Customer Reviews

NFL Head Coach

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I love football and football games. I own many versions of EA football games from Madden and NCAA. EA's games have always been worth playing/buying. They've always had their shortcomings, but mostly the pros outweigh the cons. This time, they really screwed up.

Unlike other reviewers, I don't think the game is boring. It's actually pretty much what I expected. The focus is on being a head coach, not a player, so I think it's normal that getting through the week takes longer than the game itself. Afterall, that is what happens in real life.

The problem that I have with this game is that it's so buggy that I just can't enjoy myself. Some major problems that I've encountered:

1) My OL players get plenty of pancakes every game. Problem is that after the game, the pancakes are registered as sacks and vice versa. So good linemen that I have (like Tarik Glenn of the Colts) drop from a high rating of 99 to 75 by season end because he supposedly gave up 150+ sacks when he actually had 150+ pancakes.

2) My QB (Peyton Manning) started the season with a high rating of 98 and ended with 80, despite the fact that he had a QB rating of 112, broke the TD pass record, and won MVP and best QB awards.

3) My WR (Marvin Harrison) started the season with a high rating of 99 and ended with 81, despite the fact that he led the league in TD catches and rec yards, and won the best WR award.

As you can see, the biggest problems are bugs with the stats sytems. Problem is, if this is a strategy game, then stats are more important than anything else. I put a lot of time/work into a game, and I expect to reap the rewards. Instead, I end up with players whose stats deterioate so badly that it doesn't matter what I do anymore. I went undefeated and won the super bowl in my first year, but I'm left with players who are barely mediocre in rating when they should be pro-bowl caliber. That is just unacceptable. What's the point in playing a coaching simulation game if your players' performance do not have any impact (or worse, reverse impact) on their rating?

I don't know how EA can ship this game. I work for a major software company and if we shipped anything this buggy, we'd all be fired. Personally, I think the product manager, dev manager, and QA manager for this product should be held responsible. It's bad enough that I wasted $40 on this game, it's worse when I spend 50+ hours of my time getting through the first season just to find out how buggy this game really is.

Bottom line: EA has lost my trust with this game.

I love franchise modes. I'm the sports geek that actually likes to pour over the Madden rosters before a game to plan my attack before taking the field. Drafting, trading, signing free agents...Bring it on!!
In this game, The interviewing coaches, adjusting my roster was fun, but at the same time, you can only make 3 changes to your playbook at a time. You are scheduled an interview with one assistant coach, but if you're not sure you want to hire him, and your next interview goes badly, there is no way to call them back for a hire.
I used the Rams. Finally playing a game, quarters are only 5 minutes long. Marc Bulger, (one of the better QB's in the league) threw 9 passes, 4 were picked...I was playing the Browns. The next game He was picked 3 times in 8 passes, and that was the end of that.
All that work, and the statistical players performances were completely random.
"Gameplay" is a joke, and no matter how much you train, player ratings fall, and guys like Peyton Manning get picked like a pop warner qb against my Rams corners, (for those who don't know, the Rams are weak at defensive back).
Extremely dissapointing, and a real time waster. What a shame, it really could have been great!

This game is like SimCity but with a football team. Some of the comments on here do not do the game justice. Off the bat, let me say not you don't actually 'play' football. However, for me that makes the game more enjoyable because I am at a level in Madden where I own All-Pro, but All-Madden is just WAY too difficult.

Let me run through the pros and cons as I seem em:

Pros
1) Offseason
Take the offseason of the Madden Games (my favorite part), and put it on HGH. The way they set up the draft is phenomenal, and is so much easier to manuever around than Madden's, at least for me. True, the offseason is quite long, and a little off-putting at first, but there is a lot you can skip through simulation. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it though.

2) Sideline Chats
You can 100% control strategy with your players, telling your QB to scramble earlier in his reads or drop deep, always look for the short pass first, etc. And the same is true for the rest of your positions. Lineman, make your move inside, stuff like that. Also, the concept of motivation (you can say different things to your players while they are offfield) is intersting, where you can inspire your players for a temporary ratings boost (on fire) or a temporary slump (iced).

