While it of course isn't up to the graphical standard of its PS2 counterpart, Madden 2002 for the Game Boy Color is nonetheless impressive in its own right. Most notably, the grass texture is very detailed with at least three colors in it. All of the character models are the same, but they feature different team colors and are very clean and clear. I also enjoyed the referee animations that appear in the top half of the screen after calls. Also there are little victory animations for touchdowns, field goals, 2-point conversions, and first downs. Of course, when you fire up the game, you are greeted by the familiar EA logo followed by a picture of John Madden for the menu, both of which look great. Overall Madden 2002 is a very clean looking game and it is one of the only games that looks good in the widescreen mode on Game Boy Advance.
The sound of Madden 2002 can be both great and lackluster at the same time. The music for the menus is good when you listen to it, but is forgettable. That's the only time that you hear music. Durring the actual game, there isn't any crowd noise like in other sports games, and I know that usually there isn't a soundtrack playing during a football game, but I think that in this case it could have worked. One of the best parts of Madden 2002's sound are the voice overs. There are ref calls and audibles on the plays that actually sound great considering the game is on the Game Boy Color. Even better is the fact that Madden himself didn't do commentary for the game. Granted, nobody did commentary for Madden 2002's, but like mom always said - 'Having no commentary is better than having Madden commentary. Now go and be a good little football player and eat your Campbell's Chunky soup.'
