Head Coach Mod Progress
Well, I’ve tried. Really, I have. I know a lot of people are enjoying this game and hey — that’s great. There’s no accounting for taste, right? You guys know my reasons by now as to why I think this is more potential than payoff:
- 5 minute quarters
- Crazy INT rate
- Poor CPU clock management/Playcalling
- Horrid interface (both in game and in the coach office)
- Terrible draft and FA signing AI
- Tedious design
I need to note that there’s also a lot of very good stuff in the game but it’s just hard for me to rally behind a coaching simulation that combines crappy AI with a crappy interface, no matter how hard-up I am for a good graphics based coaching sim. It’s hard for me to get past some of this stuff.
Oh, I should mention that my earlier player progression complaint was a bit off-base. It’s really not a player progression issue but player rating flucuation. Each player is rated on a sliding scale. A QB might be a 55-81 OVR. What this means is that when he’s at the top of his game he’s an 81 but when he’s at his lowest he’s a 55. This is why all of my players saw their ratings go up during camp. It wasn’t player progression it was that they were all reaching their potential.
I think this is pretty cool, actually. I like it when ratings ebb and flow. Granted I think there is way too much of this in Head Coach as players go up and down like yo-yos, but still…it’s not nearly as loopy as I originally thought.
Speaking of ratings, I love that we finally have more detail such as WR route running, QB short/medium/long accuracy, etc. And on top of that the ratings, at least as far as I can tell, matter more in HC than they ever did in Madden. A WR with shitty hands….has noticeably shitty hands. That’s awesome.
Still, with every step forward, I get frustrated by the lack of what I feel should be absolute no-brainer design decisions.
Why can’t I quickly sub players in and out during a game? Why can’t I say, “Roye, McKinley, Fisk — get in there.” I can’t do that. I cannot make quick global subs during a game which is just beyond asinine in a football game. I can make subs based on formation but what if I want to sit Northcutt’s ass down completely becauise he can’t catch a cold? If there is a way to do that I can’t find it.
Still, I can definitely see the attraction. Hell, despite my groaning I am still playing. Granted, I need to for a review but I think I’d still be tinkering with it even if it was just free time.
As it stands right now, Head Coach is a lot of cool ideas with some good implementation riddled by a bad interface and too much football goofy-ness to be taken too seriously. Unless you just flat out don’t care about CPU GM AI, Playcalling, and stats (which is a legit PoV because just sitting back and calling plays is in fact a lot of fun) it’s hard to recommend the game in its current state.
But wait! The mod squad is, hopefully, on the case.
I was browsing the Old Curmudgeon Front Office Football forum — particularly this thread. I enjoy reading this board mainly because you can just feel the jaded gamerness oozing from your monitor. I respect guys that talk about games like they’re sitting on a porch waiting for those pesky kids to trample on their lawn. I can relate.
In that thread, which is like 24 pages dedicated to Head Coach, Chris Willoughby posted a screen based on some work he has done. In that screen you see Head Coach running on 9 minute quarters.
In addition he states, “Also, all of the slider settings from madden are sitting right beside it. So, I’ll make sure those are editable also.”
and..
“Made decent progress on the utility. I should have it to where you can modify the quarter length, accelerated clock, and cpu/human interception slider tomorrow night. I’ll keep you guys posted.”
*Insert giddy school-girl laughter here*
Now, I’m a realist and I understand that no slider-mod will fix the bad GM AI. That’s simply an EA Sports staple and hey, why mess with tradition, right? BUT — if modders can supply:
- 15 Minute Quarters with the accelerated clock
- A fix for the crazy high INTs — and realize that these two go hand in hand. 15 min quarters even with the fast clock would mean like 10 picks per game unless this is fixed.
- Also, by fixing the clock it would, possibly, mask the poor clock management. I’m OK with the CPU doing timeout oddness with under 2 minutes if it was REALLY under 2 minutes.
I’m not saying this will turn Head Coach into Front Office Football with graphics, but it might just make it worth playing for more than the usual ‘2 week new game honeymoon.’
We’ll see.