Let’s see, you are the one and only sole owner of the NFL Football video game franchise, have nobody to compete against, and need something to keep your game makers motivated to make better and better games. How do you do that? After all the last NFL game put out by you (Madden NFL ‘06) was not universally loved, even if they had practically no choice in terms of alternatives except Midway’s Blitz : The League (which had it’s own problems to speak of), so what do you do?
One thing you could do is release an Arena Football game… then realize you (bleep)ed out a forgettable franchise filler and really need to buckle down and do a seriously innovative new game.
Innovation, however, is not exactly coming to you, and other branches of the company you’re working at seems to be no help (after all it seems a different branch is finding new ways of dumbing down every followup game of a certain highly popular movie franchise based on a certain series of books by a person initialed J.K.R.), In this case, when all else fails you, try innovating the lifeblood of your football franchise by taking two seemingly conflicting concepts and mashing them together in a hope that they somehow synch with players both die hard and new. Oh, and then get a ton of football celebs to shill your product.

That was the case sometime back when EA Tiburon (who are presently banking on their gaming skills to make the ideal game for Big Blue, aka the Man of Steel (Superman) to compliment his return theatrical movie coming out at the end of June 2006) rolled their newest NFL game out for the masses to look at.
I won’t try to recreate the star studded staged moment, mostly since you can make up your own judgment without the star power references, so let’s all sit back and take in the ambiance of the moment that I refuse to elaborate on… ahh… ok, nuff ambiance. Time to get serious as we look at EASports newest stab at the twitching mortally wounded carcass of NFL Football that EA Tiburon refuses to share with the circling vultures of gaming studios as we take a first look at their June 2006 release of their newest NFL Football simulation NFL Head Coach for the PS2, Xbox and XBox360.

First off the first thing you’ll notice about Head Coach is that you do NOT control the players!
Unlike other NFL games in the past years, where you controlled the players as the game played, you have a more “omnipotent” role in this game over the hands on, get dirty approach of previous games to date.
Playing as a Head Coach (who, as far as I know, has not rushed into the game and started chucking footballs or running touchdowns at a moment’s notice) you command the gameplay from the sidelines. This, as you might guess, is a harsh departure from the old games which will probably bum out tried and true die hard football purists, while imbuing people like me (who are not good at the hands of gaming approach) hope that we can master this game, and excel in it… probably not, but we can at least dream.

The first problem gamers might have with the game is that the game has a deep menu system.
RPG gaming deep I guess, since I saw a reference to this game calling it a Football RPG… must be because of all the menus packed into the game system. But if you are sick and tired of Madden (especially now that Madden is the only game in town in terms of NFL Football gaming) this might be the perfect escape from the land of John Madden you can get hooked up to while not wandering over to Midway and their Blitz : The League game or going backwards and revisiting ESPN NFL 2K5.
Head Coach’s power (and most likely it’s selling point) is that it takes the football franchise of gaming and spins it like Samus in ball mode in a never before seen way which might really catch on, which I for one would welcome as a change from the same old same old of Madden and also ran games… just as long

as they don’t drive people away with bad choices. Speaking of bad choices…

Bad choice #1 - That “deep menu” thing. Now this might be me, or you if you’ve played a badly done real time strategy game you might have bad memories of the endless menus that made muddling through the game an annoyingly complex chore. This is probably not the best of ideas for an up and coming new franchise game if it drives people away with it‘s menus before the concept takes root. Hopefully, however, the menus are not too deep, considering PC real time strategy game developers are finding ways to streamline their menu screens to make it easier for players to jump into their games.
If the menus are too deep expect players to “drown”, and thus abandon Head Coach like a sinking ship.

Good choice #1 - The game takes an already proven system, a European Soccer (Futbol) manager title, and improves on it by making it deeper and wider in scope (which is most welcomed by players who like some welcomed depth in their games). Promised perks of the game is a draft system, scouting, general management function, meetings with the owners (the people whose hockey counterparts are still trying to shake off their demonization during the hockey lockout), and practice to “blustery Sunday afternoons“… whatever that means.
Long story short this amount of depth makes a promise that even I think sounds good, and considering what a naysayer to Sports gaming I am that has to be a good thing for EA Tiburon’s prospects.

