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Post by cqmiller on Jun 23, 2006 6:59:35 GMT -6
It came in the mail yesterday, and I took it for a spin. Let me know what you guys think.
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Post by brophy on Jun 23, 2006 7:16:33 GMT -6
For the sake of the board's discussion, AND SOLEY FOR THAT REASON (  ) I picked up this game last night. I actually played from 7 pm - 1030pm ..........and didn't even make it far enough to start an actual practice(!) I thought it was a little cumbersome, unintuitive, and cheesy for the most part - but what they hey..... I took on the Saints and got a 5 year contract. The best part was having my first staff meeting and FIRING every single position coach and coordinator and watch them get all upset and leave the room. It took me forever (until 9pm) to figure out how to hire their replacements (!). Lot of ESPN (Trey Wingo / Mel Kiper / and STEVE SABOL!!) cameos in this thing to give it an aura of legitimacy, but the fact that there is no way to install THE DOUBLE WING has me fuming (lol). I got impatient near the end of the night (after a few lock ups and freezes!) so I played a game of the Bears vs Packers.....The I overruled most every call of the coordinators (who were calling any and everything irregardless of where the ball was at) and won 35 - 12. I can't see the real appeal of buying the motorola headset the game encourages you to purchasse. It's really not the same communicating with your coordinators without hearing " F----S---F---MF!!!.....I mean, they are actual calling plays in this game! One thing I found most irritating though, was that it REALLY felt like a game about coaching made by people who have no clue what coaching football is about. I understand you can't be too indepth in a video game, but there didn't seem to be much continuity between playbooks and philosophies, and I went through 7 coachiing interviews before another guy could 1) give a relative explanation of zone blocking 2) admit that special teams are an important facet of the game. That being said, I'll probably still attempt to get somewhere in this game. |
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Post by cqmiller on Jun 23, 2006 7:23:30 GMT -6
I agree. EVERY COACH I interviewed was a "vertical passing" guy. 80% of them thought that zone blocking was "some kind of special teams blocking, right?", and ALL the coaches say they can take ANY QB and make him good in ANY system.
I barely got to the draft last night. Found out that the more stuff you simulate, then your "work ethic" rating goes down, so I tried to do every period I could, and it seemed to take forever.
That being said, I am really excited about the fact that there is a video game about Coaching. A lot of people think that "any idiot can coach, you just give it to your best player and let him go", when in fact, a lot of hard work, strategy, and critical decisions are involved
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Post by brophy on Jun 23, 2006 7:27:59 GMT -6
for the edification of the board, I MIGHT have to continue playing
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Post by groundchuck on Jun 23, 2006 7:28:30 GMT -6
So is this kind of like a "Sims" game where you interact with cyber people? Is there any game play like Madden or is it all management? Sounds cool though.
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Post by brophy on Jun 23, 2006 7:33:44 GMT -6
the "cyber" people are conversations you have to have with the Owner, your coaches, potential coaches, agents, your scouting director....with choices of how to respond to them. Same way on the field (during a game), you can chew butt or encourage the plaeyrs (I think this is really gaaay feature).
THE DRAFT is awesome (although you only get 5 minutes for each pick -and to make trades with ) because Kiper does a run down of the player you selected and how he fits in with your current roster.
The problem with the trades, though, is that you can't renig on one - if you accidently offer a 1st round pick (like you would in Madden to guage interest), if the other team accepts it, there is no turning back.
I traded the Saints No2 pick to Texans to ensure they got Reggie Bush - They had Duece McCallister rated as a "60" rating player ........(?)
** Regarding the game play. Like I said, I over rided the calls of my coordinators most of the time during the game (mostly out of spite) but the AI left me skeptical. Green Bay comes out on MY 10 in power I and the defensive coordinator is calling "Red Dime Bonzo 944 Cover 3"...........I'm like, What the F-- are you Doing, Man? This is goal line, dude.....%%$*#@
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Post by cqmiller on Jun 23, 2006 7:43:21 GMT -6
The ratings on this game are A LOT LOWER than in Madden. I am coaching Tampa Bay, and Derrick Brooks is an 88 overall, and EVERYONE ELSE is low 70's & 60's (Including Carnell Williams). In the draft, Matt Leinart was the best QB, and he was like a 74 overall, Vince Young was like a 65. There are a lot more stat categories for each player though.
Like with QB's, there are 3 accuracy ratings (1 short, 1 intermediate, 1 deep)
I haven't coached a game or practice yet, so I don't know how much you can affect the players ratings, or how much they can improve from game-to-game, or season-to-season.
I'll play around on it this weekend, when I don't have so much stuff to do, and get back to everyone on monday.
