Blood Bowl in one form or another has been around for a very
long time. It started out as an incredibly lengthy and complex board game and
then moved to something with much more pace to it around the third edition of
the games rule revision. It was here in 1994 that we at Retro 101 first really
fell in love with the game as it required much less commitment in terms of time
and money than many of Games Workshop's other releases. The last digital version
of the game was excellent (on PC at least), so we were more than ready to dive
right into the sequel.
In truth not that much has changed from the first version of
the game on the PC. There are strong graphical improvements and the commentator
characters are nice (even if they do repeat themselves a little too often). But the rules and way the games play out isn’t
much different. This is actually a good thing as the last thing you want is to
start mucking around with the rule set for the sake of it. It does mean that
Blood Bowl is still a turn based strategy game much in the same way as Space
Hulk: Ascension or Talisman.
The graphical improvements are very noticeable as well with
every crunch and thud drawing quick intakes of breath from players. The
stadiums and crowds are also much more detailed and it really does help to draw
you into the fantasy world of blood and touchdowns.
The main addition is the campaign mode which has players take
hold of the Human team – the Reikland Reavers, who have fallen on hard times
and had their star player disappear after building up a sizable debt with a
group of ogres. The campaign acts to introduce you to all the basics of how the
game flows as well as showing how hiring and firing staff and players works and
sorting out the stadium and other matters away from the pitch. For newcomers it’s
a much more approachable introduction than in the first game and it’s both
sizable and fun to play through.
For those not familiar with Blood Bowl it’s basically a
fantasy version of American football where different races of creatures square
off against each other. The aim is to score touchdowns but more often than not
it just turns into a massive fight. Different races have different strengths and
weaknesses (with Elves being quick and agile while Orcs are strong and slow for
instance), and it’s about working your strategy to play to your strengths while
anticipating how your opponent is going to approach you.
Everything is carried out via dice rolls with blocking,
throwing, catching and even picking up the ball at the mercy of the specially
designed blood bowl dice. When players are tackled they can also be stunned,
injured or killed for added drama and there are numerous events such as pitch
invasion or players being pushed into the crowd never to be seen again. It’s wonderfully
crazy and chaotic while also being deep in terms of strategy needed to succeed.
This version comes with eight races available from the start
with the Humans, Orcs, Dwarves, Chaos, High Elves, Dark Elves, Skaven and newcomers
the Bretonnians ready for action. It’s considerably less teams than the last game
ended with and with Lizard Men and Wood Elves already available as DLC it’s
fairly obvious that the others will be making an appearance in the same way
later on. It would have been nice to see more teams added from the start though
as eight really isn’t enough.
Aside from the single player campaign there are leagues you
can set up and play against the AI with pre-made teams or you can start your own.
There is also a small amount of team management involved with the buying and
selling of players and the development of the team’s stadium and it should keep
you occupied for a while. There are of course online options and this is where
Blood Bowl should really shine as players test out their plans against each
other. How long the community lasts for on the PS4 remains to be seen.
Overall, this is undoubtedly the best version of Blood Bowl
to appear in console form. It’s far superior to the previous console version of
the original game and it kept us more than happy for far too many hours. It’s a
more difficult sell to PC gamers who may have the Chaos edition of the older
game with almost all the races included. Aside from the limited races though
there is very little to dislike and it will keep both strategy and Games
Workshop fans occupied for weeks. It’s also decidedly cheaper than trying to
track down the board game and teams.
Overall 8/10
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