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X-5: Super X-Bowl I
It will be
viewed as one of the biggest Super Bowl shockers of all-time. Yes, the
New England Patriots really DID beat the heavily favored St. Louis Rams
in Super Bowl IIIVI Sunday night. Not only is it one of the National
Football League's greatest upsets ever, but the entire world of sports,
on par with 1980's Miracle on Ice and Buster Douglas flooring Mike
Tyson.
With that in mind, it's time for the first annual X-Man's Super X-Bowl
to crown only one true champion as the best Xbox football title of 2002.
In looking at the three available Xbox football titles vying for the
championship, EA Sports' esteemed franchise Madden 2002 would seem to be
regarded as the huge favorite over both Sega's first Xbox football game,
a port of the stellar Dreamcast title NFL2K2 or Microsoft's freshman
gridiron attempt, NFL Fever 2002. But can either one of the underdogs
pull of a Patriot-type upset? I ranked the three games based on
the scoring system described below. After finishing reading this, you
may indeed be
Super-shocked of the outcome. So, without further delay, let's kick off
the competition.
SCORING SYSTEM
The scoring system will work like this: the first place game will get 1
point, the second place game 2 points, and the third three points. The
objective will be to collect the fewest points to claim the title as
Super X-Bowl champion. Here are all 11 categories (with an explanation
of what I was grading for in each) and the game rankings of the three
titles followed by the final score:
1. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: How smart is the CPU AI in both single
player and multiplayer gaming? Is CPU AI good at assisting human players
on offensive and defensive plays? Does the game apply basic football
smarts to the game play, like efficient use of timeouts and clock
management? Which title produces the most realistic and likely NFL
scores and player performances?
1. Madden 2002
2. NFL2K2
3. NFL Fever 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY:
Madden unquestionably is the most competitive AI out there, followed
closely by NFL2K2 and a Grand Canyon-sized leap ahead of NFL Fever.
NFL2K2's AI isn't too shabby, but next to Madden, it's a little easier
to defeat a CPU-controlled opponent. It has about the same football
smarts in human-versus-human AI, but can't match Madden's single player
AI. No bones about it, Madden's AI is a real challenge. It will provide
exceptional assistance both on offense and defense blocking and on
coverage. NFL2K2 gives a good AI showing too. But that's what you want
out of a real good football simulation. Unfortunately for NFL Fever, the
AI isn't too bright. You'll wind up with 50-point shootouts against
another human competitor and single player action is no challenge at all
on the normal level. NFL Fever is okay to play if you are looking for an
arcade-style football experience, but those wishing for a little true
gridiron AI grit should try either Madden or the slightly easier NFL2K2.
2. OVERALL OFFENSE: What game balances the perfect combination of
passing and running options for your offensive play-calling needs?
1. NFL2K2
2. Madden 2002
3. NFL Fever 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY: Madden's offensive balance isn't too bad, just
extremely
difficult to master passing which can force an uneven reliance on the
running game that the CPU AI can shut down all too easily. NFL Fever's
nice running game provides an easy solution to correct an awful passing
game. Too easy to hit for long scores, too hard to pass for medium-range
completions that are the bread-and-butter of most NFL offensive
playbooks. NFL2K2 has a competent running game to complement a steady,
very easy-to-learn passing game to eliminate the leaning on either
passing or running more than realistically expected. At the end of an
NFL2K2 game, more often than not if I have won the game I will have an
almost identical number of passing and running plays. The same can't be
said for Madden and NFL Fever.
3. RUNNING GAME: What title has the best running game by providing a
good
combination of running plays and effective running moves for both
running backs and quarterbacks?
1. NFL2K2
2. NFL Fever 2002
3. Madden 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY:
NFL Fever is a little too easy; Madden is a little too tough. NFL2K2
provides a just-right running game. This is a category where all three
games are excellent. Can't complain too loudly about either NFL Fever or
Madden, but NFL2K2 will provide the most realistic running stats. NFL
Fever's can be unrealistically inflated and Madden's can be a little
unrealistically low. In a typical game of each, a running back like the
Cowboy's future Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, who probably would wind up
with around 80-100 yards per game over the course of a season, would
have 95 in NFL2K2, 180 in NFL Fever and 50 in Madden.
4. PASSING GAME: What title has the best passing game by providing a
good
combination of passing plays and effective passing options such as lob
and hard passing, quarterback rollouts, and effective receiver controls
in making pass receptions?
