The Warhammer 40k universe has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I know people that play, and am even in a few local Facebook groups where players get together weekly to push miniatures around on grandiose landscapes, but I’ve always been an outsider. I’ve always been fascinated with the world, but have never been able to to get past the barrier to entry. That shit is expensive! I barely have enough time to play and review games, let alone paint and build wildly outrageous props and miniatures.
The world of video games is always an option, but the world of Warhammer 40k hasn’t always translated well. Aside from the fantastic RTS from some years back, we have been left with lackluster FPS outings going as far back as the 3DO. But now things have begun to change and we are presented with Blood Bowl 2, the sequel to the hit first iteration. While I never played the original Blood Bowl –fear of complexity kept me away– Blood Bowl 2 was an amazing surprise, especially for someone that isn’t much a fan of football or really slow paced games.
The Blood Bowl series is a spin-off of the board game of the same name, of which itself takes place withing the Warhammer 40k universe. I may be wrong, but I’ve always seen the Blood Bowl board game as a sort of entry into the larger Warhhammer 40k world. The same can be said of the video game version of Blood Bowl 2 as it’s the perfect way to dive into a much larger universe, one of which you’ll really be tempted to get into, especially with other human beings, both with the miniatures and online in the video game.
Right off the bat Blood Bowl 2 is a sort of football simulator, but one that is lot more violent and crazy than any human football game. You control a team within a league and take your bottom of the barrel team and rise them through the ranks to win honor and glory against all manner of humans and creatures. The game is set onto a large grid that overlays a football field to amazing effect.
Gameplay is turn-based and sees you moving your pieces up and down the field in an attempt to either take control of the ball, or to drive down the field and score a touchdown. I’d compare Blood Bowl 2 to a football based chess game as strategy is key to scoring. Each team is composed of a number of specialty players, of which you can select and recruit before games. The trick is to understand each units abilities and work to out maneuver the opposing team. You have slow lineman that can stop players cold, passers that can launch the ball downfield, receivers that can better handle a pass, and so on.
Each match is broken up into 16 turns, with a halftime happening on the eighth round and giving you a really awkward cheerleading show. It’s quite an awkward sight and sort of made me uncomfortable, not because of the sexuality or anything, but because how strange it is every game. Each turn will give each side a chance to either play the ball or attack the ball with the 11 players on each team. Each player has different stats and can only move a certain number of spaces, as well as having special abilities. Blood Bowl 2 is based on a boardgame so everything that you want to do, from moving, throwing, catching, blitzing, etc is decided by the roll of the dice.
When two players go head to head you’ll roll the allotted die to see what happens and who has the advantage. Do you make the tackle, or do you wiff it and miss? Roll the 1st die. Do you stun the player, or simply push in back? Roll the 2nd die. This continues for anything you do and you’ll have to take calculated risks while on the field. Want to move an extra space or two beyond your limit? A random roll will dictate if you make it or trip and be out for an extra turn. I know it sounds like a lot of waiting and rolling, but unless it’s a direct clash much of the rolls are done by the computer and not seen by the players. There are also dodge moves where you’ll see a percentage pop up letting you know the odds of making the break, sliding past on a blitz, and so on. There is so much on your plate that even with only 16 turns a game can run well in the two-hour plus mark.
Now, there are a lot of veteran players out in the community that have complained about Blood Bowl 2 being lite on features when compared to the first game, or even the boardgame. I can’t say one way or another as I never played the first game, but Blood Bowl 2 feels just right to me. The strategies involved can be incredibly deep, especially when you get your team set up just the way you want things. Every single match that I played felt fresh and new, and with a solid campaign mode that does a good job of easing you in, Blood Bowl 2 gets it just right. As a newcomer to the series, and the Warhammer 40k world in general, Blood Bowl 2 is the perfect game to draw in a new crowd of gamers while still offering enough under the hood to those comfortable with the series.
Presentation wise Blood Bowl 2 is pretty outstanding on the Xbox One. The season mode does wonders to teach you what you need to know in a really drawn out manner, but it never feels like a tutorial. The game teaches you what you need to know as you progress, something which you don’t often see nowadays. Color commentary is suitably comical with the announcers adding the needed flair to keep the game entertaining. Graphics are all quite lovely and the animations during the various actions is really satisfying. Players get knocked about in horrendous ways and can be knocked off the field for the crowd to beat-down, or even be injured and taken out of action. Blood Bowl to just looks great.
The difficulty level really does ramp up as the season mode progresses and teams that you face off against will present you with unique challenges. While early on teams will take it easy, or play the ball in a clear patterns, as you get deeper into the game they will drive you mad. Some teams will focus on running you down while others love running the ball and all will challenge you to quickly adapt to new strategies. While this is hard –in a good way– it’s also really important as when you take the game online you better believe you’ll be seeing some very serious players; as I’m sure you would with the table-top games. Learning the special abilities of your players and gaining XP to flesh them out is imperative.
There is much to praise in Blood Bowl 2, but like with anything there are a few issues that are more annoying than anything. The game is already pretty slow, but there is no way to rush animations, or skip them, as an action is happening. It’s not huge, but waiting for one of your players to finishing falling or completing a move before you can give another order drags the game down. I’d love to be able to issue an order and then move on to the next player without having to wait for everything to finish. I mean, the game drags enough as it is with the AI often taking its sweet time to make its moves. There is also the occasional graphical glitch here and there when thing are playing out. And while I love the announce team, they tend to repeat themselves a lot of the time with the games sound also being mediocre at best. I also really can’t stand the amount of menus I have to dig through just to play the game. From loading up Blood Bowl 2 to getting into my first match it felt like I was sitting staring at loading screens for near ten-minutes.
At the end of the day Blood Bowl 2 is still a fantastic game that has no equal on home consoles. It’s so damn unique that and fan of strategy games, or even chess games, would get a lot of enjoyment out of. With the solid online component of the game you could easily be playing this one for the entire lifespan of this console generation, especially if you get some friends together to form your own mini-league. If you are looking for a game that requires you at actually use your brain while having a load of fun Blood Bowl 2 is a must have title.
*A copy was provided for this review*
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