tanta07's Full Review: Madden NFL 2002 for PlayStation 2
There’s not a lot of ways that EA Sports could really improve upon the Madden franchise that has been their bread and butter for years and years now. Madden 2001, the first definitive football title for the virginal Playstation 2, seemed to hit the ceiling of sports gaming excellence; the graphics were superb, the controls second-to-none, and the fun factor was through the roof. In short (it’s funny that I say, “in short,” because I never keep things short), it seemed that EA Sports simply had to sit back on their laurels, because they had already reached the summit. However, with Madden 2002, it is obvious that they are still pushing ahead, with updated favorites, interesting twists on classic features, and even a new team to fool around with. Oh, yeah, and the graphics and physics are even better this time around. To the untrained eye, Madden 2002 might just appear to be 2001 with updated rosters, but to those who have played and loved both, 2002 is like your favorite car with new tire and a fresh coat of wax. The soul remains the same, but the delivery is a just a little better.
EA Sports took the smart path and decided not to mess around with the core experience of the game; the basic modes of play are still Exhibition, Franchise, Season, and Tournament. They are really self explanatory, but if there are those who are reading this review who have never played a Madden game before, I will run down all of them for you. Exhibition Mode is simply playing one game between any two teams that you choose. In Exhibition Mode, you get some pretty cool options for your one game; you can choose old school classic teams, like the ‘72 Dolphins, All-Madden teams, and you can also now choose from NFL Europe teams. Basically, if you can dream up a match-up in that fevered little brain of yours, you can play it out on Madden 2002 to see what the outcome will be. There is a certain perverse pleasure in stomping one of your poor, hapless friends with a crappy European team while he is using the ‘00 Ravens. With Season Mode, you can play an entire season with the team of your choice, and you are in charge to make all of the moves as players get hurt, rookies compete for starting jobs, and your team makes their way toward the postseason. Really, if this is your thing, you’re better off using Franchise Mode, but that’s just my opinion. With Tournament Mode, you and several of your friends can square off against each other to see who’s the top dog. You can even draft the players for each of your teams. This takes forever and a day, but you’re sure to have a unique team while walloping your soon-to-be-ex-friends.
Ahhhh...yes. And then there is Franchise Mode, the king of all modes of play in the Madden universe. In Franchise Mode, you control the team of your choice for season after season. While this may not sound all that interesting on the surface, it is actually very cool because you get to control all of the ins and outs of your team as it changes with the times. For instance, if you choose the Packers, what are you going to do when Brett Favre retires? It’s a legitimate question; he’s going to retire someday, and as the head of the Packers organization, you have to be ready for it. Are you going to shell out a ton of cash for a reliable veteran free agent QB, or should you hedge your bet in the draft to get a fresh young gun who may or may not turn out to be the greatest thing the NFL has ever seen? By the way, this is a trick question. If you’re actually a smart owner, you will do BOTH, and get a good veteran for a couple of years AND a young hotshot rookie, so that the veteran will carry your team while the rookie cuts his teeth. Trust me, many seasons in Franchise Mode has taught me this valuable lesson.
Anyway, in Franchise Mode, players retire, get injured, and hold out for more money, just like in real life. It’s up to you as the owner to make the suitable changes to keep your team competitive, and under the salary cap. It would be nice to be the New York Yankees, and sign every high-priced free agent out there, but it just doesn’t work like that in the NFL. You have to watch your money wisely as you fill key positions, for as little dough as possible. While you’re making all of these changes, you must also remember to keep winning games out on the field, because you’re 5-year plan will never come to be if you get canned after only 3 years for not winning enough. You will get a regular progress report on how happy your boss is with you, and to keep your job, you must keep putting “W’s” in the books. The Franchise Mode adds an entirely new dimension to the game, because you can’t just simply go out and play each game, you must also have the burdens of salaries, replacements, and division standings on your mind at the same time. As if all of this wasn’t enough, because the NFL is expanding for 2002 with a new team, the Houston Texans, you must also give up some of your players for the expansion draft for the 2002 season, so the Texans will have some players. Boy, the pressures of team management, eh?