Jeremy Strauser, senior producer over at EA Tiburon, even sounds hyped by this
“We wanted to actually put you in the role of an NFL head coach. We give you visual representation of the coach and we put you in all the positions where coaches make decisions: on the sideline, in the office, on the practice field and in the draft war room."
This means, of course, that you have to approach the game in an all new way that you will not be ready for, the passive “omnipotent” role of all powerful head coach. Since head coaches don’t run out onto the field in a pinch to take control of the gameplay by playing Quarterback or something (unless it’s a feel good Disney movie) that means you have to do all of your playing from the sidelines. Action oriented sports players, who insist on feeling the bone shattering pounds of tackles and blocks, will not be happy with this. The entirely sideline approach of controlling your team as a coach will not satisfy those who must be the center of the action, but if you are more of a tactician than a frontline grunt when football comes into play this might at long last allow you to prove how you are more of a thinker than a tackler.

However this doesn’t mean you are entirely passive. While Madden (or the now defunct by licensing order) ESPN NFL 2K series has a hands on playmaking approach by the book, EASports Head Coach gives you the opportunity to toss out the book and make your own rules to live (and die) by every Sunday.
With the ability to create your own playbook, then practice the moves off the field using traditional football practice makes perfect know how, you’ll find a more intelligent and deep promise made by a game that will hopefully deliver on it’s promises and not become another Arena Football (instantly forgettable).
But again this is not for everyone. You call audibles, and you switch cameras to watch your players play out their roles… and that’s it. You have to leave the action to your forces, and hope your “teachings” can carry them through each and every game to another victory.

Bad Choice #2 - This choice, however, is not EA Tiburon’s choice to botch.
The game features a Coach Now mode, for those of you who want to have a quick taste of gameplay with a preexisting coach between bouts of long gameplay with your custom coach. Here you’ll jump right into the chaos of the game by playing the game as your favorite coach… unless of course you happen to be a Dallas Cowboy or New England Patriots fan. Apparently Coach Parcells and Belichick

did NOT want to be in this game, and no amount of “coercion” by EA Tiburon has made them sign on. However, mind you, this is a report from the end of March (and this is the end of April) so hopefully, between here and June, somebody blinks and the two sign on. If not? Well then you’ll have Generic Coach Dallas and Generic Coach New England to play around with… fun, eh?
Otherwise from the notation on the game I’m taking it that (as of the here and now) everyone else is signed onto the game for a little game of football.

However this is only for depth of content since the real beef of the game is the career mode, where you become the “man” and rule the roost at your favorite team. The story kicks off on the Monday after Super Bowl XL, where you pick your favorite team and (sure enough) get the call from the owner of said team who is ready to give you your interview. From there you might get a bad Coliseum : Road to Freedom flashback as you take an interview to set your stats… only I’m sure this won’t be as boring as Coliseum : Road to Freedom. One thing you don’t need to worry about is knowing the “right” answers as the game promises that there won’t be any “right” answers. The answers you give will set up your starting stats as a coach, as well as the path you’ll be taking in the game. Once your coaching attributes are set you’ll accept one of a few different jobs and head right into the job.
The meat of the game, the titled “Head Coach” position, has you using a calendar system to work your way through the day to day grind of coaching an NFL team. Along the way NFL Live host Trey Wingo will make appearances, acting as the “Storyteller”, giving you updates on your status throughout your career in a series of cutscenes throughout the Career Mode of the game.

From the start you’ll talk to each of the team’s coordinators and assistants, making and breaking lives as you work to form your perfect team of players and staff. So what will you do? Will you keep the old guard in, or start to create your own team of staff to work with? Yes, this means you’ll have access to the power of Donald Trump as you embrace the art of “You’re Fired”… only I’m pretty sure that (unlike the first gen demos) firing people like coordinator Marty Morningwheg will not equal a sentence to hell as they fall through the conference room floor and vanish for all eternity. EA Tiburon promises no eternal damnation for the fired as they will have animations where they throw a fit, then stomp out of the room in a huff (to fall through the floor on their trip to hell while off camera).
Otherwise you’ll have abit of these RPG style conversations to deal with with your staff, which is yet another reason why this has been called a Football RPG… so, you know, if you are not into that much thinking in your football games then again you won’t be playing this game.

