Submitted on: 07/11/2008 by Matthew DiStauloMany thought the negative reception of the first NFL Head Coach would mean there would be no follow-up, but here we are.
What has EA Sports learned from the original version? Let’s say just about everything. The last edition was pretty much a model of what not to do when beginning a new franchise.
This year EA is making sure to keep the player immersed in the world of being a coach. They are doing their best to get rid of the hold-ups and the repetitiveness by keeping the action continuous.
If you don’t want to do pre-season stuff because you think it’s boring and want to get right to the play calling, you have that option now. Didn’t like the tedious calendar navigation for scheduling practices and drills? It’s fixed.
The new system gives you a clipboard and keeps the game moving along at all times. Every decision is made from a new menu scheme regardless of what point of the season it is. This means scouting, training, practices and even picking plays all happen from one convenient user interface.
What has EA Sports learned from the original version? Let’s say just about everything. The last edition was pretty much a model of what not to do when beginning a new franchise.The game also has a countdown leading to the next moment the coach has to make a decision. If a decision isn’t made in time, a default one is made for them, allowing the game to keep moving and feel more realistic. It’s a nice feature and one that will be welcomed by many that don’t like feeling bogged down.
A welcome option is the ability to start from the 2008 off-season beginning after the Super Bowl. So if your team didn’t draft the player you hoped for, you can change history and make it happen.
You want to draft Matt Ryan with the first pick for the New York Jets, trade up with the Falcons. You want Miami to trade down in the draft and get more value, go ahead. The choices are yours and yours alone. Not that you won’t have the help of your staff to aid in the process, but you get the final say.
Head Coach 09 hopes to improve drastically upon the original Head Coach.
No need to worry about the draft this time either. The AI has been revved up like crazy and is hopefully going to make the decisions much more realistic. Stars that surely would go in the top five in real life will not drop to the middle of the 1st round anymore. Teams will also make realistic trades with each other if they feel their guy is going to be taken ahead of them. Let’s just hope they can make this work, because the draft is one of those crucial components that if done right will give reason to come back time and time again.
If your team still has needs after the draft, free agency will be your friend. There’s a new system where teams have to outbid each other on a specific player as if he’s being auctioned off. When a team wins the bid they then get to negotiate a contract, but if both sides are unable to come to terms the free agent returns to the market to be bid on again.
One thing that constantly aggravates people in Madden is the tacked on off-season mode with no true training camp or the ability to make cuts.
Hiring coaches is nicely reformulated as well. You have the ability to hire coaches from the college game who bring with them playbooks from their previous teams, granting the ability to expand on your team’s playbook.
Now many new players will join a team’s roster yearly and their ratings information will be limited. As cut days approach more information will be given to the head coach in order to make the appropriate decisions. At the end there will be an extended roster with 53 total players to have some extra reserves for the grind of the season.
Hiring coaches is nicely reformulated as well. You have the ability to hire coaches from the college game who bring with them playbooks from their previous teams, granting the ability to expand on your team’s playbook.
Also, GMs and coaches hired from within the league will be bid on by offering them more control in attempt to meet their demands. They may want to make changes to the playbook, or roster, or evaluation process. Whatever they want, you better meet their needs or you may find them making a name for themselves with your closest rivals.
What about on the field?
Not all the details have been revealed but the coaches you hire will definitely influence the style of play and the options at your disposal. Subbing players in and out will also play an important strategy in the game by keeping players fresh on the field and creating a need for depth at many positions. Take a note from the Giants’ defensive line last year and you’ll get the drift.
While the on-field action is being tuned, the majority of your time will be spent off of the field.
There will even be specific instances during the game where you as the head coach have to make a key decision that will impact your approval rating with the organization and with the team. Success could mean legendary status, but failure could mean demise. These moments will be more apparent and will be a big influence on whether or not you see a big W next to your teams’ name for the week.
Injuries have been revamped as well. The body parts of players have been broken down into group sets that have health ratings. When players make contact with each other they lose health points to specific areas depending on the severity of the contact. The lower the health points the higher the risk of injury. Recovery is dependent on the skill of a team’s trainer as well, so it’s worth spending the cash for a better medical team.
Immerse me!
Adam Schefter of the NFL Network will be making sure you know what’s going on around the league, giving you the latest news with a sports recap show. He even gives updates on rookies throughout the year, many having unique back stories and skills so they don’t feel like some generic character with a couple numbers next to their name. Another impressive feature one can only hope finds its way into other sports games alike.
One thing that is bothersome about Madden games of past has been the static players on the sideline. There seem to be bunch of similar looking camera guys kneeling or standing alongside a bunch of lackadaisical looking players. These guys are commencing in warfare out there on the field; they should be emotional and interacting with each other off the field.
Head Coach 09 hopes to be the game its older brother wishes it was.
NFL Head Coach ’09 intends to fix that issue with 300 added animations for the sideline, including kickers warming up, trainers diagnosing injuries, and players chatting away. EA is really trying to make the player feel like they are truly on an NFL Sideline.
They also seem to be implementing the new weather effects into the NFL Head Coach ’09 engine to create a crossover effect between the game and Madden ’09. Just because it’s a text simulator at heart doesn’t mean the graphical interface and look of the game will be lacking.
There is even more synergy between both games with the ability to create plays in Head Coach and import them into your profile for Madden. Not to mention that both versions can be had together in one nice package with the Madden ’09 Collector’s Edition. These are all nice features and really give a reason for gamers to dabble in both games rather then feeling the need to choose one over the other.
Working...