Game Review: NFL Head Coach (PS2)
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by user Ross K.
As if EA Sports doesn’t make enough off the NFL, they recently released a new franchised titled NFL Head Coach. Driven my sheer curiosity more than by actual interest, I decided to rent the PS2 version of the game and give it a trial run.
The game drops you into the NFL as the exiting offensive or defensive coordinator (your choice) of the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers who is in search of a head coaching job. You get a chance to complete one interview with a team owner of your choice and your answers in that interview will bring in five job offers.
I chose an offer from the Arizona Cardinals. I like the moves the Cardinals made this off-season and thought I’d take a shot at leading them to victory. That’s when I hit pitfall number one: your coaching job starts in February 2006, a long ways from the draft and free agency.
The game basically comes down to the day to day duties of a head coach/GM. That’s right, you’re in charge of all personnel moves as well as training/coaching/etc. So for the first month you’re basically sending your scout out to look at players for the combine and picking out what clothes to wear. It took me a few hours of playtime just to get to the combine. Frankly, it’s pretty boring. You also hire/fire your staff which is a pain in the butt because you get no indication as to how good the coach is until you hire them and see their ranking. I think I went through hiring and firing four Defensive Coordinators before I found a decent one.
Of course, none of the big name free agents leave their teams as they did in real life, so free agency was rather bland as well. The draft was decent for me since I traded Anquan Boldin to the New Orleans Saints for the second pick. After the Houston Texans took A.J. Hawk number one (huh?!) I took Matt Leinart at the two spot and grabbed Lendale White at number 10.
After the draft it was running practices twice a day (full team and WR vs DB, RB vs. LB, etc.) and more picking out what clothes to wear. This game is very tedious.
Finally I made it to my first preseason game after about seven or eight hours of playtime. It was the Cards vs. the reigning champion Pittsburgh Steelers. I figured the in-game coaching would be more exciting. Not so. Throughout the game there isn’t much to do besides calling plays, adjusting individual and group strategies and motivating players. The motivation involves the same two choices for the same positions every time and every time it effects the players differently, which doesn’t make any sense at all. What also doesn’t make sense is that the Cardinals beat the Steelers somewhere around 40-14.
Between games you have a few practices and have to sit through a bunch of meetings where your assistant coaches tell you who you should start and what your game strategies should be, neither of which usually make any sense. For instance I had a suggestion that I start a line backer ranked in the 50s at safety over a safety ranked in the 70s. The special teams coach also kept suggesting I start my punter at kicker when my kicker made a 53-yard field goal in the first game.
Another thing you have to deal with between games is the “keys to victory” for the next week. Basically your scout tells you three to five positions you need to get ready for the next week in order to succeed. This is the biggest glitch in the game. You can have a position 100% read after the morning practice and by the evening he’s back down to 0%. Apparently the Men in Black are going around zapping NFL players with their memory erasers or something.
My second preseason game was against the New England Patriots. I lost in a barn burner with both teams over the 35 point mark. It was downright ridiculous.
Simply put this game is extremely boring. There are too many glitches as to what should work and what does work, what did work and what doesn’t work now and what never made any sense in the first place. For instance, there is no indication as to what players on other teams are ranked unless you scout them. Shouldn’t you have records from the previous year? When coaching during games and practice, it’s basically a guess and check game to see how the game is programmed. It’s tedious, it’s pointless and it’s boring.
My goal was to play through the preseason and get through at least one regular season game to get a better review, but after I was only in the middle of the third preseason game with about 20 hours of playtime put in, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I shut if off and took the game back three days early.
In my opinion this game is a total flop from EA Sports. They should integrate the concept of Head Coach into more detailed options that you can choose to delve into in the Madden franchise. It wouldn’t be so dreadfully boring if you at least go to participate in the game at the end of the week instead of just watching, calling plays and telling your QB to get rid of the ball faster.
Head Coach makes too many mistakes and fails to get the key player (me) motivated for the game. Head Coach, you’re fired.
Date
Thu 08/03/06, 2:15 pm EST
