NFL Head Coach 09

[MizzouRah]

From Bill Abner's blog:

The Nut and the Feisty Weasel

The NEW Head Coach has the potential, although it is still extremely early in the review process, to be an absolute first rate coaching simulation complete with sharp visuals and tense gameplay. It is the kind of game on the surface at least, that I wanted the original to be.

Let's run down the list of complaints from the first game:

• Games locked at 5 min quarters: fixed. It uses 15 minutes with the fast clock. Takes a little over an hour to play a game.
• Plagued by INT: Fixed. My preseason game against the Jets saw 1 pick.
• Lack of Dline sacks: Fixed. Ask Ken Dorsey how that went against New York...yikes 'twas not pretty.
• The worst user interface in the history of videogames: Fixed. It still screams for a PC UI, but this is pretty darn easy to navigate and in the game you can quick sub players with the press of a button and you no longer have that silly "2 task per week" thing. It moves MUCH quicker and is nowhere near as tedious. There still might be things you choose to simulate during the week to week grind, but it moves along at a nice clip.
• CPU never returns a punt: Fixed
• FA signings: Dunno yet. I do know that during the first preseason week I got into a bidding war over Travis Henry (and lost the bid war, thankfully).

OK the Browns won the pre season opener 31-24. Here's some numbers:
Anderson 7/12 105 yards
Quinn 6/7 70 yards
Dorsey 2/6 26 yards
Clemens: 6/11 91 yards
Pennington 17/29 303 yards 1 TD 1 INT
Lewis: 10 carries 90 yards (one run was for 43)
Wright: 8 for 54
Harrison 7 for 6 and a fumble
Quinn scrambled 5 times for 23 yards

Jones: 16 for 70 yards
Washington 9 for 3 yards

Josh Cribbs ran a kick back 98 yards for a TD. Cribbs -- if you know the Browns -- is the MAN on special teams.

A lot of players were dinged up during the game and all came back as fine except old man Willie McGinest is down for 2 months and Winslow hurt his knee and will miss the rest of preseason.

The final drive even though it had nothing but backups shows you how tense just calling plays can be. I use the Overhead Cam angle which shows me as much of the field as possible. NY had the ball on my 10 yard line, :04 secs left down 7. They had moved from the 50 to the 7 in under a minute. My backups were helpless and TIRED. Checking the fatigue, these boys were huffing and puffing.

I decided to blitz both OLBs. Pennington dropped back and the OLB (Peek) came in untouched and was just about to drill him but Pennington avoided the rush; he stepped up in the pocket to get away from Peek and ran right into reserve lineman Lewis Leonard. Game over. Great call.


You'll see dropped passes, sacks, overthrows, passes broken up, missed tackles, hard hits that dislodge potential catches, blitzers getting picked up and blizters coming in like madmen, wide open receivers and times when the QB will tuck and run, missed blocks, pancakes, deep passes from the AI, bad reads by the QB, fumbled pitches, missed FGs, kickoffs returned for a TD, hurry up offenses, blown coverages, kickoffs returned for 20 yards...I saw ALL of that stuff in one full game of Head Coach.

After only messing with it for one day -- this thing has the potential, and again I stress potential based on the small sample size, to be up there with FPS: Football in terms of combining graphics with gameplay.

How's that for a first impression?

VERY VERY EXCITED for Head Coach..

[Balldog]

Yea this game is keeping me from cancelling my preorder of Madden CE. I can't wait to check this out with the Lions.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Yea this game is keeping me from cancelling my preorder of Madden CE. I can't wait to check this out with the Lions.

I've cancelled mine and I'm sure I'll have a hard time waiting another month.

Although.. I'd rather pay $50 for Head Coach instead of $90 if Madden is bad.

[TLK]

I want to make love to this game.

[CleBrownsfan]

So if you get the CE for Madden you get HC a month before the release date?

[dbd1963]

But you spend $90 for it.

If Head Coach is good, I'm definitely getting it. But I'm not getting Madden unless it's good, so I'll gladly wait.

(Plus you know it'll show up 2nd hand before Sept.)

[Ironhead]

Have to say my interest level in this game was zilch before today. After reading Abner's blog post and checking out some posts on OS this will get at least a rental.

[Terps]

I wonder if I could buy the Madden CE to get Head Coach and then return Madden.

[Balldog]

I'll probably end up putting Madden on Ebay and getting $40-50 for it. Plus I had a $20 off coupon I used for preordering.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

So if you get the CE for Madden you get HC a month before the release date?

Anybody?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I've cancelled mine and I'm sure I'll have a hard time waiting another month.

Although.. I'd rather pay $50 for Head Coach instead of $90 if Madden is bad.

Ditto. It'll be rough if the game is great and I'm reading glowing reviews here, but I'll manage to wait the few weeks.

[Icy]

Sounds good, at the end i won't cancel my Madden CE preorder just to get this sooner. I'll use Madden some for some SS mode.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by CleBrownsfan

So if you get the CE for Madden you get HC a month before the release date?

