First Look: Quick Hit Football

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If there are genres that don't seem like they belong together, it's probably safe to say that casual, RPG, and sports titles are close to the top of the Bizarre Combination list. It's an odd grouping, to say the least, but it's one that the developers behind Quick Hit Football  -a new casual sport are banking on. It's an ambitious goal, but it's one that could very well pay off, thanks in large part to some quality work by a development team composed of people who have worked at illustrious studios like 2K Sports, EA Sports, and Turbine Studios.

Quick Hit's gameplay is remarkably simple: after you create a team (which includes choosing a name, color scheme, logo, and general play style), you can engage either other players or a computer-controlled opponent for a game of football. Each team will get two "legend" (read: "real-life NFL") players as part of their team, both of whom start out with higher attributes than their teammates.  Gamers will be presented with a choice of plays -both offensive and defensive- and the server will then calculate the results based on each team's statistics.  

The game's RPG elements come into play in the form of "Coaching Points", which are like experience points that are earned during each match. By running yards, making interceptions, and scoring touchdowns, teams earn these Coaching Points and players can then spend them between games to increase their team members' attributes.

Based on the gameplay in the current beta, these mechanics work quite well.  What initially starts out as a kind of "rock, paper, scissors" game against your opponent gradually becomes something more strategic and nuanced as you earn new plays and character upgrades.  None of the plays ever wind up feeling predetermined, though, because dynamic animations make things feel fresh and interesting with each turn.  

The major appeal for casual gamers checking out Quick Hit is that players can choose to play against other community members or against the computer. For those who want to get a feel for the game, the single-player matches offer some excellent tutorials to help provide an understanding of how things work. However, if a player wants to go head-to-head against live opponents and start working their way up the community rankings, they can dive in from the start.

One of the major challenges with free-to-play games is that developers are often forced to rely on microtransactions in order fund the title. According to Director of Design Brandon Justice, Quick Hit will have microtransactions available, though it will also utilize some rather inventive advertising, too: since games are broken up into quarters, TV-style ads will play during the breaks.

At this point in time, the only confirmed/planned microtransaction is buyable Coaching Points that players can use to upgrade their teams. However, Justice also made a point of explaining that the development team will have a series of checks and balances in place in order to keep things fair between people who play for experience points or people who pay for them. 

So far, Quick Hit Football seems like a great game for anyone who's football fan, regardless of their prior gaming experience thanks to its ease of use. It is slated for a release in the near future. Tentatively, the estimated release is sometime around early October, though the development team is hesitant to offer a definitive date; according to Justic, though, the game will "definitely launch during this football season."