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Review: Blood Bowl II

Playing Blood Bowl II has seen me swing wildly between loving and hating it. It’s when I think I understand how it all works and that everything again changes and I realise I know nothing. At first, the campaign mode seems like a great idea to ease new players into the rules. As each new rule is introduced, gameplay is fundamentally changed repeatedly, making the campaign essentially redundant. What seemed like fun initially devolves into a frustrating mess of hoping on dice-rolls and constantly losing your turn when you fail.

Blood Bowl is a table-top game by GamesWorkshop which is a combination of American Football and Warhammer. Teams face off and try to score touchdowns by carrying the ball to the opposite teams end. Teams are made up of a range of player types, who each have different skills, abilities and attributes. Blitzers are great for taking out opposition players and running the ball. Throwers and catchers are self explanatory while Linemen are all rounders. The Ogre meanwhile is a hulking beast who can be used to block, tackle and generally take apart the other team.

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While I have no knowledge of NFL, I have a distinct feeling that it wouldn’t help me much in Blood Bowl anyway. Every time I would attempt to use any kind of tactic everything would go pear shaped due to the title’s insistence on sticking to the table-top version’s reliance on dice rolls. Most of these dice rolls are invisible and happening in the background mind you. You only know they’re happening due to a sound effect or, more usually, failure to complete an action. Want your player to run? Roll the dice. Want to throw the ball? Dice Roll. Catch the ball? Dice roll. Tackle a player, dodge a tackle as you move…roll the dice. And so on and on and on. It becomes maddening when more often than not the rolls fail, even when you have good odds (as shown on screen) to succeed.

The frustration in failing a dice roll comes from the fact that when you fail any action it’s considered a turnover, immediately ending your current turn. Initially, this rule isn’t implemented into the campaign and so failing rolls doesn’t really feel as punishing. Sure, your player may fall over instead of making the full run, or get drop the ball instead of catching it, but it’s still your turn. Once the turnover rule is in place games of Blood Bowl start to feel much more unfair, disjointed and lacking any real flow. That’s not to say that they can’t be a lot of fun, because they can. Just not always. Playing is a real love-hate affair for me which I feel will be shared by many who aren’t already fans of the table-top version. Those players will probably love it, although it seems like the title’s insistence on being simply an animated version of the physical game is a real missed opportunity.

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Recreating a board or table-top game in digital form should — and I stress should — be streamlined variants on their physical counterparts. Ok, sure, this is streamlined in the sense that players don’t have to manually roll dice and move models, but in every other regard it’s an identical game. This may seem like an odd complaint since the game is supposed to be a digital version of a physical game, but if developer Cyanide had simply refined the experience, Blood Bowl II would make a much better video game.

While I’m sure fans will dig this title, those with little to no interest in table-top gaming or no experience with Blood Bowl probably won’t find much worth in Blood Bowl II. If you’re interested in the game (either version) then this is a much cheaper and quicker entry point than purchasing and painting models. If you are keen, in either version, there is a wealth of information and tips available online as well as healthy communities who’ll be willing to give you a hand.

Blood Bowl II was reviewed using a promotional code on PlayStation 4, as provided by the developer.
 

Review: Blood Bowl II
5.5 out of 10

The good

  • Faithful adaptation of the table-top game
  • Irreverent, funny

The bad

  • Too faithful to the table-top version
  • Not streamlined
  • Confusing and frustrating at times

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DeltaPhoenix08