Jaded
11-04-2002, 04:18 PM
I have played Football Mogul for the past three years (I think) although I had stopped playing for a long time until I saw the demo posted on the internet.
I like the game a lot, but think there are some things that could be easily changed to make it seem better, and more realistic.
1- Why do I need 53 players, and can have as many as 80? In real football you only get 55 or so. Having the correct NFL number, plus maybe a 3-5 person taxi squad, would be more realistic and not so burdensome. Having the minimum so high means I have to keep 20 poor players with the $225K salary just to play. If I want to have 25 HIGH paid players, and one of them gets hurt, that should be my option. Madden 2003 does a very good job of balancing the "franchise" and business aspects of the game included with the action. It forces you to have a minumum number of players at each position which seems realistic but then gives you ultimate flexibility beyond that. Any NFL team could play with less than the max number, although its not advisable.
2- You should be able to exceed the salary cap during transaction times, just not be able to actually play a game week when you are over. There are lots of times when I am over the cap, and could easily restructure 3 contracts down slightly to come under, but I can't do any of this because if you can't come completely under with one contract, you can't do anything and then you have to drop someone and resign them. Also you could just make it so you can NEVER exceed the cap and actually play a game week. Sometimes especially in fantasy draft, your team goes over the cap and it lets you play anyway. Also, many teams play the whole season over the salary cap...why is this?
3- It would help to have an overall rating, or average based on the previous ratings. This way you can estimate a players OVERALL worth.
4- Completely agree with making the players stats appear in column like spreadsheet form so that you can compare and sort one player to many others. And ditto the ability to print out stats.
5- Echo the other comments that the stats are not very accurate, nor is their continued progression. In year one you have one of the best DBs in the league, Charles Woodson, as someone who couldn't even play? Alternatively you could allow the creation of players, and editing of players before the season starts, so users could adjust them on their own.
6- At the end of the season, or start of new season, there is no easy way to see who got better, and who got worse, or by how much. Player progresssion would be a good stat.
7- Having a K go down in the playoffs is realistic, but there should be a better way of having a backup, rather than just signing two kickers. In one season my kicker went down after the free agent deadline, and even my punter couldn't make extra points. In real life secondary stats would allow some players at least a minimal chance of being a backup to another position. In the game perhaps just making the K not get injured in the last few weeks, or slightly boosting some of the P ratings to allow some K ability would help.
8- Agreed the game needs to be harder, or the AI needs to be better. In ANY fantasy draft on almost all settings, it is easy to build a team that can go completely undefeated always unless you get injured, but the computer opponents put up little actual resistance.
Again, overall I like the game VERY MUCH. It is definitely worth $20, but some minor enhancements, including maybe on line head to head play in real leagues, more in game interaction could SIGNIFICANTLY boost the price to the $49-59 level.
I like the game a lot, but think there are some things that could be easily changed to make it seem better, and more realistic.
1- Why do I need 53 players, and can have as many as 80? In real football you only get 55 or so. Having the correct NFL number, plus maybe a 3-5 person taxi squad, would be more realistic and not so burdensome. Having the minimum so high means I have to keep 20 poor players with the $225K salary just to play. If I want to have 25 HIGH paid players, and one of them gets hurt, that should be my option. Madden 2003 does a very good job of balancing the "franchise" and business aspects of the game included with the action. It forces you to have a minumum number of players at each position which seems realistic but then gives you ultimate flexibility beyond that. Any NFL team could play with less than the max number, although its not advisable.
2- You should be able to exceed the salary cap during transaction times, just not be able to actually play a game week when you are over. There are lots of times when I am over the cap, and could easily restructure 3 contracts down slightly to come under, but I can't do any of this because if you can't come completely under with one contract, you can't do anything and then you have to drop someone and resign them. Also you could just make it so you can NEVER exceed the cap and actually play a game week. Sometimes especially in fantasy draft, your team goes over the cap and it lets you play anyway. Also, many teams play the whole season over the salary cap...why is this?
3- It would help to have an overall rating, or average based on the previous ratings. This way you can estimate a players OVERALL worth.
4- Completely agree with making the players stats appear in column like spreadsheet form so that you can compare and sort one player to many others. And ditto the ability to print out stats.
5- Echo the other comments that the stats are not very accurate, nor is their continued progression. In year one you have one of the best DBs in the league, Charles Woodson, as someone who couldn't even play? Alternatively you could allow the creation of players, and editing of players before the season starts, so users could adjust them on their own.
6- At the end of the season, or start of new season, there is no easy way to see who got better, and who got worse, or by how much. Player progresssion would be a good stat.
7- Having a K go down in the playoffs is realistic, but there should be a better way of having a backup, rather than just signing two kickers. In one season my kicker went down after the free agent deadline, and even my punter couldn't make extra points. In real life secondary stats would allow some players at least a minimal chance of being a backup to another position. In the game perhaps just making the K not get injured in the last few weeks, or slightly boosting some of the P ratings to allow some K ability would help.
8- Agreed the game needs to be harder, or the AI needs to be better. In ANY fantasy draft on almost all settings, it is easy to build a team that can go completely undefeated always unless you get injured, but the computer opponents put up little actual resistance.
Again, overall I like the game VERY MUCH. It is definitely worth $20, but some minor enhancements, including maybe on line head to head play in real leagues, more in game interaction could SIGNIFICANTLY boost the price to the $49-59 level.