|
Madden 2002 Gamecube (also for others, though I never played them) EA Sports 2001 Electronic Arts delivers another smash-hit with its latest installment in the Madden franchise. The dumbest announcer in sports returns with ZOMBIE ANNOUNCER Pat Summerall to give players a realistic football experience in the booth and on the field. Just like in real life, John Madden is retarded. Just like in real life, Pat Summerall drones on, to no apparent end. Listen to Pat and John shine ass for their favorite upstart and old-school dynasties respectively. As a frequent player of sports games and especially this franchise, I somehow managed not to play 2001. Picking up 2002, including the jump from N64 to Cube, was startling. Crisp graphics, fluid motion, and great controls all appeared from nowhere. The game plays more realistic than past additions, especially when tackling. Guys built like me (read: defensive backs and kickers) don't tackle guys like Ricky Williams anymore. Diving doesn't allow you to travel ten yards at a time. Throwing bombs every play doesn't net many points. In another realistic twist, refs make calls that are completely beyond your control and make no goddam sense. How am I supposed to face-mask someone as I tackle? False start from the O-Line? Come on. Well, penalties can be turned off. At any rate, the game offers about a million different teams for exhibition and custom modes, including just about every good team from the past twenty years, every All-Madden team since the games have been made, an All-Millenium team, All-Super Bowl team, random teams like Mummies, and All-Franchise teams (as in, all the best Raiders ever, best 49ers ever, etc.) The game features every active stadium, as of the '02 season, several throwback stadiums that got shut down, and a handful of weird stadiums like a sandy Egyptian getup. You can do fantasy drafts, picking your own players along with the rest of the league. Along with that, franchise mode is quite simply the bomb. Pick your team, buy and sell people like it's 1799, draft new players each year (but only after you sign a LOT of free agents and trade them for the top picks), then watch your team plow through the season you don't feel like playing, only to crumble in the Division Playoffs. I swear it happens each time. I quit playing, built a team that could make the '72 Dolphins look like Salem College for Women, then watched them improve each season (since I drafted prime talent, the team improved on its own) only to NOT get any farther in the playoffs. Apparently skill AND experience don't matter. And no, I wasn't playing with the Bills. Anyway, franchise is still the bomb. It's cool seeing guys come and go, be permanently crippled, underachieve, get busted for pot (oh wait, that's next year), beat their wives (also next year), and break normally unbreakable records because of the goofy simming this game can do. Either way, the game is a party and a half, and has an immense amount of replay value in franchise mode alone, not to mention its incredible array of modes. What I liked: Madden. Football. Good deal. Huge upgrade to the series over two years. Game doesn't get old (see above). What I didn't: John's retarded. Pat's dead. Refs suck. Controls: 8. No problems really, but the C-Stick is a little awkward. Graphics: 9. Incredibly smooth considering all the system has to deal with. Sound: 4. Does he really have to talk? Damn. Rap soundtrack sucks too. Style: 7. The formula still works, and the game added plenty of new options over the N64 versions. 1st hour: 7. Where are my plays? 2nd hour: 8. This play works. A lot. 1st week: 9. Wow. I'm kinda good. 2nd week: 9. Playing GM rules. 1st month: 8. Not lasting as deep into franchise, but still plenty fun. The number one reason I HATE THIS GAME is that John just keeps talking. Make him stop. by Evil X |
