wanted to play a CFL game on my computer and Dave Winter has done a magnificent job in allowing this to happen.&nbsp; There is a dedicated group of gamers out there that spend time in making uniforms that look very realistic.&nbsp; I thoroughly enjoy this game and I am surprised that a few guys have made such an amazing product.&nbsp; If they had the budget and resources of the Madden crew, this game would be unbeatable.
Having said that, this game is not without some issues, but Dave is constantly willing to help, take suggestions, and improve the game to meet the demands of his audience.&nbsp; Even more than the game, I think that this desire to listen and improve the product is the best part of the game.&nbsp; I feel that this is the BEST $40 I've ever spent on a game.
Long Time Fan

[jdhalfrack]

I thank you guys a lot for your input.&nbsp; I think garysorrell's reply was the best as far as how to compare Madden as MaxFB.&nbsp; Although I didn't ask for a comparison, it's really what I wanted. And, it's like comparing Apples and Oranges.&nbsp; Once you get past the fact that they're both fruits... that's all you got.
&nbsp;
Well, I read through some of the other forums mainly the 3rd Party Developers Area forum (to see how the editing is going.&nbsp; And, I really think I could help out with the editors.&nbsp; I'm not as sure that I would enjoy playing Max FB as much as I enjoy playing Madden, but that's okay.&nbsp; I have to talk to the Mrs. first before I&nbsp;spend money on the game.&nbsp; Not sure if this is allowed, but would one of you attatch an example of a "roster" file so I can see how the data is stored and such.&nbsp; I may be able to start working on an editor befor eI even own the game [:)] .
&nbsp;
Once again, thanks for your replies.

[redwolf1]

Great to have you aboard, JD! I know you are going to take pleasure in what this game has to offer.

Check your PM (I've linked you to a league mdb, which is what you will need as there isn't roster files as such).

...................................

With a little bit of good fate, I think we will see another one of our big name Madden friends around shortly too. [;)]

[David Winter]

Welcome 'jd'.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying version 2.1.

[edit] ohh.. and I agree with Gary. Comparing any game built by one person to another game with hundreds of thousands of man hours of development history is rather silly and doesn't accomplish much.

thanks
David

[garysorrell]

But David, yours is better


Hey JD, join the fold and make us cool utilities and I will gladly take up collections to fund your $40 purchase. Maybe I will sell one of my kids. Heck, I have 3. Man, it's all about the utilities.

[rmayer32]

Just recently started playing this myself and for one who never got into football games since the demise of FBPRO I am one happy camper with this pup! Great game with great potential!!:)