1. NFL2K2
2. Madden 2002
3. NFL Fever 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY:
NFL2K2 is definitely the best passing game around. With good and thought
out
pass-play calling, you can expect to have a good day through the air
with easy-to-use control. If your receiver is running a five-yard out
pattern that has a high completion percentage, you can hit his assigned
controller button without even actually seeing him and have complete
trust the ball will be caught. The same can't be said about Madden. Sort
of like having Jon Kitna as your quarterback: You never know what to
expect. Receivers drop way too many balls with or without defensive
pressure. It's that inconsistent. NFL Fever's passing game can take on
the look of its punting game. A slight tap on the controller button
sends a high sailing slow pass to the desired
receiver, who suddenly takes on the appearance of a punt returner.
Holding down the controller button is supposed to throw a bullet pass to
your receiver, but that is only if you consider a bullet pass as
traveling in Max Payne-style bullet time. In other words, not too
speedily.
5. KICKING GAME: In field goal, kickoff, and punting situations, which
title has the best accuracy when considering distance and most realistic
odds of a successful kicking result based on ease of use and control?
1. NFL Fever
2002
2. NFL2K2
3. Madden 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY:
Both Fever and NFL2K2 both have easy to learn kicking games in place.
They
can't get much simpler, and are a close-to-realistic facet of each
title's
gameplay punting, kicking off and booting field goals. Madden's kicking
game, however, is exactly opposite. I STILL haven't been able to fully
figure out how to successfully punt and kick field goals. When you would
rather go for the yardage instead of trying to kick a 25-yard field goal
on
fourth down and 10 trailing by two points with five seconds to go tells
you
all you need to know about the hardness of kicking with Madden.
6. OVERALL DEFENSE: What game plays smart defensive schemes against you
in
single player mode and assists your human-controlled defense in both
single-player and multiplayer gaming modes?
1. Madden 2002
2. NFL2K2
3. NFL Fever 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY: If you want a game that efficiently helps you keep
your
opponent in check on the field while you pace the virtual sidelines
planning your next offensive attack, Madden is your game. This is the
smartest and best defense among the three games for those searching for
the ultimate football simulation. The only problem in the Madden defense
is the sometimes-poor tackling you get from your human-controlled
player. Offensive players occasionally somehow slip through a seemingly
inescapable defender's grasp. NFL2K2 has a better tackling operation.
You hit someone hard, they're going down fast. NFL Fever's defense is
lacking any toughness or intelligence. You shouldn't be giving up more
than one 80-yard bomb in a normal game. It can happen multiple times in
NFL Fever. Play out a few games, and you'll wind up with an unreasonable
amount of one play offensive series against you due to the ease in
completing insanely long touchdowns on first down.
7. GRAPHICS: Which game has the most impressive visuals in relation to
the players and their animations, stadiums, crowds, and replays?
1. NFL2K2
2. NFL Fever 2002
3. Madden 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY: This is absolutely the hardest category to grade,
because
each game has great graphics. NFL Fever has the best crowd and stadium
graphics, but its players look slightly unrealistic. Madden owns the
best-looking players, and is a close second in crowd and stadium
graphics. But NFL2K2 has the best player animations and replays to go
along with the second-best player visuals to counterbalance
comparatively weak crowd and stadium graphics to capture first overall
in this category.
8. SOUND: How realistic and evident is the audio ambiance of the crowd,
sound effects related to the game action such as tackles and on-field
player chatter?
1. NFL2K2
2. NFL Fever 2002
3. Madden 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY:
NFL2K2 wins this category because of the awesome smack talk going on by
the
defensive players. It's great stuff. It adds a fun element to the game
that neither NFL Fever or Madden can really provide. NFL Fever's
strongest sound performance is the complete audio ambience of the
stadium. In NFL Fever, the sounds heard throughout the stadium including
the public address announcer and the incredible crowd interaction are
the best amongst the three games. Madden, a close second to NFL Fever,
gives its best auditory act in the bone-grinding tackling sounds. You
hit someone with a stiff tackle in Madden, you can hear loud pops and
crunching that makes me personally cringe. It's so good, you'll almost
feel sore yourself after playing a game.
9. CONTROL: How well is the control scheme on offense and defense and
the difficulty or ease involved in applying both basic and advanced
moves on the XBox controller? Which game has the best play selection
screen as far as ease of use finding a desired play and also concealing
your play-calling choices from your opponent during multiplayer games?
