Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by John DeGiorgio

The NFL is king. Nothing in American sports comes close. Cities shut down on Sunday afternoons in the fall, TV sales revolve around the Super Bowl and, other than LA, most places would sell their soul for a team to the tune of hundreds of millions in stadium funding. This obsession we have is firmly implanted in video games as well. The word “Madden” isn’t a coach, it isn’t an announcer, it’s a game, but much more than a that, it's a brand name, a franchise, and money in EA's pockets too!EA has built an empire on the foundation of video game football, and as a little thank-you, EA gave an estimated $300M back for 5 years of exclusivity.

Well, now that they have the license, might as well use it. NFL Street has been around for a while and turns the league into an action sport with fewer players on the field, fewer plays in the book and fewer realistic results in the game. Now EA goes in the complete opposite direction with NFL Head Coach. For the first time EA has taken you out of the locker room and into the war room. The thinking man’s NFL is here are you smart enough to hang with the masterminds?

In 90% of this game, the graphics in Head Coach are similar to the graphics in Outlook. There isn’t anything there. It’s essentially reading emails. Menus and text all are over the screen. There is the occasional shot of an office, then one of a conference room. A bright spot is the load screens that show watercolor stills of current coaches with classic quotes from greats of the past and speeches from NFL Film’s Steve Sabol when certain milestones are reached.

The other 10% of the game that has actual motion on the screen isn’t all that great. The ESPN cut scenes show almost laughable depictions of your favorite hosts (or Kiper on draft day, as the case may be) and on the field there is a PSP quality to what you are watching. It really isn’t horrible but more of an inconsequential piece of the bigger picture. Everything could have been done through text alone. It is nice to see something different at times but graphics are completely unnecessary, so you shouldn’t be disappointed and I’d imagine you won’t. There’s nothing to see and you shouldn’t really care.

When you’re behind the scenes, at your desk and in meetings there is the appropriate amount of aural effects which means, hardly any. How much should you be hearing when you’re sifting through emails alone in your office?

Things brighten up a little bit when you hit the field. The customary game sounds are there and brings us to that old, sports game, standard. When you actually notice the sounds, chances are there’s something wrong. We watch the games and know what to expect. Head Coach brings what it needs to on the field.

Now, on to the music. NFL Films provides the soundtrack and there could be nothing better. Close your eyes and just listen to the orchestra fire up. Sounds like football. With the constant beats of hip-hop hop Head Coach provides the most appropriate soundtrack for its content.  In a game that doesn’t give you all that much in sound effects, I feel sort of funny giving it a great score in this category, but I will.

This is another tough spot for Head Coach. There aren’t any split second button pushes or quick lefts and rights to get you where you need to be. You’re holding meetings, answering emails and calling the plays. No need to feel comfortable with the placement of the dive button as opposed to the jump button in the blink of an eye. You only need to know where to go to get what you want and it’s not too tough here.
Though I’ll admit that the use of a mouse may benefit Head Coach in the PC version, the D-pad provides you with everything you need to move around on a normal, office day. Check your calendar, go over the roster and stay updated on your goals through the use of the d-pad. Menus take a bit to get used to but nothing you can’t master in a about an hour. You’ll be flipping through your new job as an NFL Head Coach like you were Don Shula in no time.

On the field things get a little different. The first change that you’ll notice is the play calling. It’s offset to the left and you are able to scroll through the plays, left to right, with the d-pad. The thing you’ll notice once you see the playbook is that your plays are laid out by “down and distance” rather than the usual “formation” layout that you would be used to.

The other change that you should pick up on right away is the ability to change cameras, on the fly, during a play with the left and right triggers. I really like this ability for a coaching game. You can shift your focus all over the field to better analyze certain players and plays, all while they are being executed.
From the office to the field you’re going to be sifting through a lot of menus and text so it was a relief that EA made it as friendly as possible.

Grab your headset and laminated cheat sheet, you’re on your way to the Super Bowl! Oh, wait, you mean it’s not that simple? You don’t just hop on a plane and call a few plays? The life of a head coach in the NFL is not what it may seem on TV. The daily grind can kill you and that’s what you’re going to get here. The best way to give you the details of Head Coach is to run through my first year at the helm for an idea of what you can go through.

Starting from the top, you are a few questions as to what type of coach you are (offense/defense and a few personality traits) and then you’re left to seek out your new job as an NFL head coach.
I chose to interview with the Lions because I thought they might have the most upside, and being an offensive coach, the thought of those WRs and Mike Martz helping on offense was enough of a shot to make a big turnaround. After you interview the owner and asked a few questions, you are handed some offers. Along with the Lions, I also got offers from the Bills, Packers, Chiefs and Texans. All had different terms and expectations. Take the job with the Chiefs and you are expected to win the division, the Packers didn’t give me any win totals but different defensive goals. Since you are inheriting the current teams and their rosters, it’s a good thing that goals are different for different teams. You wouldn’t expect the same things from the Texans and Steelers next year would you? All that being said,I stuck to my guns and took a 2 year deal with Detroit for $5.5M.