Yes. Ironically, there was speculation when they did that it was to increase Head Coach sales because it might be a crap game like the first. Now, I think it is to try to boost Madden's sales which might not be as high if Head Coach wasn't included in that version.

[rowech]

When I've seen interviews with the guys working on Head Coach, I actually felt like I believed what they were saying. With the Madden games, it's always feeling like salesmanship.

[MizzouRah]

Looks like Bill is going to post some more on HC later today:

I have my Sunday basketball game in about 50 minutes so I'll be brief.

I started a new career in HC and started from the FA period and into the draft. I started at 9:50 this morning, thinking I'd run through it..and an hour and 20 minutes later and I am JUST starting Draft Day. The scouting stuff is really cool, and I'll have a more in depth post about the FA period and the scouting later today. I love how we get the real rookies.

There's some good, some I need more info on, and some things about this part of the game that I'm not a big fan of (basically I have no idea when a trade offer comes in what the guy's current contract is...unless I'm missing something) -- but we'll get to all that later.

[SirFozzie]

After reading the Madden preview at Abner's site (and sportsgamerblog.com as well), I just cancelled my Madden CE preorder, and I preordered HC. I'm not going to pay double for a shit Madden game to get what I really want right now

[Big Fo]

Maybe you'll be able to get Head Coach on ebay before September 2 if people pick up the CE and sell that.

After it's out for a few days if people are feeling really good about HC 09 and Madden is merely disappointing (comparable to pre-patch NCAA 09) as opposed to a total stinker it might be hard for me to resist getting the CE.

I can't remember, is there a next version of FOF coming or any other company currently making a pro football sim game?

[MizzouRah]

My neighbor is getting Madden CE for his birthday and has no interest in HC.. looks like I'll trade him GOW for HC.

[jonesz]

Anybody know if Head Coach will be available for the Wii?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by rowech

When I've seen interviews with the guys working on Head Coach, I actually felt like I believed what they were saying. With the Madden games, it's always feeling like salesmanship.

It should also be noted that Head Coach is a relatively new franchise. Yes, they use the Madden engine for displaying gameplay, but most of the underlying code has been built from the ground up. It should be given far more leeway than a Madden franchise that has significant problems 20 years in.

Three more relatively positive posts about HC are up on Abner's blog.........

The Nut and the Feisty Weasel: NFL Head Coach 2008 Draft Round 1

The Nut and the Feisty Weasel: Round 2 Quick Note

The Nut and the Feisty Weasel: Draft Over -- Notes

[CleBrownsfan]

On the 12th I'll be playing HC before Madden for sure!! Really looking forward to playing this!

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It should also be noted that Head Coach is a relatively new franchise. Yes, they use the Madden engine for displaying gameplay, but most of the underlying code has been built from the ground up. It should be given far more leeway than a Madden franchise that has significant problems 20 years in.

That clearly wasn't the case with the first version which was obviously just an add-on to Madden's code with many of the same logic problems.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

That clearly wasn't the case with the first version which was obviously just an add-on to Madden's code with many of the same logic problems.

Yes, which is why it was such a mess. As Abner has noted, they made a lot of changes to move away from the Madden game modes and engine, which appears thus far from his impressions to be a great move on their part.

[spleen1015]

Abner's blog post about the 2nd round of the draft, how scouting works, really has me pumped for HC.

I am stupid enough to pay $90 to get it early. My son likes to win 100-0 in Madden so at least he'll play it.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

New Abner post up today about gameplay. More positive stuff.

The Nut and the Feisty Weasel: Quick Update: Browns/Giants Preseason game #2

[Galaril]

Now of course I am guessing HC isn't coming out for PC?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Now of course I am guessing HC isn't coming out for PC?

Correct. It is PS3/360 only, at least this year.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Correct. It is PS3/360 only, at least this year.

[MrBug708]

Damn, this game actually looks fun. Is it a game that is conducive to "fast simmers"

[Surtt]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Let's run down the list of complaints from the first game:

* Games locked at 5 min quarters: fixed. It uses 15 minutes with the fast clock. Takes a little over an hour to play a game.
* Plagued by INT: Fixed. My preseason game against the Jets saw 1 pick.
* Lack of Dline sacks: Fixed. Ask Ken Dorsey how that went against New York...yikes 'twas not pretty.
* The worst user interface in the history of videogames: Fixed. It still screams for a PC UI, but this is pretty darn easy to navigate and in the game you can quick sub players with the press of a button and you no longer have that silly "2 task per week" thing. It moves MUCH quicker and is nowhere near as tedious. There still might be things you choose to simulate during the week to week grind, but it moves along at a nice clip.
* CPU never returns a punt: Fixed
* FA signings: Dunno yet. I do know that during the first preseason week I got into a bidding war over Travis Henry (and lost the bid war, thankfully).

The List doesn't match my list very well...

