NFL Head Coach 09 Review - A Solid Game With Poor Packaging

August 22, 11:45 AMGames ExaminerDaniel Nations

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NFL Head Coach 09 was completely redesigned from the ground up after the disastrous original Head Coach was released in 2006. Riddled with game-stopping bugs and redundant gameplay, the original could try the patience of even the staunchest fan. Luckily, while NFL Head Coach 09 is far from perfect, it is leaps and bounds better than the original.

In NFL Head Coach 09, you will take over your favorite team, navigate free agency, rebuild during the draft, prepare them in training camp and then guide them through the regular season towards the ultimate goal: the Super Bowl.

NFL Head Coach 09 Review - Free Agency

The road to the Super Bowl begins long before the team gets together in that first training camp practice. The road stars with scouting players at the senior bowl, deciding which players to franchise and which players to go after in free agency.

Like its predecessor, the offseason in NFL Head Coach 09 works based on a calender. But instead of giving the player a certain number of moves allowed per day or week, decisions are thrown at the player in a more linear fashion. You won't have to worry about scrambling to get something done -- you'll just wait for it to come up on the clipboard.

NFL Head Coach 09 has a rich level of strategy.

The free agency signing period is broken up between bidding on free agents and scouting college players for the upcoming draft. So, not only will you be deciding on which free agents to go after, you'll also need to target different areas in the draft to properly scout the players.

While there is a lot of redundancy -- and some missed opportunities -- the system is a vast improvement over the original. It would be nice if there was some type of filter for the free agents so that you weren't asked if you want to bid on kicker after kicker if you are planning on keeping your current kicker. And it would be really great if you could target mid-level free agents early in free agency to get a jump on other teams.

But the current system does a good enough of building anticipation for the draft by jumping between the scouting of college players and bidding on free agents, so the process doesn't become too monotonous.

Grade: B

NFL Head Coach 09 Review - Draft

If NFL Head Coach 09 was a cherry pie, the draft would be the scoop of ice cream on top. It really captures the essence of the pro draft from pick commentary to poll results on whether or not the latest pick was a good move for the team. You can even try your hand at predicting what player each team will pick.

For players that like to make a lot of trades and moves, the draft has an excellent system of trading up and down. Gone are the days where you can easily outmaneuver the computer and build the perfect team. The new trading system will let you low ball some offers, but you can only choose from a select group of predetermined packages, and if you low ball the computer too much you might find the team walking away from the table. You also have only a set amount of time to negotiate, so trading can be fast and furious.

Grade: A

NFL Head Coach 09 Review - Training Camp

Training camp is the time to install new offensive schemes and teach your rookies the playbook. But first, you'll have to get all of your rookies into camp by signing them to contracts. And, if you are tight on salary cap space, this can be a difficult process.

You'll also receive some new team goals like playing certain players a certain amount of plays in the preseason and teaching other players a certain percentage of the playbook.

The main goal is to teach players your schemes. You'll be presented with the choice of training rookies on your playbook and putting your entire team through working out with one play, but the main way you'll be teaching your team the plays is by running those plays in preseason games.

It's a nice system that makes preseason games important, but it would have been cool if the head coach could actually choose which plays to work on in practice. Instead, you are given a choice of a few plays randomly selected from the playbook. A somewhat odd choice for a game that is supposed to put you in total control of the team, but it works in a "game" fashion by putting more emphasis on those preseason games.

One thing that is really nice about training camp is the evaluation of talent. You'll start out with an expanded roster with all of your rookies, your rookie free agents and even a few extra players your GM decided to invite. Throughout training camp, you'll be asked to whittle down the roster by making a few cuts until you finally get to the magic number: 53.

This can sometimes create a tough choice between cutting a mediocre veteran who could be a quality backup and an untried rookie whose potential you haven't yet discovered.

