"Still Great After All These Years"

Ah Madden. I've been playing these games since 1993. Besides Tecmo Super Bowl, this
series is my favorite as far a football games go.

So how does this years PSX version match up against past years?

GRAPHICS 9/10

Madden 2002 has some nice graphics for a Playstation football game. The players moves
look real and there are a lot of different ones. The stadiums look nice, just like their
real counterparts. Everything is crisp and clear. No problems at all.

STORY 9/10

Ok, Madden doesn't really have a story. I'm giving it a 9 simply because of the Franchise
mode. It's the best thing to happen to sport games since...well it's pretty good.
This years version is pretty much like last years. That's a good thing. You got drafts,
(7 rounds) free agents, players retiring, coaches getting fired etc. You can play 30
seasons of smash mouth football with your favorite team. Heck, create yourself and see if
you can win the MVP award.

CONTROLS 8/10

The passing and running controls are back and extremely simple to pick up. Nothing to
difficult here at all. Everything makes sense. Spin, hurdle, juke, stiff arm, it's all
here. Defense is just as simple.

SOUND 7/10

The sound department is where it's lacking. John Madden says the same thing all the time.
They took out the comments about specific players. A real bad move. The football noises are
good, and the soundtrack is ok. The coaches comments are really stupid as they say the
same thing over and over. The same thing with Leslie Visser and the half time comments.
You can tell they didn't put much effort in the PSX version here.

FUN/REPLAYABILITY 8/10

Bottom line. The game is fun. It's just like the previous version of Madden, just with
updated rosters. Don't expect too much new this time around. They saved all that stuff
for PS2. They did throw in Madden Classic. This is the old early 90's Genesis
version of the game. Good for nostalgia's sake, but not much else.

The didn't fix some of the bugs you would have thought they should have after all these
years. The punt returner bug is back. Occasionally you'll find your offensive lineman
averaging 12yds a return. What? Exactly. They haven't added any new stat category.
Not even tips.

Replayabilty is high. Franchise mode is fun and keeps you wanting to play more. Drafting,
signing free agents is very enjoyable. Heck, just GM your team and you could be playing
for hours.

TOTAL 43/50 or 8/10

EA really didn't put much effort in the PSX version. Too bad. It's a good game, but
nothing really new. It seems as if they threw last years game with new players and called
it Madden 2002. If your a Madden fan get it. If you want a football game for the first
time, buy Madden 2001 or 2000. Still a good game. It's sad to know that this is probably
the last Madden game on the Playstation.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/01, Updated 11/13/01