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AH YES, MADDEN. THIS series, of late, has been the sole contender in the football gaming market – especially in New Zealand. While America has seen the release of games such as NFL 2K1 on the Dreamcast and the PC text-based management sim Front Office Football, Oceania's annual fix still comes in the form of the Madden series year after year. It is unfortunate that things have to be this way, because Madden NFL is just not the dominant force it used to be.

This year sees a major change in the series, and perhaps another blow to the PC sports game industry. Madden NFL 2002 is a port (platform translation) of the Playstation 2's Madden NFL 2001 with some tweaks to take advantage of the PC platform. This reverses the platform role from previous years, where the PC version was the main release and it was ported to consoles. Unfortunately, perhaps because this year's version is not a new game as such, not much has changed from the PC version of Madden 2001 last year.

It almost goes without saying that the graphics in this game are tremendous. Player models are improved from last year and have a more realistic feel to them. The 2D sprites of substitutes, coaches and linemen on the sidelines from previous years have become full 3D models at long last. Aside from a couple of ugly tackles, the animations are pretty sharp too. Any issues with clipping are very minor and most players will hardly notice them. Perhaps the most frustrating animation is that of the one-handed catch – wide receivers will catch the ball one-handed far, far too often – even in double coverage. This is just one of the minor annoyances that make Madden 2002 a frustrating experience - more about that later.

It would be unwise to get any hopes up regarding the commentary in Madden 2002. Rest assured, it's just as mundane and tediously boring as the commentary of years gone by. Even the new comments made by John Madden and his sidekick Pat Summerall are repeated every game and get old fast. Commentary could be greatly improved if plays were actually called as they happen – not just a recap after each play. This of course would require far more complex coding and many more quotes, but perhaps it's something to consider next time around...

Even more depressing than the commentator's obviously limited repertoir is the monotonous tone of their voices – you'll hear the same play-by-play comments and the same tone at an exhibition game as you will at the Superbowl. It's hard to decide whether to leave commentary turned on, or to shut it off altogether and put up with a rather quiet game.

Thankfully, the in-game sounds are pretty decent - shouts from the players are now more common, and most of the sound effects are fairly realistic. There is still a bit of work to be done with the crowd noise and the atmosphere it should produce, but this does seem to be a little better than last year.