NFL Head Coach - Xbox

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well i love football and i also love how deep this game is. but i was wondering if anyone else has been getting lag and sometimes it will shut off and say damaged disk but i restart the xbox and it works good for awhile. other than that it is pretty sweet well until madden for the 360 arrives but i will still play this.

I love football and football games. I own many versions of EA football games from Madden and NCAA. EA's games have always been worth playing/buying. They've always had their shortcomings, but mostly the pros outweigh the cons. This time, they really screwed up.Unlike other reviewers, I don't think the game is boring. It's actually pretty much what I expected. The focus is on being a head coach, not a player, so I think it's normal that getting through the week takes longer than the game itself. Afterall, that is what happens in real life.The problem that I have with this game is that it's so buggy that I just can't enjoy myself. Some major problems that I've encountered:1) My OL players get plenty of pancakes every game. Problem is that after the game, the pancakes are registered as sacks and vice versa. So good linemen that I have (like Tarik Glenn of the Colts) drop from a high rating of 99 to 75 by season end because he supposedly gave up 150+ sacks when he actually had 150+ pancakes.2) My QB (Peyton Manning) started the season with a high rating of 98 and ended with 80, despite the fact that he had a QB rating of 112, broke the TD pass record, and won MVP and best QB awards.3) My WR (Marvin Harrison) started the season with a high rating of 99 and ended with 81, despite the fact that he led the league in TD catches and rec yards, and won the best WR award.As you can see, the biggest problems are bugs with the stats sytems. Problem is, if this is a strategy game, then stats are more important than anything else. I put a lot of time/work into a game, and I expect to reap the rewards. Instead, I end up with players whose stats deterioate so badly that it doesn't matter what I do anymore. I went undefeated and won the super bowl in my first year, but I'm left with players who are barely mediocre in rating when they should be pro-bowl caliber. That is just unacceptable. What's the point in playing a coaching simulation game if your players' performance do not have any impact (or worse, reverse impact) on their rating?I don't know how EA can ship this game. I work for a major software company and if we shipped anything this buggy, we'd all be fired. Personally, I think the product manager, dev manager, and QA manager for this product should be held responsible. It's bad enough that I wasted $40 on this game, it's worse when I spend 50+ hours of my time getting through the first season just to find out how buggy this game really is.Bottom line: EA has lost my trust with this game.

I owned this game when it first came out for the original Xbox and fell in love right away. Of course I played the Madden and NCAA football series but after countless hours in all game modes on both games, I grew tired of the same old thing.That is where this game stands out, every week, and almost every day there is a new task or goal to meet and players adjust season to season, almost week to week. I recomend this game to its succesor (NFL Head Coach 09) because this original edition is more streamline and simple, yet deep.In conlcusion, if you want a game that you can get lost in for hours and hours, this is it. The only reason it is not my favorite game is because I am a first person shooter lover (Halo, Call of duty, etc). This game is perfect for the most novice gamer all the way to the ones who are addicted. Enjoy

This game is like SimCity but with a football team. Some of the comments on here do not do the game justice. Off the bat, let me say not you don't actually 'play' football. However, for me that makes the game more enjoyable because I am at a level in Madden where I own All-Pro, but All-Madden is just WAY too difficult.Let me run through the pros and cons as I seem em:Pros1) OffseasonTake the offseason of the Madden Games (my favorite part), and put it on HGH. The way they set up the draft is phenomenal, and is so much easier to manuever around than Madden's, at least for me. True, the offseason is quite long, and a little off-putting at first, but there is a lot you can skip through simulation. It took me a few tries to get the hang of it though.2) Sideline ChatsYou can 100% control strategy with your players, telling your QB to scramble earlier in his reads or drop deep, always look for the short pass first, etc. And the same is true for the rest of your positions. Lineman, make your move inside, stuff like that. Also, the concept of motivation (you can say different things to your players while they are offfield) is intersting, where you can inspire your players for a temporary ratings boost (on fire) or a temporary slump (iced).3) The OwnersIt is easy to get on the team of your choice, but whatever team you pick you will get about 5 yearly goals. Currently mine are to draft a marquee HB, be in the Top 8 for Rushing, Total Yards, and Rush Defense, and Top 10 for something else. And, if you can't complete those goals you may get fired, which gives you something to strive for. That was something I found lacking in Madden, where you just played an openended franchise for no apparent end other than the SuperBowl. I need my games more defined scenario wise.4) New Ratings SystemOne of the best developments in the game, I think, is the chucking of 'ratings' and the implementation of 'ranges'. Say you have Donovan McNabb. Instead of being a 90 rating, he'll have a 78-94 range, say. So, with practice, he'll be a 94. But out of shape he'd be a 78. This also makes your players prone to slumps, making the game much more interesting and realistic, and really bringing into play endurance.Cons1) GlitchyI'm not sure if it's my system or not, but the game will sometimes freeze, like while running a practice you will lose a selection screen and become stuck. Or the game will take a while to be read. Also, in the game I wanted to talk to my DL about strategy, and the screen went bonkers (I have NO idea what happened) and while the game went on in the background I could do nothing but restart. even unplugging my controller did nothing.2) TediousIt is the same thing OVER and OVER with a monsterous amount of practices before games. Not really monsterous, but enough to make friends leave the room if they wanted to check out the game. However, this is also goal oriented, and the games are faster paced than in Madden so it doesn't seem as bad.For the sake of brevity, which I think I killed a while ago, I will stop there. There are more pros and cons, but I think the former totally outweigh the latter. This isn't a replacement for Madden, but it is a good complementary franchise for those of us more prone to simulation style games. I enjoy it a lot, though only in small doses.ALSO, as to another comment I read on here about changing clothes. Many of the tasks you encounter (typically four a day) are unlocked, meaning you can swap them out. This is VERY important in practices for maintaining different focuses. The computer will set you up with guidlines, but ultimatly you can switch out of them. I never changed my clothes so far. ;) You will have about 2 'Office Hours' a day, where you can change depth charts and whatnot, and then 2 'Open' slots where you can swap in and out different tasks. So no the game doesn't make you change your clothes over and over again.