3) The Owners
It is easy to get on the team of your choice, but whatever team you pick you will get about 5 yearly goals. Currently mine are to draft a marquee HB, be in the Top 8 for Rushing, Total Yards, and Rush Defense, and Top 10 for something else. And, if you can't complete those goals you may get fired, which gives you something to strive for. That was something I found lacking in Madden, where you just played an openended franchise for no apparent end other than the SuperBowl. I need my games more defined scenario wise.

4) New Ratings System
One of the best developments in the game, I think, is the chucking of 'ratings' and the implementation of 'ranges'. Say you have Donovan McNabb. Instead of being a 90 rating, he'll have a 78-94 range, say. So, with practice, he'll be a 94. But out of shape he'd be a 78. This also makes your players prone to slumps, making the game much more interesting and realistic, and really bringing into play endurance.

Cons

1) Glitchy
I'm not sure if it's my system or not, but the game will sometimes freeze, like while running a practice you will lose a selection screen and become stuck. Or the game will take a while to be read. Also, in the game I wanted to talk to my DL about strategy, and the screen went bonkers (I have NO idea what happened) and while the game went on in the background I could do nothing but restart. even unplugging my controller did nothing.

2) Tedious
It is the same thing OVER and OVER with a monsterous amount of practices before games. Not really monsterous, but enough to make friends leave the room if they wanted to check out the game. However, this is also goal oriented, and the games are faster paced than in Madden so it doesn't seem as bad.


For the sake of brevity, which I think I killed a while ago, I will stop there. There are more pros and cons, but I think the former totally outweigh the latter. This isn't a replacement for Madden, but it is a good complementary franchise for those of us more prone to simulation style games. I enjoy it a lot, though only in small doses.

ALSO, as to another comment I read on here about changing clothes. Many of the tasks you encounter (typically four a day) are unlocked, meaning you can swap them out. This is VERY important in practices for maintaining different focuses. The computer will set you up with guidlines, but ultimatly you can switch out of them. I never changed my clothes so far. ;) You will have about 2 'Office Hours' a day, where you can change depth charts and whatnot, and then 2 'Open' slots where you can swap in and out different tasks. So no the game doesn't make you change your clothes over and over again.

While playing Madden or my old favorite NFL2k games I usually spent as much or more time tinkering with my team than actually playing football. I was very excited about this game when i heard it was coming out. Boy am I disappointed.
The game is frustrating to say the least. It takes away most of the "freedom" that one gets from being a coach. I dont know what being an NFL Head Coach is like. But I promise you it is NOT like this game. Here are some examples of what really aggravated me

1. Ive been playing for 5 hours and have yet to even see a practice or a mini-camp. It has been long loading screens, boring menus, and confusing demands for 5 hours.

2. In that 5 hours I was forced to re-consider my COACH'S CLOTHING options about 7 times. WHY??? He is dressed fine. Let me skip this please?!?!?!?!

3. I did not have a D line coach. I tried to sign one and the game told me I couldnt. Yet the owner of the team was getting mad that I was not hiring anyone. The instructions and in-game tutorials are all-but useless.

4. The game forces you along a very boring and un-realistic path. Why force me to look at players I do not want? Why give me "office time" and allow me to do nothing but design plays and look at my depth chart? And why, if you want me to look at the depth chart, can I only shift two players around per day before you tell me I cant do anymore roster moves?????

5. If you want to sign a player or coach you cant until the game tells you you can. Even in the free-agency period, you can only look at three players a day. And if for some reason the game doesnt want you to talk to players or agents or whatever, YOU CANT. Even in "office time, which is supposed to be free time to do what you want.

6. You cannot look at player stats when signing them without having a scout look the player over first. Heck, anyone can look on the internet and find any players stats in the league. But this game takes all of the information away from you when trying to sign someone. You have to go into building your team blind.

7. Every time I try to do the most basic task the game tells me I cant do it, or I am in the wrong screen to perform the action. Yet the game doesnt try to help me understand how to do what I want to do.

8. The game is extremely structured. It only lets you do that it wants you to do at that time. Which takes all the freedom out of being the man IN CHARGE.

