SONY Playstation 2
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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 4th 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 2nd.
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 4th 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 4th 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 4th, 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 2nd, 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 3rd, 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.
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