NFL GameDay 2002 Playstation 2

Tout: Although a marginal improvement over last year’s effort, GameDay 2002 is mediocre at best and does little to help the ailing series. Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Developer: Red Zone Interactive The Bottom Line: Despite being a moderate improvement over last year’s PS2 incarnation, GameDay 2002 falls short in so many respects that the few things it does do right are essentially an afterthought. Had developer Red Zone Interactive taken a close look at the competition, analyzed the pluses and minuses of those titles, and used that knowledge as a foundation then perhaps the resulting final product wouldn’t have been so lackluster. As it stands, the balance, polish, and attention to detail found in quality football titles such as NFL 2k2 and Madden 2002 is wholly missing from GameDay 2002, so those itching for a PS2 pigskin fix are advised to steer clear of this rather poor effort. A Closer Look: Back in the PS1’s heyday the options for the videogame playing football fan were a lot more limited than they are now. Specifically, the two main franchises competing for supremacy were EA’s perennial powerhouse Madden and 989 Studios’ NFL GameDay. There were other products that attempted to compete (Acclaim’s Quarterback Club series comes to mind), but for all intents and purposes it was a two horse race. Football games have come a long way in the five years since GameDay’s premiere, and unfortunately for 989 Sports, the GameDay franchise has not. The 98 and 99 editions of GameDay were the series’ peaks, and for the past two years the decline in quality has been steady and pronounced. One of the most striking first impressions one gets from GameDay 2002 is how average it looks. Graphically speaking it seems almost as if it were just an enhanced PS1 game. The player models are really diminutive and don’t have much variance (A QB shouldn’t closely resemble an Offensive Linesman), the character movement looks stiff and wooden, and the various menus are incredibly plain and basic. Even supplemental aesthetic elements of the game fall short. For example, looking over to the sidelines on either side of the field will frequently result in you wondering if your team has any reserves or a coaching staff - there’s usually no one there! On the occasion that you do see some people on the sidelines, they look awkward. There’ll be maybe four or five players standing and facing in random directions. You’d expect to see them sitting on the bench as reserves do in a real NFL game. Perhaps the folks at Red Zone Interactive and 989 Sports don’t watch much football. Also, the framerate seems decent at times, but often it drops to the point that you might wonder if you’re playing underwater football - not good. Some of the tackling and receiving animations look fairly fluid and realistic, though as one positive among a lot of negatives it doesn’t bear a lot of notice. That said, no aspect of the graphics looks downright bad, but relative to competing products it’s evident there’s a lot of room for improvement (a complete graphical overhaul would help). Perhaps the game’s biggest failing (and that’s saying a lot) is the gameplay. The gravitation towards offense is so severe that you and the computer might as well not bother playing defense. This is acceptable and even welcome in an over-the-top arcade style game like Blitz, but not in a game like GameDay that’s attempting to closely replicate the game of pro football. Playing an abbreviated game with five-minute quarters you can expect to throw for massive yardage; we're talking 300 yards or more. And you can also expect to do this on a scant number of passes - less than ten in most instances. All you need to do is throw out of Shotgun, 3-Wide, and 5-Wide formations the entire game and your opponent will do little to stop you, even on the highest difficulty settings. When you occasionally do miss a pass it’s usually because your receiver just dropped the ball, not because of good coverage by your opponent. Regardless of whether you play as a bottom-dweller like the Bengals or a yearly contender like the Rams, you’ll find that you can pass and run for major yardage - against any opponent. This essentially renders any differences between teams moot and makes team selection an afterthought. If you opt to actually play a game with full length quarters you’ll easily put seventy or more points on the board, largely due to the fact that you can have repeated one to two pass drives. On the plus side there are a good number of modes, including Season, Tournament, and General Manager. The General Manager Mode is especially nice and will appeal to football purists because it allows you to participate in the draft, manage salaries, and trade players among other things. However, when trying to stay under the salary cap and drafting players is more fun than actually playing the game there’s definitely something very wrong. The best aspect of the game, next to the General Manager Mode, is the sound. The Monday Night Football team of Dick Enberg and Dan Fouts handle the play-by-play and color commentary respectively (where’s Dennis Miller?), and for the most part they do a solid job. The number of things they say through the course of a game is a bit limited and will inevitably result in some phrases being repeated a little too often, but this is a failing shared by almost every football title so it’s not a big minus. There’s a little bit of music at loading and menu screens, but it’s very forgettable. The sound effects are spot on for the most part and do an exemplary job of faithfully reproducing the sounds of the NFL, and coupled with few decent tackling animations might coax a grimace or two out of you during the course of a game. Last year’s GameDay on the PS2 was pretty horrible, and the folks at 989 Sports should’ve been ashamed for releasing it. This year’s version is barely better and definitely shouldn’t be bought by anyone looking for a quality football game for their PS2. With superb titles like Visual Concepts’ NFL 2k2 there’s no reason anyone should plunk down $50 of their hard earned cash for a game that’s so poor in so many ways. Get NFL 2k2 or get Madden 2002, just be sure to avoid this year’s GameDay at all costs. Pros/Cons: Graphics: C- +/- The framerate is tolerable at times, but it drops often making everything feel sluggish + Fairly good tackling and receiving animations - Player models are too small - Player movement looks stiff - Player models look too uniform Sound: B + Commentary by Enberg and Fouts is quite good + Various sound effects accurately reproduce the sounds of real football being played - Commentary does get a little annoying after a while due to oft-repeated phrases Gameplay: D+ + An abundance of modes to choose from + Create-A-Player Mode always for the creation of up to forty players + General Manager Mode allows for participation in the draft and salary management - Very difficult to play good defense - Way too easy to pass for ridiculously huge yardage - Most players can break spear and gang tackles repeatedly, even wide receivers -Difficulty settings seem to have little affect -Simulation and Arcade play don’t seem very different Replay Value: C- + Season, Tournament, General Manager, and Create-A-Player modes - Gameplay severely imbalanced towards offense - Sluggish framerate at times makes playing an unpleasant chore Overall: C- Disclosure: Core purchased this title for review directly from retail -Ian Johnston

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Copyright © 2002 Ian Johnston