So how good is Head Coach Football?

[JimboJ]

Yes, I know there is already a thread on this, but I haven't been around much lately and frankly don't have time to read 1500+ posts.

So what is the Cliff Notes scoop on this game? What are the best and worst features? Is it really that much different from Madden? Thanks

[duckman]

hxxp://sportsgamer.blogspot.com/

[Raiders Army]

I find it worthwhile, but YMMV.

[AgustusM]

I started off optimistic and have gone steadily down hill from there.

at this point, I have packed it away and am playing Madden coach mode again.

the key problems:

* time - it takes forever to play. 19 real world hours before I played so much as an exhibition game, 55 real world hours and I have only played 5 regular season games.
* stats - sim stats are absurd, 800 carries for RB's. in-game stats are only good if you use the CW edit utility to adjust qtrs and reduce INT
* FA - haven't got this far, but it has been reported that there are no FA in year 2.
* whats missing - frankly, a lot. Madden coach mode is far more in depth then this game is. a short list of things in Madden that are not in HC: ingame saves, injuries, news, adjustable qtr length (can be fixed with utility) accell clock, package substitutions, the ability to change your depth chart more then 2 players at a time...
* what is in? well you can have limited conversations with 2 choices with all of your coaches and players over and over and over again. Plus you can watch your RB run into your LB on a practice field, a lot.

[AgustusM]

to be fair there are 2 things in Head Coach that I think are really well done.

1 - broadcast camera mode - it always drives me nuts that Madden has this capability (if you watch a game in cpu vs cpu mode it is the view you get) but they never give you the option to play with this camera. There are 2 coach type camera views in Head Coach and I like both of them over anything Madden has.

2 - Draft - still not perfect, but better then any other NFL game I have played. the AI is a little shaky, but the draft was a lot of fun.

[Dutch]

* time - it takes forever to play. 19 real world hours before I played so much as an exhibition game, 55 real world hours and I have only played 5 regular season games.

Wow, I wish I had that kind of time to spend on any game.

[AgustusM]

Wow, I wish I had that kind of time to spend on any game.

I own my own business and work from home so that helps. Needless to say I didn't get a lot done last week.

But I also have 4 kids, a wife and coach high school football and we had a camp all last week. I guess that just means I don't sleep all that much.

oh and by the way NONE of that time is time where I just left the game on and didn't play - I played it a lot. I really wanted to like it.

http://www.abctechnical.com/images/HC.jpg

[AgustusM]

Wow, I wish I had that kind of time to spend on any game.

Plus this brings me to my thoughts on post counts - I don't care about post counts and they don't "impress" me, nor do I have any aspirations to reach a certain level.

what I don't get is I feel like I waste in inordinate amount of time here and over at OOTP checking both sites pretty much every day and posting when I am interested in something. yet my post counts are well under 1,000 and I regularly see people with 5,000+ posts - I honestly don't know how you guys do that.

[Vince]

Plus this brings me to my thoughts on post counts - I don't care about post counts and they don't "impress" me, nor do I have any aspirations to reach a certain level.

what I don't get is I feel like I waste in inordinate amount of time here and over at OOTP checking both sites pretty much every day and posting when I am interested in something. yet my post counts are well under 1,000 and I regularly see people with 5,000+ posts - I honestly don't know how you guys do that.

An outbreak of Werewolf has inflated a LOT of users' posts. For the most part, a lot of my posts are conversational -- waiting for a reply, and then responding to that, etc, etc.

[Barkeep49]

yet my post counts are well under 1,000 and I regularly see people with 5,000+ posts - I honestly don't know how you guys do that.
Just to echo Vince, I too was well in the under 1000 category until I started playing Werewolf. I racked up about 400 posts in just over a week during the last game, though that was more then I had ever done before. I was only able to do it because I have a full time job, for the moment, where I don't have much to do besides sit and entertain myself on the net.

[Dutch]

Plus this brings me to my thoughts on post counts - I don't care about post counts and they don't "impress" me, nor do I have any aspirations to reach a certain level.

what I don't get is I feel like I waste in inordinate amount of time here and over at OOTP checking both sites pretty much every day and posting when I am interested in something. yet my post counts are well under 1,000 and I regularly see people with 5,000+ posts - I honestly don't know how you guys do that.

I have my 6,600 posts here at FOFC. I have another 2,000 at IHOF. And then another 250 or so posts scattered around other forums. This is just my internet home where I like to practice my typing skills.

[st.cronin]

Vote Chubby

[Passacaglia]

one-liners

[yabanci]

... Madden coach mode is far more in depth then this game is. a short list of things in Madden that are not in HC: ingame saves, injuries, news, adjustable qtr length (can be fixed with utility) accell clock, package substitutions, the ability to change your depth chart more then 2 players at a time...

Can anyone else give an opinion on this? I've never even played a Madden game, because I have zero interest in controlling players running around the field, and I thought that was the only thing Madden did well. I was hoping that Head Coach would be a game that focused on coaching games, i.e., calling formations, plays, etc., and watching the action unfold. Is Madden 2006 really better in this regard?

