Madden 2002

SONY Playstation 2

Click HERE for pictures.

Madden 2002.  The horror… the horror…

I went into this game with an open mind, but by the end, I was never more relieved to be done with a Madden game. 

It started out innocent enough - I first noticed the little tweaks from 2001.  The menus were a little bit better, the stadium models/crowd animations were improved, the animations were a bit smoother, and the player models had been improved a little bit.  The kick meter is now more forgiving.  The opening RAP theme song is terrible- easily the worst one yet – but that’s OK. 

However, as I got into the actual games themselves, my patience began to wear thin.  My first matchup was against the Browns in the wildcard round.  Before I had settled into my chair, I was down 17-0.  I was stunned- clearly I was doing something terribly wrong.  At the end of the first half, I connected on a deep prayer of a pass and pull to 17-7.  I managed to pull to 20-14, and had a chance to drive down for a win at the end of the game, but Bledsoe threw a terrible pick that ended the game in the 4^th quarter. 

No big deal, I had lost before.  I would just try again.

In my rematch, my frustration with the game began to grow.  My receivers dropped everything I threw to them, regardless of coverage.  To be fair, there are dropped passes in every Madden game, but in Madden 2002, it is just ridiculous.  Especially when it would happen on three consecutive plays.  My blood began to boil as I read the defense, threw a perfect pass, the receiver would catch the ball (the possession indicator would light up), and then they would inexplicably drop it.  Incomplete. 

On defense, I did not do much better.  The Browns were running all over me with an aging Eric Rhett.  Rhett would break tackle after tackle on seemingly every play.  In spite of all this, I was only losing 3-0 late in the 2^nd. 

Finally, as the half began to wind down, I got something going.  I drove to the 15 yard line and kicked a field goal to tie the game.  Flag on the play.  Holding on offense, 10 yard penalty, re-kick.  Fine.  Whatever.  My 28 yard FG attempt became a 38 yarder.  I lined up again, kicked the field goal, and tied the game at 3.  Wait.  Flag on the play.  Holding on the offense, 10 yard penalty, re-kick.  WHAT??  Really??? FINE!  My chip shot 28 yarder had suddenly become a tough 48 yarder.  I lined up and kick it just wide left.  3-0 at the half, Browns leading.

So much bullshit.

As the third quarter progressed, the Browns managed a couple of more field goals to make the score 9-0.  My offense was lethargic.  Dropped pass after dropped pass, followed by a punt.  When Bledsoe was sacked in the endzone, the safety put me down 11-0.  Into the 4^th quarter, I drove down to the Browns 1 yard line and could not break the plane in 4 attempts.  For the first time in this whole Madden blog experiment, I quit the game in disgust.  I was angry.

Weeks passed.

Finally, I decided to take one more shot at the Tim Couch led Browns.  This game picked up where my previous one had left off.  Dropped pass after dropped pass.  Three times in a row, 3 and out.  I was furious.  I knew I was playing a sound game- I was reading the defense quickly, identifying the blitzers, finding the open man, and throwing the ball accurately.  My receiver would initially appear to catch the ball, but then drop it. 

The CPU, in contrast, would routinely make shoestring catches in heavy coverage.  Hell- even their punter could routinely kick the ball out of bounds at my 2 yard line, pinning me back for impossibly long drives.  This example of “godlike” punting happened three separate times in the first half.  I was convinced the game was broken.

In the closing seconds of the first half, I decided to spread out my wide outs with a 5 WR set and throw up a bomb.  Miraculously, I caught the ball and was off to the races.  I thought I would score, J.R. Redmond was caught from behind and tackled at the 10 yard line as the clock expired.  I went into halftime with the score tied, 0-0.

I got the ball to start the second half, and was stunned as Bledsoe immediately fumbled a snap.  The Browns recovered and kicked a FG, making the score 3-0 in the third.  I threw up a hail mary on my next drive (as nothing else had worked at all to that point) and Troy Brown came down with it and scored- for the first time ever, I had the lead in Madden 2002.  7-3 PATS. 

My brain crunched away throughout the 4^th quarter, carefully noting their formations and playcalling.  I did all I could to drain the clock and minimize their chances of taking the game back.  They had one last chance, down 7-3 late in the 4^th, but I managed to hold them and preserve the 7-3 win.  Finally, I had beaten the lowly Cleveland Browns.  1 team down, 3 more to go.