1. Madden 2002
2. NFL2K2
3. NFL Fever 2002
CATEGORY SUMMARY:
All three games have a basically solid control scheme, but NFL2K2's is
definitely the easiest to pick up on both sides of the ball. NFL Fever
isn't bad on basic offense control, but if you want to pull off
specialized moves like dives or spins, you need to use the right-hand
analog controller while also operating the left-hand analog controller,
creating sometimes-unexpected results. Defense isn't too tough, but just
takes more time to learn its nuances. The ability to shift your
defensive linemen isn't
a easy feat, and you can't even shift your linebackers. Madden is the
best when it comes to both of those functions. So what's wrong with
Madden for it to finish in third? On offense, the letter-coding button
assignment versus color-coding in NFL2K2 and NFL Fever takes some
getting used to, especially after being so used to the color-coding. If
you want to throw to the player assigned to the green "A"
button on the XBox controller, instead of the player being identified by
a green "A" as both NFL2K2 and NFL Fever do, he has a letter
"A" above him instead. Why's that a problem? Well, when you're
scrambling your quarterback looking for a player to throw to, if your
players are bunched together it's sometimes hard to differentiate the
letters of each individual player. In NFL2K2 and NFL Fever, if you see a
green "A", you know not to throw to the red "B"
assigned player. It's harder playing offense than it needs to be in
Madden, and what's worse is you don't even have the option of using
color-coding assignment. Learning to play defense takes some dedication,
but eventually becomes easier to handle.
10. ANNOUNCERS: What game has the best combination of announcers and how
timely and accurate are their play-by-play and commentary?
1. NFL2K2 (Terry McGovern as "Dan Stevens" and Jay Styne as
"Peter O'Keefe")
2. Madden 2002 (Pat Summerall and John Madden)
3. NFL Fever 2002 (Dick Stockton and Ron Pitts)
CATEGORY SUMMARY: How can two fictitious announcers, "Dan
Stevens" and "Peter O'Keefe", beat out the legendary
tandem of Summerall and Madden? Easier than you think. By hitting the
mark on their commentary and play-by-play and actually being sometimes
funny, sometimes slightly risqué, sometimes bitingly critical and
always interesting in relation to the game. Madden 2002's Summerall
provides strong play-by-play, but the Madden comments repeat too often
(sometimes on back-to-back plays) and are generally too generic to be
considered the best. Do I really have to discuss NFL Fever's pathetic
team of Stockton and Pitts? I don't even like Stockton as a real-life
announcer and he's even worse here. All his play-by-play
calls are standardized with a slight delay to include to insertion of a
player's name. And Pitts? Half of his comments include either variation
of "sweet" as in "That was SWEET!" or "SAWEEET!"
NFL Fever really needs to improve here.
11. EXTRA FEATURES: What is the quality and quantity of bonuses and
extras
contained within the game, such as hidden players, stadiums, and game
modes?
1. Madden 2002
2. NFL Fever 2002
3. NFL2K2
CATEGORY SUMMARY: No one even comes close to touching Madden in this
category. My two favorites are the Madden cards that unlock retired NFL
stars of the past for the Franchise mode (Keith Byars looks great in the
old late-80's Philadelphia Eagles uniform), and the two-minute drill
(try and score as many points as possible in the last two minutes of the
game to earn tokens for purchasing Madden cards). I enjoy it so much I
play the two-minute drill more than I do actual games. NFL Fever and
NFL2K2 are in a different league here. Try USFL.
FINAL SCORES: Here's the final tally after ranking each game in every
category, with the total number of first, second, and third place
finishes.
1. NFL2K2: 17 points (6 firsts, 4 seconds, 1 third)
2. Madden 2002: 22 points (4 firsts, 3 seconds, 4 thirds)
3. NFL Fever 2002: 27 points (1 firsts, 4 seconds, 6 thirds)
GOING TO DISNEY WORLD
Congratulations to NFL2K2, X-Man's inaugural Super X-Bowl winner as the
best XBox 2002 football title. It took a great effort to hold off the
best Madden game released to date and an impressive freshman offering
from Microsoft. To the second and third place finishers, Madden 2002 and
NFL Fever 2002, respectively, there's no shame in not finishing first.
In any competition, there can be only one true champion. But don't
despair, because like the NFL there's always next season, and each game
has plenty of good features to build on making for an intense battle as
another football season begins and we see the release of frontrunner
NFL2K3, Madden 2003 and NFL Fever 2003. These three games this year are
so ridiculously close in so many categories,
I can't wait until next season after each has more experience in
development on the XBox to work with. A home-console system football fan
has never had as great a selection for their purchasing dollar as they
did this year, and it should be even better this fall because the XBox's
2003 gridiron games should be in a Hall of Fame class all of their own.
By Lee Cieniawa
Next month: Xbox 2002: What's ahead
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