NFL Head Coach from EA Sports is an ambitious attempt at a true sports simulation game for home consoles, and while it offers plenty of interesting features it also suffers from a number of glitches and pitfalls. The result is a highly promising game that unfortunately comes up short more often than not. The most important thing to note is that this is a management simulator for hardcore football fans, and not for anyone looking for a quick game of football. Anyone expecting to actually play football will be sorely disappointed.

Players begin as the fictionalized version of either the offensive or defensive coordinator from the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. After designing the look of the coach and interviewing with a GM to determine the coach's philosophy, players choose the team for which to coach. The game begins the day after the Super Bowl as the new coach meets the owner, and starts hiring coordinators and position coaches, signing and releasing players, designing plays, and preparing for the draft. The draft is the pinnacle of the off-season, and shortly afterward the coach is rewarded with a six week vacation. Once he returns, the real work begins as each week is filled with practices, coach meetings, game planning, and games. All of this preparation can be simulated, but leads to coaches anticipating action that never materializes, except for calling audibles, putting players in motion, and choosing when to snap the ball.

There are some really nice touches in NFL Head Coach and an impressive amount of strategic customization available. The coach can tell the QB, for example, to look deep or throw it short, get rid of the ball quickly or wait for the play to develop, stay in the pocket or scramble, etc. Specific instructions like these can be given to each player individually, and for each specific play. There is a trust factor in which players, coaches, and agents all gain or lose trust depending on how the head coach deals with them. Coaches also have the option to motivate players through either passive or aggressive comments, but how players react to these comments is completely random. Although NFL Head Coach is interesting, there are also a number of yellow flags. There isn't enough schedule customization, most scouting directors are complete knuckleheads, the lack of mass substitutions is annoying, if gamers participate in every practice they are almost guaranteed a winning season, saving takes forever, and this game spends more time getting loaded than a first-week fraternity pledge. NFL Head Coach isn't for everyone; in fact, it's probably not for most people. There is a great deal of sitting around doing nothing, but it's probably a fairly accurate depiction of the daily life of an NFL head coach. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

The graphics are average, player design is the same as in the Madden series, the sky looks terrific, and the menus are clean. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

There isn't much sound in this game. The NFL Films classic music is nice, but there is no play-by-play, and most of the voice work comes from the coordinators during the games. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

The game is fairly enjoyable, but the glitches subtract from the enjoyment, and a lot of people will be turned off by the lack of actual gameplay. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide

It takes quite a longtime to get through one season, and a whole career takes forever, but the replay value will drop for most people as soon as the next Madden game comes out. ~ Christopher Brown, All Game Guide