That gives me a nice little segue into my next topic, the Houston Texans. As I said, the NFL will add a new team in the 2002 season, and the Texans are represented in the game. For the Exhibition Mode, the team is just made up of a bunch of nameless losers who are really pretty lousy, so you probably wouldn’t want to use them. However, when in Franchise Mode, there is an expansion draft that fills the Texans’ roster with players from other teams, so that the Houston team will at least be somewhat competitive. The history of the NFL shows that no expansion team is ever very good right out of the starting gates, since their roster is comprised of castoffs from other teams, but at least you can field a team with players who have names. Always up for a challenge, I tried making the Texans as good as I possibly could with what free agents and draft picks were available, but they still pretty much sucked. Since the real Texans haven’t actually filled their rosters yet, the players on Madden 2002 of course won’t be the real players picked by the team during next year’s draft. This is something that will be remedied for Madden 2003, you better believe.
For those who played Madden 2001, or even NCAA Football 2002 as a more recent example, will be very familiar with the graphical style of Madden 2002. For the most part, the graphics are very similar to these two games, only tweaked a little here and there to create a more seamless and attractive experience. I remember that with Madden 2001, there were occasional slowdowns because there was so much going on graphically, with 2002, however, there was no apparent slowdown and things just seemed to run smoother in general. 2002 does run much faster than 2001, which may be a deciding factor for some before buying this, since quite a few people commented on how slow the previous version ran. 2002 is much closer to real life, with plays developing and breaking down extremely quickly, and decisions having to be made in a split second. Something that bugged me about the graphics in the 2001 version has also been fixed; when walking around after plays, the players no longer look like strung-out crack hos, with gigantic, staring white eyes. This time around, EA Sports gave them these things called “eyelids,” so that you don’t get creeped out looking at the players between calls. This was a small gripe, but it shows that since they fixed it, EA Sports is obviously paying attention to the details.
As is the custom, the sound on any Madden game is a mixed bag. The in-game sounds, such as the QB shouting out the calls, the hits, and the crowd, are all great. They fit well into the atmosphere of the game, and they contribute to the realism of the experience. The music and the announcers are always a different matter entirely, however. Madden likes to insert his brilliant philosophies on football at random points in the game, such as, “if you don’t have the football, you can’t score.” It’s hard to believe that Madden has even watched a game of football before, let alone won a Super Bowl as a coach. He also has canned phrases that he likes to say about specific players, and if you’re unfortunate enough to have one of those players on your team for several seasons, you will want to trade him to avoid hearing Madden’ story for the billionth time. Pat Summeral just strictly does the play-by-play, and he’s pretty un-obtrusive and tolerable, as always. They have also added a sideline commentator who gives little tidbits about the coaches’ strategies.
The gameplay for Madden 2002 is pretty much unchanged from the past few incarnations of the series; it’s simple and straightforward enough that someone can pick up the game and be playing proficiently quickly, but subtle and deep enough that it takes a lot of practice to master it. There are the usual simple controls for hiking the ball, picking receivers, and getting bursts of speed, but there are also added options for stiff-arming, laterals and spins that take quite a bit of practice to get a grasp on. You’ll find that you won’t need the advanced moves when playing against the computer; just bulling straight ahead and hitting your speed burst will usually get you a few yards with a running back. However, when playing a skilled friend with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, it would be to your advantage to have mastered the subtle arts of the said spin moves and stiff-arms. It’s the little things like this that put Madden’s replay-ability factor up the stratosphere; you can be 90 years old and still find a reason to blow the dust off of this game and give it another whirl.
Longtime fans of Madden will find a few reasons to go out and get this title, sure, the rosters are updated, but it also has smoother, faster gameplay, European teams, new options for the Madden card challenges, and the Houston Texans, if that’s your thing. Gamers new to the series will find that Madden 2002 is a great place to start; since the gameplay is simple and the difficulty settings are flexible. With the amount of play you are going to get out of this game, $50 will seem like a bargain. Of course you should buy it; the real question is whether you should also buy your favorite team’s inflatable chair to sit in while you play it for hours on end.
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