In the spirit of so many others, Electronic Arts has decided to dip into the past in order to step into the future. After waves made by recent rereleases of Shadow of the Colossus, Crash Bandicoot, and Call of Duty 4, Electronic Arts has seen both an opportunity to make some extra cash and a way to present one of its most revered classic titles to the new generation of players in 4K HD on XBOX One and PlayStation 4. That’s right, gamers, get ready for Madden NFL 2002 HD: Special Edition.
It’s a proud tradition of the Madden series to present players with something more than just a retread of the past and a graphical improvement, so don’t just expect a run-of-the-mill HD reskin like what Todd Howard gets you. Madden NFL 2002: HD Special Edition will not only transfer the graphics of Madden NFL 2002 into the modern day, but it will perfectly recapture the American spirit of the autumn of 2001 in most ways that a football simulation can. This will not be just another Madden 18. This will be the full Madden NFL 2002 experience, just, y’know, 16 years later with a few additions:
- The famous intro video will be untouched except for a few added trap snare hits
- Due to current negative press surrounding at-the-time backup Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Drew Bledsoe will be significantly overpowered to the point of effectively breaking the game in attempt to keep players from the tantalizing Brady aura.
- John Madden will re-record all of his lines of commentary, though Pat Summerall’s lines – for hopefully obvious reasons – will remain unchanged.
- Every stadium will remain accurate to the 2001 season – For the first time, Bears fans will see their team in HD at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium. Watch as 4K dirt from the baseball infield kicks up off of the ground in Oakland, San Diego, and Miami. Improved audio technology will realistically simulate the fake crowd noise piped in to Indianapolis’ RCA Dome.
- Potentially problematic players whose faults came to light after the original publishing of Madden NFL 2002 will be chastized for the bad things they said or did at least two or three times per game in commentary and on-field graphics.
- Any reference to Tennessee’s Adelphia Stadium or Jacksonville’s ALLTEL Stadium will be followed with a short disclaimer about the dangers of mismanagement
- The Game Boy Color version will be included as DLC for $8.99
- The Marc Ecko team will remain unchanged but the game will be sold with an added booklet of facts about every rapper on the team so as to educate modern viewers about who Xzibit was before he was the guy who did Pimp My Ride
- The Houston Texans are there, but just out of reach
- Realistic aesthetic aging on every player
- The Patriot Act will be realistically felt
- Daunte Culpepper’s consciousness has been downloaded into the game as an optional “Clippy” or “Bonzi Buddy” style desktop assistant in the game’s menu
As we move further and further away from Madden 2002’s heyday, fewer and fewer gamers will have experience with what it meant to games at the time and what it’s meant to games in the present. Madden NFL 2002 HD Special Edition will retail for $39.99 with a 233 GB install and is set to come out at some point.