9. The game does not allow you to sim forward. Example: I had signed all the free agents I wanted to sign. Yet there were still 14 days of free agency left. I was forced to look at the free agents anyways, and forced to set thru the long loading screens instead of skipping the process all together.

Here is how the game SHOULD HAVE BEEN structured.

You should have a time schedule to play with. Lets say, 12 hours a day. You may delegate tasks to your underlings to make more time for yourself. You should be able to do what ever you want with your time, when ever you want to do it. You should be given a "to-do" list for the off season, and it should be UP TO YOU on how you go about doing the items on that list.

The interface should be easy to understand. Player stats should be freely available. It should be easier to hire coaches and sign players. You should not be limited on how many players you can talk to, or when you can talk to them. As long as it fits into the schedule set by the owner it should be possible.

Bottom line. The game need a serious overhaul next season. It has such potential. But not in its current form.

Leaves a little to be desired. I have put it down for a while since it takes a little while to get to any "fun" decision making. I love the NFL, and I want to get to the training of players and the calling of plays. The "Front Office" stuff takes too long.

well i love football and i also love how deep this game is. but i was wondering if anyone else has been getting lag and sometimes it will shut off and say damaged disk but i restart the xbox and it works good for awhile. other than that it is pretty sweet well until madden for the 360 arrives but i will still play this.

The game and instruction manual tell you that you can improve the abilities "player ceiling" of your players through certain types of practices. The problem is that you can't if you actually play the practices. No amount of practicing will raise a player's ceiling. Player growth is essential to a career based head coaching simulation. The game has a number of other annoying bugs, that I can live with but I can't live with a game in which an essential component doen't work. Do not buy this game unless EA fixes it. The issue is so fundamental that EA had to have known about it when they released the game and chose to release a game that they know didn't function properly. To make matters worse there is no way to physically talk to a human being about this because they only provide email customer service. Tech support is answered by people for whom English is not a primary language and have never actually played or I suspect seen the game so they have no clue how to address the problem.

Everything written here about this game is amusingly true. I cannot figure out what EA was thinking by creating this game. For those familiar with Madden 2006 the interface is alot like Superstar mode only more restrictive. The "Superstar" and "Head Coach" concepts are intriguing, but EA should stick with what has worked for years. Their franchise mode is WAY more user friendly than it is in NFL Head Coach. I love Madden's Franchise mode and if EA had set up NFL Head Coach under that format I think the game would be much more successful. Better yet, just include "Coaching Mode" as part of the Madden 2008 game. Now that would be cool!

At first the game started out well. I was surprised about all of the things I was able to do. But after a few hours I realized that in order for me to fully enjoy this game I would have to play for a few hour every day. There ae just too many tasks when all I really want to do is develop my own coaching strategy. Not what I expected.

NFL Head Coach was a better buy than I thought. I went in thinking this is probably going to be a 'bust' game. I put it in and played it for 2 and a half hours (not realizing how late it was). The game is (I think) worth the buy. I read all the reviews and I agree with some of what they said, however, I love strategical games and this is great. I am currently just starting Mini-Camp. If you don't want to something, just sim thru until there is something you need to do. I honestly love the game. I was still able to get all my tasks done before mini camp. I was able to hire new coaches and sign free-agents with ease. It is not as difficult to navigate as some say it is. I like the fact that you have to talk to your staff, find out the scouting report (although you don't really need a daily report from the scouting coordinator), I still think this game is good. Yeah it was probably rushed out, and I am sure tweaks will be made for next season; I like the fact that in mini camp you can motivate or stratigize with your rookies and vets. I agree that the interaction between the coach and other characters is somewhat basic and elemetary, and could use some work. The overall idea and thought behind the game is great. I can't wait to start the season. The only thing that bugs the crap out of me are the 'quotes' between every loading sequence. That is something that the game can do without. There is no need for them. They are pointless and have no real purpose being in the game. If you are looking for something other than your typical football video game, I think this is it. If you love strategizing and if you're a student of the game, this gives the perspective I think you might enjoy. This game can be better, but right now I happy with what the game has to offer. I hope next season they don't dump the idea. It can only get better.