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There are many Madden fans out there that absolutely love the series' Franchise Mode. Some even go as far as only playing the off-field aspects of the game, such as trading, managing finances, player negotiations, etc. For those fans, you finally have a game where you don't have to worry about your lack of playing talent or how fast your hand and eye coordination are, especially if your mental talent is substantially better. That game puts you in the life of an NFL Head Coach, appropriately titled, NFL Head Coach. EA Sports brings the drama of the management side of NFL life to fruition allowing you to control the day-to-day goings on of an NFL team. You make the phone calls to agents, you set up promotional deals, you beg your GM for better talent, and you basically do what every head coach nearly keels over from a heart attack by the year's end.
The 3D environment put you in every situation, making life as an NFL coach as real as possible. You hit the boardrooms, GM's office, on field practices, and even the sidelines of actual games going on in real time. Using the Madden engine, the game looks great, especially since you can get a perspective from quite a few camera angles including sideline, blimp, and even broadcast cams. We do see a bit more ESPN screen wipes and cut scenes this time around, but still nowhere near the use that the 2K franchise brought to the "worldwide leader in sports." Even some key moments can be relived through the NFL Films style footage, including a gripping orchestrated score. Your objective is to build a career as a NFL Head Coach beginning with the interview process, making decisions, winning games, and reaching all coaches dreams of winning that ring in the Super Bowl. You have a pre-set game planner, but you can customize everything from plays to the players to create your team of sculptured superstars from just a blob of clay. What's more, you have the ability to even call plays and give communications hands free thanks to voice communication technology on all platforms. It is true that this game will appeal to the armchair wannabee fans that always say, "If I were running that team, here's how I would make them successful." You hear many of these fans on talk radio after a team loss, now they can attempt to write that check that their butt may not be able to cash. Even with the online competition, the lack of actual gameplay will only appeal to a certain number of fans. On the plus side, you do have the ability to transfer information from NFL Head Coach to Madden 2007, provided you are playing a current gen version of the game. There are many aspects of NFL Head Coach that makes sense, and it is nice to see EA Sports use their license for something a bit different.  | Surprising amount of depth for a console simulation | | Nice use of ESPN and NFL Films licensing | | Online Play |  | No offline multiplayer action |  | For stat geeks and sim nuts only |
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