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Post by coachdawhip on Jun 23, 2006 7:54:34 GMT -6
I was on my way to purchasing it, so guys do you think it's a decent buy?? If you had to do over again thus far?
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Post by brophy on Jun 23, 2006 8:15:36 GMT -6
For $42, I'm really not sure it's actually worth buying. Not because the idea isn't legitimate, but because you get the feel that they just slapped this {censored} together at the last minute.
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Post by brophy on Jun 23, 2006 8:27:33 GMT -6
one additional note, I got the game for the XBOX (internal HD).......with all the autosaving and loading, I couldn't imagine how long this game might take on a PS2.
Also, I attempted to sim from the first day to the last game of regular season (this morning) - but it took longer than 10 minutes, so I just said forget it.
The game starts out asking if you are an Offensive or Defensive coordinator (or random) then asks you a series of questions regarding your philosophy (that determine your ratings and style of play). You then interview with an owner (about the same questions ) then you get offers from interested teams.
I ended up getting Tim O'Leary as my TE coach, Gary Gibb as my LB coach, and Gregg Williams as my DC.......
I hired the first guy that could name drop Joe Gibb and Joe Bugel as my OC.
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Post by coachcb on Jun 23, 2006 9:24:40 GMT -6
Seeing as I have a deep and involed relationship with my X-Box, I may have to go and rent this one. However, I get tired of all the gimmicky crap in Madden and NCAA, especially when they don't include a play editor, or in Madden's case, screws it up completely. But it looks like the doubled the playbooks and plays in NCAA 2007, so that could end up being the football game this year.
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Post by coachnicholson on Jun 23, 2006 11:09:23 GMT -6
I am planning on picking this game up very soon. Please keep the comments on the game coming, just dont convince me not to buy it. lol
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Post by coachaaron on Jun 23, 2006 11:39:10 GMT -6
This game sounds like you could spend your whole life on this . . . sort of real time for being an NFL coach. Sounds very interesting though. I played pro ball in Europe and during that time I had a lot of free time during the day and played a lot of Madden football. After 2 seasons of playing Madden every afternoon I decided that I had to give up video games in order to live a normal life . . . video football is about the same to me as crack.
Although, this game makes me want to "pick up the pipe" again . . .but I think I have to resist the urge.
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Post by coachnicholson on Jun 23, 2006 11:46:33 GMT -6
coachaaron,
Not sure I have ever heard of video games referred to as crack but I see where you are coming from. lol I have felt the same way before about NCAA football for PS2.
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Post by brophy on Jun 23, 2006 12:21:57 GMT -6
here's where I got reamed (by the owner)....I fired all my coaches (after they begged for their jobs) and couldn't figure out how to hire new ones. You have a PLANNER where you take blocks of time to achieve tasks
To be "realistic" you can only do so much during a block of time (like four hours) in your office.
So you couldn't sign 20 free agents in one afternoon, you can only sign 3 at the most.
So they allow you to schedule team meetings, staff management (interview / hire coaches), modify your wardrobe (a really gaay section where you get to choose between tog's visor, knighters ball cap, or Huey's fedora)
You can also visit the "Hall of Legends" of previous coaches like Shula, Halas, Lombardi, etc.
One of the really cool feature is that every time the game loads a new screen (autosaves) you get a famous quote from a legendary quote (lombardi, Johnson, Shula, Halas, etc)
It is geared to be a coach's game.....though it lacks a little intelligence.
I tried to create some plays, and the real 'fun' for me will be the practices and player development. I can't seem to find the playbook that runs IZ / OZ , but oneback, vertical & spread don't seem to have one...(?)
I created an over nickel defensive set with Boston / Spear / Frisco blitzes (in regular madden, I just sit in C4 or C2 the whole game anyway) and a nasty slot formation on offense....
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bhb
Junior Member
Posts: 259
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Post by bhb on Jun 23, 2006 21:34:18 GMT -6
You'll be able to import your created coach into Madden '07 when it comes out in August... I thought that sounded pretty cool... I have the game but didn't get too far with it yet- it's supposed to rain buckets this weekend, so maybe then...
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Post by brophy on Jun 24, 2006 9:47:41 GMT -6
I had to take my game back this morning (bought it Thursday) because it kept freezing up on me (21 times since Thursday) and I could never coach MY team in regular season games (always got the first game of the week, whichever team it was) ....game locked up when I got to wildcard weekend. Neat concept, but rushed product.
I really appreciate these games being made...it furthers the "love" of our sprot and I'm positive tons of guys will catch the "coaching bug" after getting some confidence in this game.
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Post by clintonb12 on Jun 25, 2006 20:13:48 GMT -6
Can you run any offense you want?
