Blood Bowl

• 

  Brandon J. Carlson said,

  This game is made by the warhammer guys and to my knowledge its a game the uk actually plays with pewter models.

  It takes a while to learn the controls because there is no real set of instructions with it. If you have never played the game before (like myself) it will take a massive amount of time spent in trial and error.

  The teams are the Humans, Orcs, Wood Elves, Skaven, Lizardmen, Goblins and Chaos and depending on the playing style you are will most likely determin the team you want to be.

  The gameplay is basically like a board game. You start of picking your team each with their strengths and weaknesses. Then you purchase players for your team ranging from lineman who are the basically spot fillers in my opinion and can buy all up to basically and ogre sized player (depending what team you have). After that you can spend whatever money you have left on apothacaries who can heal your downed players, Re-rollers that can let you roll again if you didnt like your first roll, and cheerleaders who will from the side lines cheer and try to bring you in some revenue.

  You then start the game from the lines choosing heads or tails and picking wether or not to kick off or recieve (depending if you won the toss) Then it is kicked and is a dice game afterwards. Each player has so many squares they can move and there is 2 spots after those solid squares that have dice on them. Those are just if you have to go that little extra. It is a dice roll to basically what i think is if you are swift enough to go that little bit. The blocking in the game works really only if you are already next to an opponent. Select your player then select your opponent right next to you and you get to roll the dice to see if basically they take you down or you take them down. Once per turn you get the blitz effect which allows you to run up to a player and then do a block.

  The passing game doesnt seem to difficult just you have to make sure no opponent is in your line of passing or they have a chance to roll the dice and interecept. Depending on your person is depending on your passes.

  The more special charactors in the game you buy come with small perks such as cannot be knocked down or dodges easier which is always useful to look for.

  Like i said this is as much as i have learned from the game it is still trial and error for me and starting out there is already quite a few annoying moments that i just have to shut off the game and take a break from but all in all it is a game to a least take a look at.
  Rating: 4 / 5

• 

  S. Frost said,

  **Caveat: This is for the Xbox 360 version***

  pros:
  
  - none

  cons:
  
  - terrible graphics;
  
  - terrible sound;
  
  - uninspired and ugly presentation;
  
  - long load times;
  
  - cumbersome tutorial and gameplay;
  
  - no custom online leagues;
  
  - small number of teams and playmodes;
  
  - limited camera (no zoom as far as I can tell);

  I played the tabletop version of this game years ago. I loved every minute of it, and the only reason I stopped playing was job, starting a family, moving, and lack of finding other players locally. When this was announced, I had hopes to return to this game, if only in a virtual sense. Finally, a good fantasy-based take on football, using a tabletop game world I knew and liked.

  Then, I actually got the game. Wow, huge disappointment. For one, the graphics are terrible. I don’t expect bleeding edge FPS graphics for a turn-based game, but I don’t expect a regression back to the original Xbox, either. There are scant few graphical indicators to let you know what a given player’s skill set or “best” position to play (blocker, passer, etc.). Instead, you get a display of the players stats when that player is activated. While helpful, that shouldn’t be on the main display.

  The sound is atrocious. The announcers are repetitive and boring, and the there’s very little “in-game” noise made. When I play a game with a Troll and a Black Orc or two on one team, I should be hearing a lot of yelling and bone-breaking; not in this game. The crowds are equally dull.

  Gameplay is dull and glitchy. Telling me that I might have to forfeit a turn just to proceed through a tutorial means the tutorial is poorly thought out. The control scheme doesn’t fully use all the controls on the control pad, mapping several commands to one button; very repetitive. There’s little information given during some plays. There should be some graphical indicator displaying the probability of completing a play, such as a pass, but there isn’t. I spent time trying to hover over players to see which ones had stats best suited to catch or throw a pass. If I wanted to do that, I’d play the tabletop game, referring to my player stat sheets all the time. The pace is dog slow even for a turn-based game. I shouldn’t have to answer *every* dice roll. Simply let me setup auto-select choices, or default it to the “best” outcome until I change it. Why would I use anything less than the best outcome for a block or something?

  I couldn’t save some stats between some matches in a campaign. It’s a known glitch, but doesn’t seem to affect a lot of people from what I’ve read elsewhere. Your mileage may vary.

  The camera only offers two modes; useless corner view from the grandstands, and a manual camera. No other modes, no zooming in, nothing. Would’ve been nice to have a zoom function when a block is resolved, as it would’ve provided some entertainment value watching Orcs pummel Dwarves or something. Instead, they present to you…dice rolls. Yes, you see the results of the dice rolls in the lower right side of the screen, as if you were throwing those dice yourself. There’s some value to be had in seeing those rolls, but honestly, for a video game, that’s just not gonna cut it. If I wanted to see that, I’d play the tabletop game. There should’ve been an option to turn this on or off.