The Divisional Round was against the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Again, I was plagued by consecutive dropped passes, time and time again.  My blood was boiling and my anger was intensified by the stupid, unrealistic chants from the Jaguars fans in the crowd (“Go… offense… go… offense… go…”). 

After four consecutive three and outs by both teams, their punter managed to pin me (surprise) back at the 2 yard line.  My notes on the game really degraded at this point – comments like: “This game sucks, I really hate it.” and “I fucking hate this shit- terrible.  Can’t move the ball ever.”  I was losing 3-0 at the half.

At halftime, I had 8 yards of total offense. 

I came out firing in the second half though, and managed to tie the game at 3-3.  Then my receivers started dropping the ball again.  Drop drop drop.  Punt.  (Repeat.)  I kept switching up my play calling, but nothing seemed to work.

Late in the fourth, I managed to take the lead with a long field goal, making the score 6-3 with 1:17 left in the game.  All I had to do was hold them, and the game would be over.  Unfortunately, I failed, and they tied the game at 6 with :02 left on the clock.  As I had in my previous game vs. the Browns, I decided to spread out my offense with 5 wide receivers and take a shot deep.  Again, I managed to complete a deep pass, only to have my receiver tackled short of the goal line as the clock expired. 

Overtime. 

I didn’t want to fuck around- I wanted to end this game fast.  It had taken forever- Madden games in Madden ’91 through Madden 2001 averaged about 45 minutes in real time, but games in Madden 2002 seemed to always take an hour.  I opened the OT period with the ball and immediately went to the 5 WR set and threw up a deep prayer of a pass.  Once again, it was completed.  I got tackled from behind, but was in FG range.  I booted through the game winner and escaped with the 9-6 win.

By now, I had finally caught on to the fact that I needed to throw out all of my strategies and plans.  All of my planning, reading of defenses and carefully crafted play selection didn’t get me shit in Madden 2002.  The only thing that worked was the 5 WR set.

Going into the Championship game vs. the Broncos, I came out firing.  5 WR set baby.  I raced out to a 10-0 lead before the bullshit resumed.  The Broncos scored a TD late in the first half.  On the ensuing kickoff, my returner fumbled the ball and set up a Broncos field goal.  Suddenly, the game was tied at 10-10.  I managed to overcome another bout of dropped passes and take a 13-10 at halftime. 

In the second half, Madden 2002 kicked the bullshit to the next level.  Either as the result of a bug in the game or something I had inadvertently triggered, I had lost the ability to pass the ball at all.  I would drop back, but I could not throw to the receivers and Bledsoe would simply get sacked.  I had to go online and look up the problem.  I learned that – for whatever reason – I was in “analog passing mode” and had to go through the menu and deactivate it.  In spite of the game’s efforts to fuck me over, I held on for a 19-10 win.  I had won, but came away frustrated and angry.  The game had taken over an hour to play.

Super Bowl XXXVI was the Patriots vs. Rams – just as in real life!  In reality, the Patriots shocked the world by beating the Rams in that Super Bowl, 20-17.  Could I replicate their success?

I opened the game with a great TD drive to capture the 7-0 lead early.  After a big Ty Law pick on the following drive by the Rams, I punched the ball in again, taking a surprising 14-0 lead.  Late in the 2^nd, I drove to the 1 yard line and rather than kick the FG, I got greedy and went for the TD.  My pass was (surprise) DROPPED and I came away with no points as the clock ran out.  While it should have been 17-0, I went into halftime relatively satisfied with my 14-0 lead.  It was the largest I had ever had in Madden 2002.

In the third quarter, Marshall Faulk took over for the Rams and ran up and down the field.  Fortunately for me, I still kept them out of the endzone and late in the 3^rd, the score was 14-3, Pats.  I got the ball back and managed to take a few minutes off the clock before punting it back with just over 2 minutes left in the game.  It did not take long for them to convert and score a TD- the score was 14-9 (after a failed 2-pt conversion) with 1:57 to go.  They went for the onside kick, but failed. 

