Wednesday Blogs
Hello and welcome to 2019! What's that? It's already January 9th? Again, where does the time go? As part of a New Year's resolution, I'm going to try to update the AFR Blog every Wednesday.
Now somedays are diamonds and somedays are rocks, or so they say. While not every blog post will be pulitzer prize winning piece of literature, I will try to make each one entertaining and provide some sort of insight to the AFR channel. This might entail a sneak peek at upcoming content, a closer look at a previously discussed game, or looking for input from viewers and readers to pick content for a future show.
And to kick things off in 2019, we're going to do the latter; you get to decide which teams will be featured in an upcoming Wild Card show. One of the new games that I played last year that has really struck a chord with me is Breakaway Football from Uplink Underground. It takes a simple concept of offense and defense playing a card and comparing the type of play, and then turns it on its head with the expansion teams.
Each team can break the rules, in its own way, and makes them all feel very different and fun to learn how to best utilize their special abilities. If you like defense, the Rhinos who can, after unlocking them, use 3 different special abilities on each drive to improve what is already a punishing defense. Then there's Hydra who can unlock an ability to add +1 to each pass play and has a great mechanism to close a game where they are tied or losing and pull out a last second victory!
So here's the poll for viewers with the same rules as my previous one; the team that gets the most votes, I will control, and the team that gets the second most votes will be controlled by the A.I. Here's the teams:
1) Stallions: Based on the Manning led Colts of the mid-2000's, features a strong passing attack and an "Omaha" mechanic that gives them free audibles to change out of a bad call against the defense.
2) The Boneyard: Modeled after a popular college option offense, this team features the Flexbone formation that constantly keeps defenses guessing and can gain yards in big chunks. Additionally, several plays can be changed after the snap to create more breakaways and build momentum for even bigger gains!
3) Rhinos: In the image of the champion Bears team from 1985, they have a punishing defense that gets even stronger the more stops they get. Able to unlock 3 different abilities, they are not a team you want to fall behind on late in the game.
4) Hydra: Another mid 80's team, this time out west in San Francisco, Hydra has a most unique ability in their first offensive possession, the "Scripted Drive." You have to select your first 7 plays before the drive begins and then play them in order, but if you score, you unlock the ability to earn +1 YAC (yards after catch) tokens to really pump up your passing attack. Combined with their "Final Drive" ability to close out a game when trailing or tied, they are a force to be reckoned with.
5) Sharks: Yet another blast from the 80's, this time we've got a team based on the 1984 Dolphins with Dan Marino behind center. This team has "Elite Receivers" that really stretch the field and their QB's "Quick Release" helps them get the most out of their offensive possessions. However, their defense gets worse as the game wears on, so they usually need all the offense they can get to pull out a win.
6) Privateers: Another defensive team, this time based on the 2002 champion Bucs team. Their relentless defense can be an offensive weapon and will often put points on the board from turnovers created. An adequate passing and running game but it's the D that will make other teams shiver!
This poll will run for a week and next Wednesday I will post the results and what time the game will be played. If there's enough interest, there's still several other teams that can be showcased as well (and more on the way this year!) Thanks for reading, voting and supporting the show!
Steve