Is it worth coming back to HC09 after next-gen Madden?

[tarek]

Every year I feel the lure of HC09. I feel it pull at my heart strings while i pick flaw after flaw in the latest Madden. Now I sit after completing my first draft in Madden 17 and yearn for the drafts of HC09. Like an old flame who still holds your heart, do you go back, will the attraction be the same? Is it real love or just nostalgia?

I sometimes find my folder full of HC09 notes, manifestos and spreadsheets of dedication that have never been replicated on any other game. I flick through them, the memories flooding back, like letting Dane Morrow fall to you in the 20s, another save following the career of Mike Zazzali, all these wonderful stories and paths.

So, has anyone recently fallen back in love? Should I dust off the PS3 and give it another go? Will it be as glorious as I remember? Or will it break my heart?

I'm conflicted.

[tosa]

I had been having the same thoughts and decided to dust this off and get back into it... I really like the way next gen Madden plays and looks but it lacks the depth off the field I am looking for and I get bored very quickly. The graphics on this game are still good enough to keep me interested I think. I hope Madden catches up next year with injury system, coaching staffs, playbook knowledge, etc.

[tarek]

Quote: Originally Posted by tosa

I had been having the same thoughts and decided to dust this off and get back into it... I really like the way next gen Madden plays and looks but it lacks the depth off the field I am looking for and I get bored very quickly. The graphics on this game are still good enough to keep me interested I think. I hope Madden catches up next year with injury system, coaching staffs, playbook knowledge, etc.

I fear Madden is forever playing catch up. All those little things from HC09 are still relevant and current, and frankly I don't see why they can't be implemented. Like the injury, playbook and coaching staff. What are they really? At their essence they are simply mechanisms to temporarily boost player ratings. That's it. RB has 75 Ball Carrier Vision, but is in a new system and he's never played, make his BCV 70. His physical stats stay the same, so if still has a chance to juke people or run over them. But say he's been with that coach and system for years, he knows it like the back of his hand, well bump his BCV up to 80.

Is it really anything much more than that?

I might go back and start up HC09 again. Live those days again for a little while. I just fear the quality of the game engine, it was pretty outdated back then, but now it might look downright ancient.

[tosa]

I agree, I wish they had given this game a real chance and invested in it over say 3-5 years. If they had updated the graphics and game play as well as some kind of online offering, I believe it would have been better received. A PC version of the game with community ability to mod it would have been then most amazing thing.....I digress. Now I just wish they would make this backwards compatible with XBOX One so I could totally retire the 360.

[tarek]

I'm the same, I wish there was backward compatibility. Or even just a re-release of an updated game. A new Head Coach game would be absolutely amazing, and like you said all it really needs is a new skin update to the GUI, refining some of the features, and an updated game engine (even if it's based on the madden engine that would be fine).

This game and NCAA14 are the only games that have made me resist throwing out my old console. I haven't fired the games up yet, but I keep it there just in case.

I wonder if anyone in the OS community has asked EA straight out if there will ever be another HC game, and if not, why?

[gausec]

I actually just jumped back into it. I think Head Coach is one of the better games made. I tried to go with a very sim playstyle and did not allow potential to make me deter drafting a player or not. I am 3-0 with the Jets playing Brady was a battle he literally ran out of time with first and goal at my 3, I also had 2 Kick returns so what a win!

[Toastandtoaster]

This game is very good. Come ac as often as our possibly can. Even more than that.

Sent from my Coolpad 3622A using Operation Sports mobile app

[kwpit79]

What I loved most about this game was the trading system, especially within the draft. You had to quickly come to a middle ground with the AI GM or risk being able to trade up/back. In Madden you can just sit there and try every combination known to man to cheese the system.

The only thing I wish HC'09 did was randomize the names/draft classes so you didn't know which one you had unless you scouted. Instead of 4 15-year classes give me a randomized 60 different classes with randomized names. I would've played this game forever.