After a weekend of playing this game with a skeptical eye, I must say that I am impressed, if not jubilant. Like many of you, I’m a 30-something who has played sports simulation games for over 20 years. From the beginning, I’ve been attracted to only the “coach mode” side of football and baseball games because it is inevitable that one will eventually “button smash” one’s way to victory over a computer. It may take awhile, but a fatal weakness in the computer's gameplay will be exposed and exploited.
That said, the great weakness of coach mode games is that they will not be “fun” unless you feel like your decisions matter – that there is a pay-off and punishment for doing the right/wrong things. Also, the game should be deep, allowing you to really get into the nuts and bolts of strategy and statistics etc. Of course these things should complement each other. You should be rewarded for really thinking things through at a deeper level than "should I run or pass" (however you should not be able to win the Super Bowl with the 2003 Detroit Lions, no matter how well you coach)…
Okay, now onto the game itself. Through my weekend of play I have been delighted with what appears to be a very rewarding game (13 minute quarters, all pro). Many of the problems people are reporting about the game play, simply are not present in coach mode. So far, teams and players seem to eerily match real life football. Each team and player takes on a unique “personality” which is really, really neat. Team weaknesses can and are exploited by the computer so adjustments need to be made throughout the game. That is perhaps the best thing about the game, the computer AI is not static. Each team plays in a certain way and they will adjust to what you are doing throughout the game.
The player progression seems to be pretty strong. I love the feature that tells you exactly how many points a player has gained or lost in ratings since last year. Another huge component in this area is how play ratings change throughout the season and how a player’s consistency rating affects play. Just like real football, you may be able to pull out a huge upset if you have key guys at the top of their game, while the opponent’s key players are slightly off their game. Also, younger players are typically less consistent, while you can usually count on a certain output from older players (nothing worse than a bad day from your young stud left tackle who is up against a good DE).
As far as the GM mode. The computer AI is not perfect, but you can’t cheat the computer in trades too much either. It should and does take awhile to make the Lions a contender. I use self-restraint when it comes to trades in order to not take to take advantage of any weaknesses in the CPU (I allow myself 3 trades a year). That said, let me reiterate the CPU GM is very, very strong.
All and all, as you can tell, I’m pleased. I really wanted to wait a month before I started playing football simulations because I wanted to finish my baseball simulation of the 1928 season on Diamond-Mind baseball. However, I just can’t help the addiction at the moment. I guess I’ll just play both…life’s tough. Finally, I knew that game was good when I found myself scratching line-ups, trade ideas and new strategies on a sheet of paper while at work. It reminded me of high school when I used to scratch new batting line-ups in my notebook while in class (this partly explains why I didn’t date the cheerleaders in high school. Who’d be caught with such a geek…). If you want to be a coach, this is a close as it gets so far. Good job VC.
That said, the great weakness of coach mode games is that they will not be “fun” unless you feel like your decisions matter – that there is a pay-off and punishment for doing the right/wrong things. Also, the game should be deep, allowing you to really get into the nuts and bolts of strategy and statistics etc. Of course these things should complement each other. You should be rewarded for really thinking things through at a deeper level than "should I run or pass" (however you should not be able to win the Super Bowl with the 2003 Detroit Lions, no matter how well you coach)…
Okay, now onto the game itself. Through my weekend of play I have been delighted with what appears to be a very rewarding game (13 minute quarters, all pro). Many of the problems people are reporting about the game play, simply are not present in coach mode. So far, teams and players seem to eerily match real life football. Each team and player takes on a unique “personality” which is really, really neat. Team weaknesses can and are exploited by the computer so adjustments need to be made throughout the game. That is perhaps the best thing about the game, the computer AI is not static. Each team plays in a certain way and they will adjust to what you are doing throughout the game.
The player progression seems to be pretty strong. I love the feature that tells you exactly how many points a player has gained or lost in ratings since last year. Another huge component in this area is how play ratings change throughout the season and how a player’s consistency rating affects play. Just like real football, you may be able to pull out a huge upset if you have key guys at the top of their game, while the opponent’s key players are slightly off their game. Also, younger players are typically less consistent, while you can usually count on a certain output from older players (nothing worse than a bad day from your young stud left tackle who is up against a good DE).
As far as the GM mode. The computer AI is not perfect, but you can’t cheat the computer in trades too much either. It should and does take awhile to make the Lions a contender. I use self-restraint when it comes to trades in order to not take to take advantage of any weaknesses in the CPU (I allow myself 3 trades a year). That said, let me reiterate the CPU GM is very, very strong.
All and all, as you can tell, I’m pleased. I really wanted to wait a month before I started playing football simulations because I wanted to finish my baseball simulation of the 1928 season on Diamond-Mind baseball. However, I just can’t help the addiction at the moment. I guess I’ll just play both…life’s tough. Finally, I knew that game was good when I found myself scratching line-ups, trade ideas and new strategies on a sheet of paper while at work. It reminded me of high school when I used to scratch new batting line-ups in my notebook while in class (this partly explains why I didn’t date the cheerleaders in high school. Who’d be caught with such a geek…). If you want to be a coach, this is a close as it gets so far. Good job VC.
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