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

Damn, this game actually looks fun. Is it a game that is conducive to "fast simmers"

I doubt it. The game is only 15 years long and I think a fast simmer would quickly get to the end of that time limit. However, with Bill describing how much time he has taken (and enjoyed) setting up his draft board, playing games, etc it seems like I'll be able to get my money's worth even with that restriction.

[Arctic Blast]

Well, I'm officially 'done' buying in to EA's Madden promises, and will never buy that game again. However, and I never thought I'd say this after the mess the original Head Coach was, I might just be making a purchase there! DEFINITELY keeping my eye on it, at least.

[MrDNA]

Too bad I don't own any systems this is coming out for. Maybe laterz.

[TCY Junkie]

I'm definitely not opening this thread again until a couple days after release. Well thats my plan as of right now. So tempted.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Surtt

The List doesn't match my list very well...

Out of the 10 pages, it was a good prelude.

[Surtt]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Out of the 10 pages, it was a good prelude.

I'm just glad it isn't coming out for the PC.
I don't have a console so I can't be tempted.

[twothree]

I don't have a PS3 or XBOX360 either, but I'm tempted. Head Coach might just be a system seller, at least for me. Naturally, I will wait for some reviews after it is released before purchasing. It is also possible that TCY 2, Bowl Bound Pro Football, or a new FOF patch might get released that will take my interest away from Head Coach and save me from buying either console system.

[Terps]

Originally Posted by Terps

I wonder if I could buy the Madden CE to get Head Coach and then return Madden.

Nevermind this. The packaging is in a tri-fold DVD case, so the two games don't have seperate packaging for the CE.

[Surtt]

Originally Posted by twothree

I don't have a PS3 or XBOX360 either, but I'm tempted. Head Coach might just be a system seller, at least for me. Naturally, I will wait for some reviews after it is released before purchasing. It is also possible that TCY 2, Bowl Bound Pro Football, or a new FOF patch might get released that will take my interest away from Head Coach and save me from buying either console system.

If this game is everything it is supposed to be, I might be tempted too.
(I have been thinking about getting one)

But for now, this all reminds me too much of the original launch.

[CleBrownsfan]

Originally Posted by Surtt

If this game is everything it is supposed to be, I might be tempted too.
(I have been thinking about getting one)

But for now, this all reminds me too much of the original launch.

From Bill's blog (hxxp://nutweasel.blogspot.com/) it's looking very promising... I'm really getting excited for HC 09.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by twothree

I don't have a PS3 or XBOX360 either, but I'm tempted. Head Coach might just be a system seller, at least for me. Naturally, I will wait for some reviews after it is released before purchasing. It is also possible that TCY 2, Bowl Bound Pro Football, or a new FOF patch might get released that will take my interest away from Head Coach and save me from buying either console system.

I think we won't be seeing bowl bound pro football until AT Least 2009 football season if not later.

[Comey]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I think we won't be seeing bowl bound pro football until AT Least 2009 football season if not later.

Do you have a link to information about this?

[twothree]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I think we won't be seeing bowl bound pro football until AT Least 2009 football season if not later.

I also doubt TCY 2 will show up this year. And, it looks like the cheapest cost to play Head Coach, for me, will be $250 plus tax. That would be $200 for the XBOX arcade system, on September 7th, plus $50 for Head Coach which comes out a few days before.

I really need to stop reading information about this game, if I want to avoid buying it. Arggghhhh...

[cooleyvol]

Originally Posted by Comey

Do you have a link to information about this?

If he did (and he doesnt), it'd be 8 months old. That's how long since his last visit to the GD boards. Merely his uneducated (on the subject) opinion.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Surtt

If this game is everything it is supposed to be, I might be tempted too.
(I have been thinking about getting one)

But for now, this all reminds me too much of the original launch.

Like CleBrownsfan has said, if you're reading this blog: The Nut and the Feisty Weasel

You should be getting pretty tempted by now.. of course it's not out to the masses yet. I'd probably pay $250 for HC if was in fact really good though.

My neighbor just told me I could play HC all I wanted to when he picked up the CE edition of Madden next week, HUHHAH!!!

I took my vacation two weeks too late.

[Flasch186]

Im still pissed about the 15 season cap though, kills seasons 10-15 IMO unless you want to see what the team you put together in years 1-9 can do

[Big Fo]

Yeah, it would be hard for that not to affect the way you manage your roster in the last couple seasons.

I just found out that the CE also comes with the Genesis version of Madden 93, but does anyone know if the rosters are the guys from 1993 or the ones from today?

[INDalltheway]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

Im still pissed about the 15 season cap though, kills seasons 10-15 IMO unless you want to see what the team you put together in years 1-9 can do

I'm with you here.. In all actuality I would probably never make it that far into the game but just the thought alone makes the dynasty feel restricted or something.

[JPhillips]

Dear meth addicts,

Remember how you felt the day after you blew all your money on meth? That's how you're going to feel the day after you blow all your money on meth this time.

[rowech]

A 15 year coaching career is a decent length in today's NFL.

I think 20 seasons would be better though.