Then you spend a stimulating (I.e. boring if you are not into this sort of thing) month “resigning” players, working out deals with other GM (General Managers) for trades, and getting ready for the big draft.
Me? I’m going to take the reins of the Pittsburgh Steelers post Super Bowl XL, but not because they won the Super Bowl… I’ve been, admittedly, a Steelers proponent for the longest time (ever since youth). And don’t tell that Terry Bradshaw this, ‘cause his ego is inflated enough, but I was a fan of his work on the field… really. And once I do take the reins I’ll have to do all this, and so will you.
Word is, though, you’ll probably have to invest at least an hour just to get your favorite pick for your team via the trading route.
For instance the original person who wrote the review I am quoting on took that long just to get favorite player pick Matt Leinart for his Miami Dolphins by dropping Ricky Williams, making room for Ronnie Brown and… yeah, if you are a pro at Fantasy Football this logistics should be nothing for you, and you’ll be master of your domain in nothing flat. Me? Eh… I’ll be glad if I can make my team do something other than lose. That’ll be an accomplishment in itself for me.

Other notes at this point is as follows…
1-If you love draft modes in games you’ll find this game’s draft quite satisfactory. From what I read about it it should be solid and really good, with later season featuring fictional AI generated rookies to keep you going back draft after draft for the latest and greatest for your team (if nothing more than for the solid adrenaline rush of working the draft element of the game).
2-Practice gives you abit to work on with your players. From one-on-one drills, skeleton drills (which does not involve cannon fodder creatures from Gauntlet training up your players), and full pads. There are different risks to these, and with that different rewards. For instance full pads has more reward but you end up risking injuring your players.
3-One vital thing in head coach is the relationship you have with your team. They’re not automated drone here as you must make the right decisions in order to motivate your team to victory, earning their trust along the way as you work hard to keep your players healthy (if you’re running the Minnesota Vikings you might want to keep them away from certain boats).
You’ll work on practice plays, improve player proficiency as you do so. Eventually all this repetitive tactical workouts will pay back finely as practice turns into “money plays” that can mean the difference between a crushing defeat and a solid victory. Add to that the calls you make when the chips are down and the game is on a blade’s edge and you have something that should make for hot gameplay.
The difference between running a known play you practiced sufficiently, and goofing a never before run on the fly move that screws you over may be all the difference you need in victory or defeat.

Head coaching sounds hard doesn’t it, and you haven’t even played Day 1 of it yet! Of course it doesn’t excuse coaching doofuses like former Rainbow Warriors coach Von Appen (allegedly) but still…
Don’t worry, if this is all too much responsibility for you to handle you have a handy-dandy checklist of your goals to go over and keep you on track day in and day out. This acts as your “roadmap” to victory on a yearly basis, and will become your new best friend as you no doubt will rely on this to help plan your future in the NFL day after day after day.
There is more, but I think I’ll save that for a full review in June. The final thing I can bring up, though, is headset compatibility. On the Xbox and PS2 (huh?) you can plug in your headset and call plays using voice recognition placed in the game… eh? The XBox360 doesn’t have a Xbox Live Headset yet? Really?
This should be easy, but again you’ll pick that up once you get the game and start calling plays, so that can wait for the actual review before we talk about it (let‘s not get too far ahead of ourselves here).

With a deep strategically minded game of football facing you in the coming Summer, it looks like players has something other than the same old same old to look forward to when the new batch of games hit.
Some may not like this new approach, preferring to stick to their tride and true traditional football games, which is all well and good. However if you are looking for something that’ll give you a new taste of an old game, and give your brain a workout instead of your button mashing fingers you’ll hopefully find a solid gaming experience waiting for you when you first insert NFL Head Coach into your console of choice.
But that is yet to be seen. NFL Head Coach hit’s the field in June, so I’ll be back then to tell you the full rundown on the game (and whether this is going to be a game for you or not). Stay tuned.