Any Blood Bowler -ers out there? Cyanide's released the digital download

[daerdevil]

Cyanide's released the digital download in Europe, but it's the same version that'll be released in September.  I couldn't resist and shelled out the $50 to play it now, and clunky UI aside, I'm glad I did.

My mini-review:

First off, if you're not into the table top version, this probably isn't the game for you.  Blood Bowl is a quirky turn-based miniatures game, that combines the Warhammer universe with American style football.  I got the game (1st edition rules) some 22 years ago for my birthday.  It's a tough game with lots of rules, but plays out a bit like chess as far as strategy goes.  Fun TT game, but keeping track of everything is a bit of a chore.

OK, with that set aside, Cyanide released a fairly faithful computer version of Blood Bowl using the LRB5.0 rules.  

Graphics and animation:  They are fairly basic, using the Gamebryo engine (nifskope supported).  On my aging rig, I have to turn down the details a bit, but it still looks good.  The players look like the Blood Bowl miniatures, although they only have a couple different animations. 8/10

Sound: A bit lacking, but with a 19 month old in the house, I play with the sound off anyways.  The commentary is awful, so turn that off completely. 4/10

Gameplay: There's three ways to play.  RTS, Classic, and Blitz.  RTS doesn't interest me so I didn't bother.  The Classic is an exact duplicate of the TT game, except the computer does all the dirty work.  This is a dream come true for anyone who likes Blood Bowl, but doesn't have the patience to deal to keep track of everything.  Plus you can play multiplayer or against the seemingly worthy AI.  10/10

Interface:  Sadly, this is lacking.  I suspect that Cyanide squandered their resources on the RTS stuff to broaden the game's appeal (which probably isn't too appealing to non-Blood Bowlers).  It's just a bit clunky, and not too intuitive.  The main offender is selecting your players.  For some reason, this is like a game of whack-a-mole, where even though your "mole" is highlighted, when you click to select, he goes back in his "hole".  You have to scroll the screen to center him, and then click on the exact right spot--sloppy.  The menus are also a bit clunky...not bad, but some require multiple clicks to navigate to the more useful screens.  There's some other features like renaming players, or changing skin textures that you can no longer perform after buying players--a no no for a RPG like TT game.  Although clunky, it doesn't take long to figure things out, and playing the game is far easier than dealing with miniatures, turn counters, prone players, etc, etc.  Oh, one last sore spot- load times are awful.  7/10

A.I.  So how does the computer stand up to a rusty player like me?  Well, he kicks me all over the field.  The computer opponents are quite challenging, but it might just be that I suck.  I've only managed to win 1/4 full games.  Seasoned players will probably laugh at the A.I.s' tactics, but it keeps me on my toes.  I'm sure I'll learn how to exploit the A.I. but then there's always multiplayer to test one's mettle.  9/10

Customization - There's 8 teams (Orcs, Humans, Goblins, Wood Elves, Dwarves, Lizardmen, Skavens, and Chaos-beasts/mutants) and they have several skins and player types.  In game, you can choose the jersey color, and a decent selection of logos.  The player naming and customizing only occurs when you first buy the player, so there's no adding epithets later like (Grundl Troll-Killer after getting that coveted kill).  The modding community is just being born, but there's already new skins and even new teams to play.  You can custom paint your skins similar to Freedom Force and add new logos to your uniform with a little work and a paint program.  Eventually, I'm sure new models will be added by talented meshers, but that day is far off.  There are plans for official add-on (Dark Elves and Undead are slated) but I'm not sure of the time frame.  9/10

At the end of the day, I have fun version of that TT game of yesteryear that I can now play solo.  That in of itself is priceless.  Overall I give the game a 8.5 (out of fanboy bias) but for the rest of the gamers a 7.5

[bearded]

i played the old pc version back in the 80's and i liked it.  big question for me is do you get to advance your players, as in levels or skills and talents?  and can you create a custom mixed team.
chaos league is a bit like this.

[UnfluffyBunny]

I have somewhere, buried deep deep... a skaven team, a human team, a dwarf team and an orc team from the late 1990's releases, skaven mutants ftw, never played on pc tho...

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

chaos league is a bit like this.

Actually the same company made both.  The simularities led to a law suit, which was settled by the two companies agreeing that the game company would actually get the license to Blood Bowl and in exchange, Games Workshop now ones the name "chaos league."  With the game company now an official license holder, there was no more need for a lawsuit, and the rest is history.

