NFL Head Coach

Jes.

 

this out/soon out for PC?

 

Got the PC version in the mail yesterday.

 

http://www.easports.com/nflheadcoach/index.jsp

 

I saw it at GameStop yesterday.

 

so you don't actually "play" the game? you just coach?

 

That's what I hear. There have been mixed reviews about this game - people seem to enjoy the challenge of a coaching sim, but the process is very tedious. There is also a flaw during the draft, as the likes of Chris Gocong and D'Quell Jackson are picked in the top five, while D'Brickashaw Ferguson falls out of the first round.


Anyway, I haven't played the game, but I can already tell that it's not my cup of tea. It's kind of a half-baked concept anyway, because you can't actually "coach" in a video game. You can communicate with the players, but everything is pre-scripted and very generic coachspeak. I think something like NFL GM would have been a better concept.

 

i thought the madden games had coach and GM modes built in?

 

They do. This just takes it to the next level. You're head coach and GM. You evaluate and assemble your staff, including the OC, DC, and the following position coaches: QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, DL, LB, DB, ST. There is also a scouting director, but he works for the owner, so you can't fire him. Sucks, too, because the one currently assigned to the Panthers is not very good. I have a higher player evaluation rating than he does, but whenever I disagree with him, he gets pissy.

Tedious is a good word for it. It starts right after the 2006 Pro Bowl. I played for 3 days (a few hours at a time) to get through the meetings, scouting, player and staff evaluation, staff hiring (coordinators AND position coaches) before I even started the 2006 Draft. The draft itself took another day and a half.

The draft was not as good as it is in Madden. I haven't been able to get any combine stats at all, just general (and I mean general) evaluations about the players, which may or may not be true. They really make you draft players, not combine numbers, and I guess that's a little more realistic. I just wish the scouting was better.

The rankings and draft itself were screwy in places. The overall rankings page was next to useless. Stan McClover was drafted in the first round. D'Brick was drafted by Tampa Bay in the lower half of the 2nd. (TB also drafted Winston Justice in the 3rd round.) Houston took Leinart #1 overall, and I think Bush fell to TEN. A.J. Hawk fell to DAL.

Granted, it took me that long to figure out what I could sim past, and what I shouldn't. Next offseason won't be nearly as slow.

It's complicated and difficult to navigate. The dialogue isn't great, but it's significantly better than the dialogue from Madden's Superstar mode.

It's definitely different. The only time you ever talk to the players, it seems, is on the field. All the contract negotiations and transactions are done through the agents.

Everyone has a trust rating -- agents, staff, owner, and players (I think). If you piss off the right people enough, you get fired. If your players don't trust you, they don't play well. If your coaches don't trust you, I don't know what happens, but it probably affects both the players and the owner. If the other GMs don't trust you, you can't trade with anyone. If the agents don't trust you, you can't negotiate contracts with them.

Just about everything about the Panthers is grossly underrated. On a scale of 1-100, Smitty is rated in the 80s even though he was arguably the best WR in the game last year. Peppers is rated in the 70s. So are Gross and Jenkins.

The screwed up ratings isn't confined to the players, either. Jim Skipper was one of the lowest rated coaches on staff. It aggravated me to let him go, because I know how much better he is in reality. Magazu and Maser are both rated higher than Skipper. At least they got McCoy being a worthless wonder right.

I've just started training camp, and I'm still getting used to the playcalling matrix (haven't found any pass plays yet). I certainly hope the game speed is faster than training camp, because the players move like someone slowed the film down to about 3/4 speed. You call the plays and select 1st, 2nd, or 3rd string for both offense and defense. The more you practice a play, the better the execution gets. When it gets to a certain level, it becomes a "money" play, and those are good to have on game day, I'm told.

I still have a lot to learn, and I'm not really thrilled with the amount of time it's taking me to learn it. The instruction manual for the game is next to useless. But to cover all the detail, you'd almost be talking about a small book. Maybe there's a great big PDF file I missed somewhere. I think I'll really get into it, once I get comfortable with it and learn all the subtleties and nuances. I always play franchise coaching mode in Madden, so this is my thing. The jury's still out, but I think once the patches come out things will start to improve. In a year or two, I have hope that I'll enjoy it almost as much as Madden.

 

That sounds awesome. I never play the games on Madden anymore unless I make it to the SB. It's all about building a team through the draft, although Madden 06 is not as kind in the cap department. Used to be able to sign guys and then cut them after the preseason, then resign them for much less. Can't do that anymore. But the combine stats are the key for me.

can you play at all on that game?