[AgustusM]

Can anyone else give an opinion on this? I've never even played a Madden game, because I have zero interest in controlling players running around the field, and I thought that was the only thing Madden did well. I was hoping that Head Coach would be a game that focused on coaching games, i.e., calling formations, plays, etc., and watching the action unfold. Is Madden 2006 really better in this regard?

I realize you are asking for another opinion and I encourage others to post - but let me just say this:

I have literally bought every football sim ever released for the PC (well except Maximum football, which seemed a pretty obvious avoid IMO) but I have played and bought well over 40 games in my lifetime, also as a kid I played dozens of board football games - to put it simply I have spent a lifetime pursuing the perfect football sim.

I also played football in high school and college and I am now a high school football coach.

In other words, I know football and playing football sims is more then just a passing hobby.

I have played every version of Madden and was desperately hoping Head Coach was the game I have been waiting for...alas it was not.

Now, the good news is I have gone back to Madden Coach Mode - Madden does have a full "mode" that is coach only - absolutely no button mashing - but you can get a decent game of sim football in this mode, especially with some good slider settings.

large discussion of sliders can be found here: http://football-freaks.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=13683 (although I have played with my own sliders and have come up with a set that i think works half way decent, I would be happy to send them to you if you were interested)

Madden does still have some problems:

Pancake blocks are way off, which is easy enough to ignore, except your lineman then progress to fast and too easily and after a few years, almost without any effort you will have 5 Pro Bowl lineman.

Draft is still not as in depth as it needs to be, though the early reviews seem to indicate some improvement in 2007.

Owner Mode / Teams Moving - One of the WORST parts about Madden are the idiotic moves, where teams will move to a stupid city and take up a stupid name with even worse graphics and uniforms. The good news is this is reported to be fixed in 2007 and last year I stumbled on a utility (albeit a bit of a difficult one to use) that does stop the insanity.

Editing Players - another thing supposedly fixed in 2007 - the ability to make simple changes like jersey #'s to players once a franchise starts. also something that required 3rd party utilities in the past.

In closing I am no EA fanboy, In fact I have a great deal of contempt for the company and the way they treat their customers, and Madden 06 is far from being the NFL sim I would want it to be, it is probably 75% of the way there - but having said that - it is the best thing since FBPro 98 and I highly encourage you to try it as a Coaching Sim.

(PS - this must be why my post counts are so low, I can't seem to post anything that is only 3 words long)

[AgustusM]

also just remembered while playing a game - Punt Returns are broken no matter what you do in pretty much all of EA sports. Head Coach has the same problem as Madden.

Bottom line 95% of all punts are fair catches, punt returns pretty much don't exist at this point - I haven't heard at all if this issue will be addressed in 2007.

[Eaglesfan27]

Can anyone else give an opinion on this? I've never even played a Madden game, because I have zero interest in controlling players running around the field, and I thought that was the only thing Madden did well. I was hoping that Head Coach would be a game that focused on coaching games, i.e., calling formations, plays, etc., and watching the action unfold. Is Madden 2006 really better in this regard?

Injuries and Adjustable quarter length are in the game thanks to Cwill's utility. Within the game, there are already packages that you can set up, but you must do it before the game. On the fly packages, can't be created, only pre-game packages. I don't think Madden 06 is better with regards to coaching, calling formations, plays, and watching the action unfold. This game is clearly better IMHO in that regard with Cwill's sliders. However, I do find some of the practice drills repetive. Not all of them, just some of them. There are several areas of this game that disappoint me, but the actual game day play is still fun for me and keeps me playing.

[Eaglesfan27]

As far as punt returns, I'm getting a 9.8 avg with Lito Sheppard. There are more fair catches than I would like, but that average is about the real NFL avg.

[jbmagic]

To add what AgustusM said.

The lack of fatigue bug for sims games and the sim stats are off in Madden 2006.

[AgustusM]

To add what AgustusM said.

The lack of fatigue bug for sims games and the sim stats are off in Madden 2006.

my Madden 06 PC stats are a "little" off but nothing like in HC - I will say that I never got past week 5 in HC, so my impression of inflated stats are based on others posts and on the amount of carries I have seen up to week 5.

http://www.abctechnical.com/other/madden.jpg


Of course I have no idea what kind of results others are getting, but for me the Madden ones are "close enough" and the HC ones (multiple RB's with 800+ carries) are nonsense

[GrantDawg]

my Madden 06 PC stats are a "little" off but nothing like in HC - I will say that I never got past week 5 in HC, so my impression of inflated stats are based on others posts and on the amount of carries I have seen up to week 5.




Of course I have no idea what kind of results others are getting, but for me the Madden ones are "close enough" and the HC ones (multiple RB's with 800+ carries) are nonsense


From my memory (since this bug made me put away Madden) the bug was exactly the same. Further, in Madden coach mode I could never get a running QB like Vick to run if he were my qb. At least in this I can tell him to run, tell him to stop, or even tell him to throw short. I like this game much better, but with the stats being this out of whack I'll probably not play it much.

[wade moore]

Seriously... Do we need two threads on this?