  The final insult to injury is the utter lack of online leagues, custom or otherwise. If this game wants to compete with the likes of other sports games, or other multiplayer experiences in general, it fails miserably in this regard. The forums on the game’s website describe in-depth the frustration this one point has caused.

  I could go on and on, but won’t. I only played the game for about two hours, thoroughly disappointed the whole time. That’s plenty of time for *any* game of *any* genre to prove that it has something redeemable to it. Not this game, not for me. If I could get a full refund for this, I would. And not only did I waste my money on this, but I wasted my time. Once bitten, twice shy…
  Rating: 2 / 5

• 

  Mike Edelstein said,

  First off I need to state that I play ALOT of Games Workshop games, including owning and playing the table top Blood Bowl. I know I wasn’t going to expect Madden or the fast pace even of a “Dawn of War” during the Blitz mode of this game. Unfortunately, I find this game somewhat lacking and slow…yes readers, even slower than a tabletop game of Blood Bowl. I get the turn based mode, which is very true to the tabletop version, but even then it seems to chug slowly uphill in comparison.

  Pros: – True to the tabletop in the “classic” mode in terms of rules
  
  – 8 teams to choose from (this is good and bad…good for the diversity, bad because the tabletop has 15 teams)

  Cons: – The game seems somewhat slow
  
  – Graphics are Xbox quality, NOT 360
  
  – “Tutorial” mode is a complete joke and basically useless, could’ve been better thought out
  
  – The commentators SUCK, as in the worst I’ve heard in ANY game…I pretty much tune them out…at times I forget there even are any, that’s how innane and worthless they are
  
  – There are constant grammatical and spelling errors…SERIOUSLY! Did they not edit this???
  
  – Since the tutorial is so pathetic it’s easy to get lost early on…the learning curve is pretty bad. If you have the tabletop version, the rules are actually the same…reading this will go farther than just the manual. (e.g. Ok, so fouling can get a player kicked off the field…the manual says it can, not why, while the tabletop guide says why and how)
  
  – Each turn has a time limit…when I pressed the XBOX GUIDE button to pause the game, i noticed the clock in the background still ticking down! Really??? Yes, there is a pause button, but by going to the GUIDE, it should automatically pause like any other game.
  
  – You can’t change team colors. Yes, I know, this isn’t Madden, but some more team customization would’ve been nice, since the tabletop allows you to design a team from scratch. I’m surprised some of this element didn’t carry over.

  So, overall, if you’re a tabletop fan with no one to play with, this is a way to play on your own or online, albeit with issues. I really did want to like this game and was excited, but I honestly feel let down, even at the $49 pricetag.

  Rating: 2 / 5

• 

  Jessie P. Matte said,

  Blood Bowl is a video game based on a board game (turn based). You can either play the game in turn based mode or real time mode (but, there’s not much difference). The graphics are very average, and there really aren’t many options to choose from. If you’re a fan of the board game/table game, you’ll really enjoy it. If you’re not, you might want to steer clear of this one. It’s not very fun and the AI is always one step ahead of you; it sort of feels like the “dice rolls” are stacked against you. If you’re looking for Mutant League Football, this isn’t it. If you’re looking for Madden with a twist, this isn’t it. If you’ve played Jerry Glanville’s Pigskin Footbrawl and liked it, this isn’t the game that you’re looking for. It’s more like chess on a football field. There’s not much action, and the learning curve is very steep. Once again, if you’ve played the table game, you’ll be happy with this game. If not, you’d be better off waiting for the next big thing.
  Rating: 3 / 5

• 

  Losermagnet said,

  This game is based on the table-top board game of the same name. I never played the board game before, but from what I’ve researched the video game seems to be a pretty faithful representation (and since it plays exactly like a board game would). Trying to describe how it’s played would be difficult; and the in-game tutorials and instruction manual don’t help either. I personally looked at an 52(!) page online guide for the official rules for the board game so I could better understand what was happening in the video game. It definitely helped and I’ve been enjoying it more since.

  I think that anyone who buys this game without having experience with the board game is going to have some frustration. You will lose…a lot. And that’s what it will come down to: If you don’t mind making a commitment to a game that is hard to love. Once you understand the gameplay, you’ll realize that it’s really rock solid and you’ll be more in control of what’s going on.

  The rest of the game is really a mixed bag. There are two different styles of play, Classic turn-based and a “real time” mode (which doesn’t quite play as it’s name implies). There are a couple different campaigns modes, which are welcome additions and add depth to the game (you get to buy players, cheerleaders, etc, and play in tournaments). There is online play, although not a overly strong online community. The graphics and sound are pretty low-grade. The main pull for this game is really the gameplay.

  Blood Bowl isn’t for everyone. I can’t possibly recommend it to anyone looking for a fast-paced action game. People who are familiar with the table-top game, or who enjoy games like Magic: the Gathering, Culdcept Saga, or Civilization are more likely to give it the extra attention it demands. Once you put in the effort though, this game is a lot of fun.

  Rating: 3 / 5

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