Critics and consumers agreed that Red Zone Interactive, which developed GameDay 2001 for the PlayStation 2, put forth a rather halfhearted effort in bringing the first-party football game to Sony's console. Perhaps it was a result of the game's shortened development schedule. However, with GameDay 2002, the studio has addressed many of the complaints aimed at last year's game and has brought the series back to contention among PS2 football simulations. NFL GameDay 2002 isn't without its flaws, and ultimately, it falls short of more robust competing products, but it is also a much-improved game with solid graphics and presentation.

Unlike in last year's game, the controls and general gameplay feel in GameDay 2002 are actually pretty good. Although the game uses a momentum-based control system, à la EA's Madden, it moves at a fluid and relatively quick pace. The control scheme is quite intuitive, as players can stiff-arm and juke left and right, dive, spin, high-step, and use turbo to turn on the speed, all on command. In the running game, blocks form realistically, and, although most of the offensive linemen in the game should be routinely flagged for holding penalties, running the ball does require the player to recognize holes and to follow blockers. Additionally, the tackle animations are extremely high-intensity, as you can almost feel some of the game's more vicious tackles. There are some over-the-top hits, like the ones that involve the offensive player being lifted 6 feet off the turf, but generally, the tackles are very realistic and forceful. However, GameDay 2002--even though the gameplay is much better than that of last year's lackluster version--isn't without its glaring flaws.

GameDay 2002 has problems with its gameplay on two fronts. There are some inherent problems with the AI and the pass defense, which becomes readily evident after only a handful of games, but then there are some bugs in the code that pop up from time to time after extended playtime. The usual culprits, such as clipping and slowdown, rear their ugly head once in a while, but there are also a few superfluous bugs. For example, in certain instances, the offensive team will run plays literally from the huddle--no kidding. The offensive team will get in the huddle, and the ball can be hiked while it's in the huddle--so the play will run with the players scrambling in vain to get into their set positions. This happened more than a few times in our first season with the game. Bugs like these aren't overbearing, but they are unforgivable for a seasoned product like GameDay. However, although these bugs don't significantly detract from the game, there are some inherent gameplay flaws that do.

The most prominent gameplay problem is the passing game. Defensive backs are always left at a disadvantage, as it is easy to routinely throw for long gains by simply chucking the ball down the field and letting the receiver run underneath it. Against computer-controlled teams, for the most part, long passes will result in either completions or a dropped pass by the wide receiver. The defensive backs will hardly ever make an effective play on the ball. Granted, AI-controlled DBs in GameDay 2002 are better at reading out-routes and crossing patterns, but they are always a step behind on post or fly patterns. Raising the game's difficulty level, which increases in four increments, hardly makes any difference. Although it's a bit better against human players, who can read formations better than the game's AI, even head-to-head games turn into scorefests because of the unbalanced passing system.

Exasperating GameDay's passing problems further is the game's weak defensive AI. It is generally pretty easy to fool the defensive team into thinking run. Most of the time, after one or two running plays, the defensive team will sneak the linebackers closer to the line, leaving the already inept defensive secondary at a further disadvantage. On the offensive side of the ball, the AI, although a bit smarter, still makes a lot of dumb mistakes. It is entirely too easy to bait the quarterback into a throw. For example, keeping the linebacker back a little bit when the running back runs a route in flat will almost always entice the AI quarterback into throwing the ball in the back's direction. After the ball is thrown, some of the faster linebackers can either take a sharp angle for an interception or get to the running back just as the ball gets there and deliver a huge hit for a loss.