I got a first down and took a bit more time off the clock before lining up for a 38 yard FG.  I thought I had lined up the kick perfectly, but I was wrong, and missed the kick wide left (once again).  With 50 seconds to go, all I had to do was keep them out of the endzone.  I put my corners deep and did all I could, but it was not enough.  With a few seconds left in the game, they scored and won the game 17-14.  A crushing loss, and a big disappointment.  The game had taken close to 75 minutes in real time. 

A few days later, I replayed the game and managed to win.  I raced to a 17-3 halftime lead, and got up 24-3 late in the third.  Once again, the Rams offense came alive in the fourth quarter and scored a couple of TDs, but this time, the rally fell short and I won 24-17.  After all that, I sat back and waited with my camera ready, to watch the victory video and to see the Lombardi trophy in all of its glory.  This moment never came.  In one last final insult, there was no “reward” whatsoever for winning the Super Bowl.  No video, no trophy, no message: “You won!” – NOTHING.  Fuck this game.

Madden 2001

SONY Playstation 2

Click HERE for screenshots.

Wow!  The graphical jump in going from the original Playstation to the Playstation 2 is huge.  From the opening menus to gameplay on the field, Madden 2001 looks prettier and runs more smoothly than any of its predecessors.  That said, are these dramatic improvements enough to make it the best Madden yet?

Well, yes and no.  To begin, the new Madden Rap (“The Mad in the Game”) by Xzibit is inferior to the 2000 rap by Ludacris.  I found it to be comparatively mean spirited and less catchy.  Sorry Xzibit, maybe next time! 

The other gripe that I had off the bat was the long loading times.  Loading screens to get to the main menu and to launch actual games are notably longer than in earlier years.  I’m sure that this is a result of the improved graphics and animations, but is noteworthy nonetheless. 

Madden 2001 came out in anticipation of the 2000 season, which means it was based on the rosters/ratings following the 1999 regular season.  By the end of 1999, the Patriots were in serious trouble.  Curtis Martin and many other stars were long gone and were playing for the hated Jets, rookie phenom Robert Edwards had blown out his leg in a volleyball game at the pro bowl, and cheerleader/coach Pete Carroll was fired.  These are just some of the components that add up to the 2000 Patriots team in disarray. 

After some jiggering with certain settings, I managed to get the team to the playoffs, where I reset the game to the default settings (including “pro” difficulty) and settled in for their first matchup in the divisional round against the Seattle Seahawks. 

Getting right into the game, I was immediately struck by how tricky the kickoff meter is in the game.  It is fast and unforgiving- be sure to err on the side of kicking before the “power meter” reaches its apex rather than after, because you can easily end up with a terrible kick. 

My impressions of playing the game on offense and defense were generally positive.  The game has a more realistic feel than 2000 – the emphasis on arcade action has been scaled down a bit to increase the sense of simulation.  The PS2 controller adds a few more buttons to the equation, but I was doing alright and found myself ahead 7-0 by halftime vs. Seattle.

After one half of play, I did have a few nitpicks.  While the graphics are awesome compared to all the predecessors, the smoothness of all of the player models and animations do give them a bit of a sterile/Ken doll appearance.  There is not much “grit” to show here – everything looks squeaky clean, even in bad weather games.  Another thing I noticed was that the audience in Foxboro kept repeating the same generic “Let’s go TEAM!” chant throughout the game.  It is a stupid chant and got old fast.

My second half against the Seahawks did not go very well.  They scored a field goal early in the third, and my frustration began to grow with the way some of the plays went.  I got the sense that play outcomes were pre-ordained, regardless of my efforts at coordinated button mashing on the field.

There were instances of open receivers dropping balls, double covered receivers making impossible catches, open running lanes disappearing instantly, etc.  The most flagrant took place when Seattle scored the game winning TD with 20 seconds remaining on a hail mary pass into triple coverage.  Frustrated with my 10-7 loss, I was not sure if the game was buggy or if I was just upset about my loss.

My rematch against the Seahawks was higher scoring, but also included a fair number of buggy plays.  I could put intense pressure on the Seattle QB and he would wheel around and side arm a perfect 25 yard strike into double coverage.  In spite of these frustrations, I did manage a 14-13 halftime lead. 