Once hired, your GM runs you through a little tutorial in which you’re told all the controls and menus in the game. Then you are left on your own to move your career forward as best you can. The calendar ticks by in small blocks that are goals in your date book that you must complete, in order to take you through the grind that is a the life of a coach in the NFL. Here’s where it could get a bit painful.
Once you are given the keys to the franchise you really get down to the minutia of coaching. You are tasked to interview and hire coaches, scout free agents, etc.

The jet set lifestyle and Gatorade showers are quickly replaced with mundane tasks. Things like hiring coaches drag you to the point where you really stop caring. Cool things like signing free agents (I picked up Kevin Mawae and Antonio Gates) are balanced by your “Office Hours” where you can just sit and read emails. The tasks are so strictly outlined that you can’t even do something you want to do when something you’d rather not is scheduled. I can’t negotiate with one of my free agents until that is my scheduled task. I understand having some structure but no contract negotiations during office hours? You can cut me a little slack. The good news is that you can swap some tasks out or just simulate past them if you so choose.
Moving to the field is where the game shines. In practices you can work on specific plays in order to improve their reliability during games on both offense and defense. During your practice there’s even a “money” meter that shows what percentage you are to having the specific calls being your go-to plays in game situations.

Sundays finally come and you’re in your element. Making calls, calling players out, boosting them up, running through replays and doing the things we all see and expect. Like I had mentioned before, the plays are split up by down and distance which, I think, is a lot easier to grasp as a coach. Something that I thought was kind of odd was the ability to call audibles at the line. I know EA wants you fully immersed in the strategy, but coaches don’t really change plays at the line. This is something that’s left to the QBs on the field after they see the defensive alignment. Bill Parcells doesn’t make the switch at the line, Drew does. Speaking of ‘The Tuna’, two coaches are noticeably missing from the roster: the aforementioned Parcells and 3-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick. Kind of strange to go into the coaches ratings to see how I measure up to my contemporaries with my 2-1 career coaching record being more accomplished than “NE Coach” and “DAL Coach”. That just isn’t right.

Statistically through my first season things shook out pretty realistically; Manning leading the league in passing yards, Chad Johnson in receiving yards. There were some surprises that seemed reasonably realistic. Reggie Bush (drafted by the Raiders) led the NFL in rushing with 2115 yards. This might draw some suspicion considering he’s on the cover of NCAA this year but NFL cover-boy Shaun Alexander finished 4th so no real conspiracy to be found. The one other questionable performance was Marc Bulger lighting it up with a career year throwing 31 TDs and leading the Rams to a 14-2 record.As far as team records go, the Raiders beat the  Falcons in the Super Bowl which was a little odd, but then again, the Colts lost in the first round which is right on the money.

My first year was productive. Finished 8-8 after drafting Vince Young and was praised by my owner, who thought highly enough of my job to consider replacing the turf for me next year. I also received 3 job offers, apparently Mangini and Crennel had worn out their welcome in NY and Clevelend and, for some reason, the Rams decided they might want to go in a different direction in hiring me after going 14-2 and Scott Linehan being the coach of the year (strange). I’ll stick with my Lions and get back to work on the dynasty next year.

Want to take a shot at getting every team in the NFL a ring? Go right ahead. You could play Head Coach until you as old a Marv Levy.This game is a chore at some points so, chances are you’ll tire before you see it all.

There is also an online offering so you can match wits with armchair Lambardis all over the world.

There’s a lot here. There’s a lot to like. There’s a lot to be overwhelmed with. I’m going to give EA the benefit of the doubt with the daily schedules, interviewing coaches and office hours that litter this game and are the low points. When you set out to make a game like Head Coach, you’re going to need more than you’ve already given people in Madden. We’ve seen Madden’s “Dynasty Mode” where you can take a team through its paces for season after season but you are to going to need to add more if you want to sell it as a completely new game and they did here. I’m, by no means, saying that everything works but it’s not like they stripped Madden down and tried to pawn it off as a new title. To most people Madden's modes will be enough. This brings me to another interesting test that could be conducted later this year: Madden vs. Head Coach. There are countless comparisons that we can make but that’s another article for another time.
The great thing about Head Coach is that it gives you a chance to go out and have a taste of what it’s really like in the world of NFL coaches today. It’s a job, and a game that only a chosen few will really be able to embrace and get the most out of it.

Gaming Trend Score

83

1. Graphics: 75
2. Audio: 85
3. Controls: 80
4. Gameplay: 85
5. Value/Replay: 85
6. OVERALL:83