It's been a long time coming... well, actually it's only been a few years since 2k sports bowed out of the football business. But it seems like forever. NFL 2k5 was the last time anyone got to play a pro football game without hearing John Madden's voice. 2k Sports is back with All Pro Football 2k8, which promises copious use of football legends - ghosts of the past brought back to life on your home console.

With no NFL logos, teams or players to be seen, APF focuses on popular and accomplished stars from the past. There are more than 200 old-timers in the game, each represented at the peak of their career. In order to play a game, you'll have to create a team based on some of these stars, each of which has been categorized as gold, silver or bronze. You get two gold, three silver and six bronze players. The rest of the roster is filled out by automatically generated nobodies, whose general strong suits (such as pass blocking vs. run blocking) are yours to decide.

Instead of traditional player ratings in various categories (ranked 1-100), APF uses a special abilities system to differentiate players. Legends have qualities that fit the player, such as Joe Montana's performance under pressure and Earl Campbell's brutal running habits. These skills are what set the best players apart from the rest.

That, in a nutshell, is what APF offers instead of the usual NFL football games we've played in the past - a chance to create a team of the best players in football history. It's a great idea and the possibilities - pairing Walter Payton and Joe Montana! - will resonate with anyone that has any sense of football history.

But before you get on the field, where APF really shines, there are some things that can't be ignored. First, the menu system is poorly designed. To bring up the main navigation, you have to move the right stick instead of pushing 'start'. It's not handy, clever or in any way more functional. But on top of that, the organization makes no sense and doesn't even become intuitive over time. Moving from one task to another is a good way to get a headache, as it seems like every move you make is dictated by some random need to go back into the middle of the team menu.

If your favorite old player isn't on the list, you can create him. But while some players already in the game have up to five special skills, your created players max out at three. And forget about making them look like the player you remember. You can tweak facial structure quite a bit, but you can't change hair, facial or otherwise. What's the point of making a Randy White without the cheesy 70s 'stache?

But the biggest gaping hole is in play modes. Once you create a team, you can play a season against the computer - one season, with no trading, no draft, no player management of any kind. And even during a season, you'll come across legends on the other side of the field - even if they're already on your team. For some reason, the CPU doesn't take your legends out of the mix when it makes its own teams, so you'll see repeats playing in the same game. To be consistently confusing, APF will also repeat jersey numbers - on your own team.

Once you play a season or two, you're pretty much done. There's nothing else to do except play online, which works wonderfully but could have used a fantasy draft for starting a league - just to avoid the whole Montana vs. Montana thing.

But there is good news - very, very good news. The time you'll spend actually playing football, whether it's against the CPU or another person, is fantastic. It's very reminiscent of NFL 2k5, but with the improvements and refinements we don't see in other games.

Without question, APF has the best player animation of any sports game. The days of runners bouncing off blockers, at least in this game, are over. The players move around each other like they're real people - turning their bodies and stutter stepping when they get in each other's way. Even between plays, it looks realistic. Players don't break the huddle and waddle up to the line in a perfect "V", and during a two minute drill both offensive and defensive players hurry up at different paces. Everything about the way they move reminds you of the real thing.

But the biggest improvement is in tackling. In the past, one tackler would interact with a ball carrier and other players who got there a little bit late would just bounce off because they couldn't interfere with the canned tackle animation. Now, other hits affect the pile. If one defender starts to tackle, a second defender can pile on and help finish him off. Momentum changes with each interaction. It's a huge leap from other games and is the single biggest difference between playing something that looks real and playing everything else.

Playing the CPU is rewarding, as well. Even after the two minute warning, we've only seen a few strange play calls. Most of the time, the CPU has been good about calling timeouts and throwing the ball toward the end of a game or the half - it's at least as competent as most real life coaches. Very rarely have we seen a stupid swing pass or run up the middle when they're trying to come back.

The kicking game is new and definitely challenging. At the start of the play, the aiming arrow will appear, and the ball will be snapped when you pull back on the right stick. To kick, you have to push forward in time with the kicker's foot and follow straight through to get a straight kick. It's tough, especially at first, and it made us consider using a legend place kicker to make it easier.

In place of NFL teams, APF provides a very good uniform creation tool and access to legendary football players from the past. In place of franchise mode, APF provides... nothing. But in place of the same Madden game you've played for years, APF provides the best football game available. Online play, with league support, means you can play it for a very long time, but there's no getting around the fact that APF is a great playing football game without a full set of features. Hopefully next time APF will be a fully functional game, so we can focus our complaints on the important issues, like how in the world Bubby Brister made anyone's list of 'legends'.