I managed to increase my lead to 24-13 as the forth quarter wound down.  Once again, Seattle managed to score on a hail mary play against my “prevent” defense in the final moments to close the score.  In spite of this push, I managed to hold on to the 24-19 win.

As I braced myself for the AFC Championship against the Jets, I couldn’t help but get a bit emotional.  After having watched the Jets upset the Pats out of the playoffs in real life a few days before, I was wary of losing to them in Madden as well.  As the game loaded up, I noticed that this was the first time in four Madden games that there were no pre-canned videos of James Brown, Madden, or Summerall before the game giving me vague advice about “putting points on the board”.  A good decision by EA sports to let these go. 

The Championship game was in the snow in Foxboro and began with a series of defensive stops.  After four consecutive three and outs, the Jets started to win the battle for field position and got some offense going with Curtis Martin.  A pair of sacks by Willie McGinest forced the Jets out of field goal range late in the first quarter, and when Bledsoe and co. got the ball back, I was able to put together a nice TD drive.  The Jets answered with a fieldgoal, but a deep TD pass from Bledsoe to Terry Glenn extended the Patriots lead to 14-3 at halftime. 

I opened the third quarter with another TD bomb to Glenn, which put me up 21-3.  It was at this stage that I discovered a trick/cheat on defense.  If I reshuffled my defensive line manually before the snap, the CPU did not know how to react and I could force pressure every time.  In other words, by moving my nose tackle to the end of the line and keeping my defensive end in place, the pressured side of the o-line could not block everyone and I could sack the QB. 

It might have been cheap, but it worked, so I went with it and sacked Jets QB Vinnie Testaverde 8 times in my 28-9 win. 

My Super Bowl matchup was once again against the Panthers.  The game was set in the rain, and while I did not notice much of an impact on the way the game played, the gravity of the game was enhanced by the repeated thunder claps throughout.  An early interception by Bledsoe set up an easy Panther TD and put me down 7-0 early.  I decided to go back to the player with the most production from the Jet game and aired it out to Terry Glenn, whose spectacular one-handed catch in the back of the end zone tied things up.  The Panthers responded with a great drive and TD run before I managed a field goal at the end of the half, making the score 14-10 Carolina at halftime.

Halfway through, the Super Bowl game was excellent and felt completely realistic.  It reminded me of the good games of Madden ’98 where you had to fight for every yard and the CPU was smarter than you thought.  There were not any garbage plays that made no sense either.  I made note that I needed to take more shots at Terry Glenn in the second half if I was to come away with the big win.

The third quarter was a defensive struggle, but I managed to just barely make a short field goal as the quarter ended, closing the score to 14-13, Panthers.  The kicking meter is rough.  All too easily, the Panthers marched down and answered with a field goal of their own, making the score 17-13.

Running out of time, I put together a great 8 play, 75 yard drive deep into Panther territory.  With two minutes left in the game, Bledsoe got into the endzone from one yard out on the QB sneak.  For the first time all game, I led 20-17! 

I was looking forward to stopping the Panthers one last time and running out the clock, but the game was far from over.  The Panthers put together a great drive of their own and seemed to figure out my defensive line cheat.  Whenever I would move a lineman out of position, they would run to the gap where he had been.  This forced me to be more conservative, but ended in disaster when they ran a sweep to the right of the field and I repeatedly failed to bring down their running back.  Four broken tackles later, I was stunned to find myself down 24-20 with 1:13 left on the clock. 

Once I had the ball back, I fired a strike to the sidelines to Troy Brown for a quick 14 yard gain.  I then saw my note to throw more often to Terry Glenn and decided to take a shot deep with the volatile wide out.  As I dropped back, I was surprised to see he was in single coverage streaking downfield.  I threw the ball up and watched as he jumped for it.  He made the catch and shook off the lone defender before walking into the endzone for the game winning score.  I won the game, 27-24.  Glenn finished with over 200 yards receiving and two huge TDs.  He was named the game’s MVP. 

In the end, I had fun with Madden 2001 – it was better than I thought it would be.  The graphics are definitely the best yet in the series and the gameplay was pretty good.  My d-line “cheat”, which yielded 8 sacks against the Jets (and only 9 points allowed), did not work nearly as well against the Panthers (2 sacks and 24 points allowed).  It seems that the machines are beginning to learn…