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Post by cqmiller on Jun 26, 2006 7:00:03 GMT -6
Played it some more this weekend. It is actually pretty cool. EVERY player has a "Range" of ability. Depending on reps during the week, you can get them to be in the "high end" of their ability, and thus make a good team. I drafted Vince Young (with TB, one of my goals was to draft a QB with an ability of 75 or higher in the draft, so I had to trade up) His overall rating is only a 65, but his range goes from 64-85. Gotta use a lot of practice time to get my OL & QB to be any good. He still throws a lot of picks.
I like how it hides EVERYONES attributes and you need to scout them before you trade for them, or you could get screwed.
Couple things that suck:
1) Don't like how you can't "flip" the play during the games (CPU tends to shift all defenders to the side I am running to, and I can't "playmaker" the run play to the opposite side.
2) Seems like no matter how you motivate the team, (my motivation rating is high) there are always MORE people it has a negative affect on, than people it has a potitive affect on.
To answer your question CLINTONB12: you can edit your playbook EVERY DAY (2 plays at a time) to get whatever you want in there.
Overall, I would say that there are plenty of improvements that can be made, but for a 1st Edition of a new game, I like what I see. If they are going to make this a yearly/bi-yearly/whatever game, then I hope they can make some adjustments with each new release, just like NCAA & MADDEN, and I'll be okay with it.
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Post by brophy on Jun 26, 2006 7:34:41 GMT -6
You CAN flip the plays ("Y" button on the Xbox)
You can pick or delete the plays you run on 1st / 2nd / 3rd downs (and distance) in your playbook, so your team may have a better proficiency in running a play in a contest.
I tried a LITTLE bit this weekend (new game works better) for the Cardinals & Saints (yeah, I got Vince for BOTH teams) .... I probably practice two plays total (double tight OZ and 4-3 Cover 2) so they become your "money plays" that your team can run with great execution when it matters in a game.
Like I said before, you really have to watch your coordinators because they will call some crazy stuff.
As for motivation, I hardly do it for the same reasons cqmiller mentioned (and also, when I choose an "aggressive" motivation, I want to hear some swearing or some major butt-chewing...like, "Dammit Vince, you knucklehead!") - I mainly use the 'strategy' (which really seems to help coach up the plays, though it's really only good for the QB and RB, because it has NOTHING for defensive players).
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Post by cqmiller on Jun 26, 2006 7:56:20 GMT -6
I can flip the plays in the huddle...but not at the LOS. On X-Box you can flip it at the line? There is no "Pre-snap" control to flip the play. Maybe I'll have to look at it again tonight. I'm 2-0 in the preseason. (My defense & Carnell Williams are saving me, because Vince Young thinks that you should AVOID passing to his own team. I had 2 fumble recoveries for TD the last game, and 2 INT's for TD's in my first game)
I went in and deleted all the "crazy stuff" from my playbooks, so that only the plays I like are available for the OC/DC to call. I just need to get through the preseason so I can see how much different the season/playoffs are. Hopefully I win 11-12 games, because that is what the Owner expects.
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turney
Junior Member
Spread'em and Shread'em[F4:coachturney]
Posts: 279
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Post by turney on Jun 26, 2006 8:19:40 GMT -6
I really like this game for the most part. The beggining is really slow but once you hit preseason it gets going. The are pluses and minuses to this game, but overall not too bad.
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Post by cqmiller on Jun 27, 2006 7:13:54 GMT -6
Anyone else have any opinions?
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Post by kylem56 on Jun 27, 2006 7:15:47 GMT -6
I like the game but it takes some practice to start getting good at it. Theres some things that could be improved but overall its a good start , hopefully they add/change more features on the next edition
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Post by brophy on Jun 27, 2006 7:23:54 GMT -6
I understand from a friend, that you cannot be a coach older than 40
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Post by cqmiller on Jun 27, 2006 7:51:48 GMT -6
On the PS2, you have to be between 30-50. Since I'm only 23, I just put 30.
(I can only DREAM to be a D1-HC, or an NFL assistant by 30)
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Post by brophy on Jun 27, 2006 8:17:56 GMT -6
any luck creating plays?
it frustrates me so much, I don't really even bother.
Any way to create jets or make a decent QB boot on this thing?
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Post by gmccown on Jun 27, 2006 8:30:36 GMT -6
any way to create the DW or SW offenses?
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Post by gmccown on Jun 27, 2006 8:30:53 GMT -6
Or an unbalanced line?
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Post by cqmiller on Jun 27, 2006 10:52:28 GMT -6
It basically has the "NFL style" plays in it. No double wing, no single wing. I havent' tried to create any plays yet. I'm still reducing down my offense to what I like.
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