I'm suprised people answered... seriously an iritation of mine.. we have a 10+ page thread, but someone is just too lazy to look so we feed his laziness..

[jefflackey]

Seriously... Do we need two threads on this?

I'm suprised people answered... seriously an iritation of mine.. we have a 10+ page thread, but someone is just too lazy to look so we feed his laziness..

Does anyone else see the irony in this post? ;)

[jefflackey]

After finishing a review of HC, I went back to some of the sports management sims I keep on my hard drive. Went back to my lower league Dag and Red career in FM 2006, and after about 100 hours in HC, FM 2006 was like going back to a great novel after 2 weeks of nothing but children's comic books.

[wade moore]

Does anyone else see the irony in this post? ;)

Yes yes, I'm too lazy to spell check and write full sentences ;)...

[jefflackey]

Yes yes, I'm too lazy to spell check and write full sentences ;)...

LOL! Nah, I think it's gauche to criticize spelling or grammer on forums. I just think it's ironic when someone adds a post to a thread criticizing people adding posts to that same thread. Just a friendly poke. ;)

[JimboJ]

Seriously... Do we need two threads on this?

I'm suprised people answered... seriously an iritation of mine.. we have a 10+ page thread, but someone is just too lazy to look so we feed his laziness..

What the hell was I thinking? Two threads on the same football sim in a football sim forum?? I guess we need to conserve space on on the servers for more Star Jones and Superman threads.

Yeah, I think we do need another thread on this game. The other one was started back in March and is over 1500 posts. It has taken so many twists and turns and has so many asides, it's not useful in my opinion. It's not a matter of being lazy. The fact is I actually have a life and I don't have time to read that many posts. I respect people's opions on this board and I just wanted one thread that was dedicated solely to reviews and opinions on the game.

Seriously, do we need a fucking douchebag like you telling people what to post?

P.S. Thank you to the people who took the time to post their thoughts. I appreciate it.

[AgustusM]

not a direct attack at you Wade - but I never understand what I call the forum police - people who put down someone for posting things outside of what they would consider acceptable etiquette.

this forum is such a modge podge of topics, with a good 90% of it being total nonsense, I ignore the vast majority of it. But if someone wants to start a new thread because the other one has become a bit convoluted, well I don't see a problem with that. Hell if he started a parody thread, no one would have said anything.

[wade moore]

not a direct attack at you Wade - but I never understand what I call the forum police - people who put down someone for posting things outside of what they would consider acceptable etiquette.

this forum is such a modge podge of topics, with a good 90% of it being total nonsense, I ignore the vast majority of it. But if someone wants to start a new thread because the other one has become a bit convoluted, well I don't see a problem with that. Hell if he started a parody thread, no one would have said anything.

Meh. Call it an anal need for some order... In forums, I don't like the same topic being split into two threads because you end up with duplicate conversation and you lose momentum and continuity on the topic..

But whatever...

[KWhit]

Of course I have no idea what kind of results others are getting, but for me the Madden ones are "close enough" and the HC ones (multiple RB's with 800+ carries) are nonsense

800 carries?!?

Sheesh. I really hate EA.

[RendeR]

Meh. Call it an anal need for some order... In forums, I don't like the same topic being split into two threads because you end up with duplicate conversation and you lose momentum and continuity on the topic..

But whatever...


Just to be clear:

You HAVE read the origial thread right? talk about no continuity. its got more tangents that GW Bush's state of the union address....

I wanted to know about this game too, but I'll be damned if I waste an entire day mucking trough 10+ pages that started months ago. By now I wouldn't be able to get anything useful out of it.

I understand the need and want for clarity around here, but I'd be far more annoyed by the continuous off topic silly threads like wearwolf and star jones than something thats actually ON topic.

[yabanci]

Meh. Call it an anal need for some order... In forums, I don't like the same topic being split into two threads because you end up with duplicate conversation and you lose momentum and continuity on the topic..

But whatever...

I'm guessing you were one of those nerdy hall monitor kids who thought they had some importance in the grand scheme of things.

By the way, I didn't see your whining in all the different FM threads.

[AgustusM]

Meh. Call it an anal need for some order... In forums, I don't like the same topic being split into two threads because you end up with duplicate conversation and you lose momentum and continuity on the topic..

But whatever...

you know what, I agree with your logic and I can see your point.

However, I also agree with the thought process that the other thread has lost its way and perhaps a new on is warranted.

AND

I think asking for order in this bastion on chaos is a little too late.

[AgustusM]

800 carries?!?

Sheesh. I really hate EA.

sadly yes


http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=48148&page=28

[wade moore]

you know what, I agree with your logic and I can see your point.

However, I also agree with the thought process that the other thread has lost its way and perhaps a new on is warranted.

AND

I think asking for order in this bastion on chaos is a little too late.

A boy can dream.

[MizzouRah]

It's better than FPS '99

[Anthony]

I'm guessing you were one of those nerdy hall monitor kids who thought they had some importance in the grand scheme of things.

By the way, I didn't see your whining in all the different FM threads.

http://faculty.concord.edu/tbrewste/IMG66.JPG

[AgustusM]

It's better than FPS '99

now there is a review I can agree with!