Grade: B

NFL Head Coach 09 Review - Regular Season

The game week during the regular season is similar to the game week during the preseason. You'll be frequently asked to gameplan your practices where you can work on mastering certain plays. In addition to the choices you have during training camp, you can also work on certain aspects of the game, such as working on blitzes to give your blitzing linebackers a boost during the game, or working on stripping the ball out of the ball carrier's hands. During games, you'll be able to execute your gameplan by running those blitzes with an extra boost to your players, but be careful, you can only do this a few times during the game.

You'll also need to closely monitor the health and fatigue of your players throughout the season. Sometimes, it might be better to hold a player back in practice so that they get some much needed rest.

Overall, the game week -- whether you are in training camp or in the regular season -- flows well and presents you with some good choices that can effect the outcome of the upcoming game.

Grade: B

NFL Head Coach 09 Review - Game Day

Unfortunately, the game day experience is where the game takes a sharp turn for the worst. Littered with performance issues, bugs and questionable decision making, the actual games play more like a poorly done Madden mod than a top-of-the-line football sim.

Hidden beneath this rough packaging are some good ideas -- such as the emotion system that lets you greet big plays with either an emotional demeanor or a calm attitude -- but even these ideas can be frustrating when combined with the poor performance. While it might be fun to give your players a shout out after a good play, it's not quite as fun when the game stalls out for several seconds while the emotion system sputters to load. This is especially frustrating considering that the timer for calling your next play is still running while you wait.

Head Coach 09 fails to deliver excitement on game day

And that's not the only waiting you'll be doing. Everything from penalties to digging around your playbook are interrupted by brief pauses. Just going in to rearrange your depth chart might take several seconds.

Along with bad performance, there are also numerous bugs you'll have to contend with on game day. The most annoying bug is the limited amount of play clock you are allowed after possession changes and penalties. Instead of the normal 40 seconds, you'll only have 25 seconds to get your play called, which is enough to cause delay of the game penalties if you are not careful.

Even the much hyped "defining moments" system will have you scratching your head. What should have been one of the cooler features of the game suffers from a pitiful implementation. I'm not sure why the developers think that the owner, fans and media would be upset at a coach who elects to go for the field goal when up by 7 with two minutes left on the clock rather than going for the risky touchdown -- maybe the developers don't follow football? -- but it really ruins a neat idea.

Next up is the sound -- or the lack thereof. For some reason, the developers decided the game shouldn't sound like a game. Your quarterback audibles are a faint whisper over a not-so-loud crowd, and you won't be hearing the bone-jarring thud of your linebacker smashing into a running back, or even the PA calling out that your halfback just picked up that 3rd and short.  The lack of football sounds really detracts from the game day experience.  Had we just gotten to hear the sound of actual football with the echo of the PA and the grunts of linemen blocking, the game would be much better.

And it doesn't stop there. After the original Head Coach screwed up the play calling screen by messing with the tried-and-true system in the Madden and NCAA Football games, you'd think the developers would have learned the lesson. Wrong. They've decided to go in a totally different direction by giving us an even worst interface than the original Head Coach's play calling screen.

What makes game day all the more frustrating is that nearly every other part of the game is so good, but the most essential part -- game day -- falls on its face.

Luckily, a real football game is buried within all that bad packaging, so hardcore fans will be able to grunt through the myriad of developer mistakes that litter game day. But the game will not reach the wider audience it could have grabbed had game day truly delivered on the promises, and this might put Head Coach 2010 in jeopardy.

Grade: C-

NFL Head Coach 09 Review - The Bottom Line

NFL Head Coach 09 has all the makings of a great game except for the actual games. Between the horrible game day interface that makes calling plays akin to pulling teeth at times, the frequent performance gaffs that make the game play like a cheap Madden mod, and the idiotic choice to take the sound of football out of the game and replace it with the same annoying phrases being repeated over and over by your assistant head coaches, the game day experience is enough to rip the heart out of the experience for the casual fan.

Hardcore football fans who have been salivating over the prospect of a good football sim ever since Front Page Sports: Football will enjoy the game despite the poor game day experience. After all, while the developers really dropped the ball on this area, it is mainly just bad packaging. The actual guts of the football game are still in place, and the Madden engine keeps it from being a total waste.