MADDEN 2000 PSX REVIEW, BY PHANTMJOKR (Aug 19)Add yourself to The HERD's Official Roster (guestbook), if you think you are man enough!
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Part I (Aug18)
It's very nice. Plays almost like last years model. I haven't had it long, just enough for one game, but most of the action is just the same. The playbooks are very similar with many of the same plays and you do much of the same button punching to get your results...
If you read the last review the audio is pumped up well. The sounds are better and Madden and Sumerall actually call the game. It's really great. Example Madden,"Isaac Bruce is just a terrific route runner who catches everything thrown his way"...
As to our favorite team. I think they're upgraded significantly. I took on the Niners rated 88 while our bunch was rated 83. Green was nice. Went 11-16 and didn't really make a bad throw. As I wasn't used to the PSX controls I made some mistakes (Faulks the X button isn't he???Throw the Ball!!!). Holt had a couple a good catches. Todd Collins has a pretty fair 84 rating and was making plays stuffing Hearst and sacking Young. I got a pick outta Lyle to keep the Niners from winning after Hearst got loose to score and end the first...
now the news...
Faulk was the BOMB! Running, catching, everything. He had all three Td's. I won 20-14 in OT and the winning play was to Faulk who went straight up through the line and caught the ball between two defenders and then outraced them all to the endzone. If the kidz weren't asleep I mighta been up dancin and singin! It was great!
Nice game. Can't wait for the graphically hopped up Nintendo version...
Part II (Aug 19)
The Franchise mode looks much nicer. I haven't fooled with the trading too much. For one thing as we know it just doesn't happen too much in the real game except for trading draft picks. In this version you can trade picks and make multiple player trades but I'm not yet sure if players must be involved or if you can trade picks for picks...The franchise mode is still very similar but it seems they have smoothed things up...you do now get dialogue from the players agents :-)
It was still a 4 player draft. I did well the first year making the playoffs and drafted late. I got three starting players though. 2 guards and a corner. I had to do this as Adam Timmerman blew his knee out and retired (gads I hope life stays well away from this art). McCleon got displaced by a third round rookie...
I think they moved the player ratings down a couple a notches. Bruce is rated 88 (his injury number is low, who'd a thunk!?) Holt opened at 83. Pace at 87. Todd Collins is rated in the 80's too and makes a lot of nice plays. Of note this time is that they show you how much your players improved. Pace went up to 90 after the season. Holt went to 84. Hakim went up but few other of the vets improved.
Trent Green is nice to play. Of note is something I mentioned before. In the 99 version the game simulations were affected by what you did in an opening game or any previous games. I used to play the first game of a season and then simulate the rest and always came out with a good record. I'm not sure it's operating like that this time. I think it's going more on team ratings for the simulated games but I'm not sure of that. In season one I played and won the opener and then the team backed into the wildcard at 9-7 and won that playoff game before being destroyed in the second round. Green simulated out to a Qb rating of around 90 but the team despite Faulk still had a poor ground attack showing. The unit rankings came out almost exactly like the real 98-99 seasonal ones. Poor rushing game. Little better passing game. Poor against the run and they posted a good number against the pass...
It does seem to generate harder games to try and keep your record down. I had a 3-0 record and an 0-3 matchup that wouldn't simulate a win so I played the game. The other team (the Panthers) seemed to make a lot of plays and get a lot of breaks. Faulk had to break them in OT ;-)
Again Faulk is the go to guy. It's such a pleasure to have Faulk on the team. Can get the corner, dance around inside for yardage, and is always open and never drops a pass. For me he's averaging about 170 all purpose yards a game on about 20 runs and 7 catches--which, If you think about, it are all very possible numbers for him in the real game. Amazing!! !He actually does it all...and when you go to another player, even Bruce, you find that you're using Faulk as a setup man.
Best play? Go to the shotgun formation and find the RB streak through the line. It's almost always good with Faulk. The single back sweep is good an awful lot. Holt seems to make a lot of nice blocks ;-)...