Madden 2002
Overall Rank By The SMRC: 86.6/100
Recommendations: Decent Own...
EA is back again with this years latest and greatest addition to the Madden football series. This time around they turbo-charged it with the Gamecube's new graphics and some hard hitting action.
The gameplay is almost identical to that of every past Madden game. You got your coaches designed running and passing plays, and then, pick a route, and go. There are even more play-books available and the wonderful go-to guy option is also a wonderful feature of the game. The biggest problem with the gameplay is saving. Franchise mode will take up a Gamecube memory card all by itself. We at the SMRC have two memory cards dedicated for Madden and a third ready if we need it. The gameplay is well worth the hours of hard hits you can get out of this game.
Speaking of hard hits, BANG. With the Dolby Digital surround sound you can really feel the hits as their dished. They even added in the occasional PA message saying things like "There's a red car in the parking lot that is on fire", or, "The person sitting in seat A-34 has just won a free hotdog." The only thing kind of upsetting in Madden is Madden himself. He is so obvious and somewhat repetitive that after 2 or 3 games, you'll probably want to shut his voice off (which thankfully, you can do).
Graphics... Where to start... All the game slow downs present in Sony's version of the game are now gone. The graphics and textures have been somewhat updated to match the power of Gamecube, but not fully. The biggest news in the graphics department was added support for HDTVs with 16:9 progressive scan mode. The game fully supports such TVs allowing you to see more of field, meaning, its easier to target a receiver without looking (*very key in multi-player*).
Although I personally am not much of a Madden fan, this game does hold its weight in gameplay. I recommend this game to those who are looking for a sports game for their Gamecube, like any of the past Madden games, or just love to hear Maddens voice. I especially recommend it for those of you that have a HDTV.
Buy Madden 2002 now!