[Xenolith]

I'm a big blood bowl fan and am looking forward to this release.  I first bought blood bowl in 1987ish, when you played with cardboard cut outs.  Then, I bought all the metal teams during the late '80s early 90s.  I bought the resculpted metal teams in the '90s and early 00s.  I bought the computer game.  I bought the books.  I bought the comics.  Now, I'm excited about this one.

Glad to see you liked it.

[daerdevil]

Bearded:  It's just like the tabletop version.  Plenty of advancement and skills to take, plus veteran equipment to buy your star players.  This thing is leaps and bounds better than the the 1995 Microleague PC version (I hated it but played the heck out of that anyways).  No mixed race teams though (other than the Chaos team -beastmen, minotaurs and evil humans).  Apparently LRB 5.0 did away with the animosity stats and mixed race teams like Evil Gits and what not.  It's moddable, so I expect at least in the SP campaign, those mixed race teams will be modded one day.  The real time mode is not as well executed as Chaos League (own that too) due to the BB rules, but some folks like it enough.

Xenolith:  Yeah, my 1st edition set complete with cardboard cutouts is still in my possession, and created a love for the game.  This new version isn't perfect (mainly that flawed but usable GUI) but it sounds like you'll enjoy this immensely.  Well worth the $50.  Not sure if there's any point waiting for the boxed copy in September.  The digital download allows you up to 3 separate installs w/ the option to deactivate to get installs back.  Just burn the install files to DVD for backup.

[lugaru]

I will have a little downtime between one job ending and the next one starting, so I might pick this up as a digital download when I get a chance.

[Xenolith]

I'll wait until I'm done beta testing a MMO and then get it.  Maybe it will come with a special figure or something.  I'm not holding my breath, but you never know.

[UnfluffyBunny]

whats the general interest here, i'd be more likely to grab this if I knew there would be a "trustworthy" basing for multiplayer (unlike, for example, DoW2 >_>)

[daerdevil]

Private leagues are the way to go.  The Public leagues are filled with the usual assortment of miscreants and exploiters.  Me, I'm more of a single player, as I rarely have time to play a full match (online it's about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs per match).  But if the interest level picks up, I'm good for a game a week, or the occasional pickup game.

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

I played a little of this when I was younger - a friend had it and I played against him a few times.  I never really got a handle on it back then, but it always seemed an intersting game.  As such, I cracked last week and got the digital download.  I'm not very good at it but I can beat the computer on the Easy difficulty level!   

I'm probably a bit behind the curve but I'd certainly be interested in playing a few FR-ers here online if we can get a league or tourney going. 

[UnfluffyBunny]

the old blood bowl rules book is a pretty good substitute for any kind of manual >_> lol
I seem to suck vs the comp AI but i'd be up for a league

[Xenolith]

I've noticed the game tends to hedge it's bets when rolling dice as you move through a tournament.  It has some wonky AI at times, too.  These two factors sort of offset each other though, so I don't mind.

It does a really good job of capturing the difficulties of playing with specific races.  For example, dwarfs are tough to win with because they can't defend very well against a fast team.  They have to hold the ball and win through attrition.  "My" wood elves are unstoppable in the first two games of a tournament, but over the course of the tournament I end up fielding 9 guys for the final games because I'm so badly beat up.  I bought a treeman to shore up my soft middle.

Star players have their costumes change so they are easily identifiable on the field of play.  That's nice.  Chaos palyers with mutations actually have mutations!

The touchdown animations are great.  The skaven gutter runner is fantastic.  No doubt the borrowed quite liberally from the NFL for these end zone antics.  The antics of the wood elves while they stand around are pretty funny.

I'll definately play in a Freedom Reborn league.  I'm free most nights except Wednesday.  I need to finish games by 9:30 PM CST.

[lugaru]

Can one create new players? I love being able to do that in "sports" games, especially fantasy ones.

[Xenolith]

Nope.  You can hire players you like, and have limited ability to control what they look like on the pitch, but you can't make any.

[Midnight]

Train Wreck and I both play the odd BB game online. He's been looking to start a league.

[The Phantom Eyebrow]

Bumpity bump bump!

So is there interest in getting a FR league or tourney going here?  I've not gone online with this yet but word on the street (and by 'the street' I mean teh internets) is that there are some difficulties in setting up a head to head match with someone.  Anyways, there seems to be a few players here and it would be fun to take you lot on. 

I play as Elves btw, so skilful, so fast, so very brittle...