Let’s dive into the review of Blood Bowl 3, a video game based on the board game of the same name that expertly mixes the sport of football with the mechanics of a board game
Before starting the review it is good to make a summary of Blood Bowl 3 which, for the few who aren’t aware of it, is a video game based on a board game created by Jervis Johnson In the 1986 for Games Workshop as a reimagining of American football, mixed with characters from Warhammer and a tactical game pattern driven by turn-based action and dice rolls. Although the title seems to be the third chapter, it would actually be the fourth.
The first video game bearing the title of Blood Bowl it was in fact produced in 1995 are MS-Dos and was developed by Destiny Software Productions and published by MicroLeague Interactive Soccer. The saga was then subsequently taken over by Cyanide Studios that in the 2009 he repeated his vision of the first Blood Bowlfollowed in the 2015 from the second chapter, and finally from Blood Bowl 3 which we will see in this article. The setting is that of a universe similar to Warhammer Fantasypopulated by traditional saga characters.
Tabletop Quality – Blood Bowl 3 Review
Let’s start talking about what immediately catches the eye, the graphic and technical sector in general. Assuming that the version we play is that PlayStation 5we immediately observe the graphics engine used which is by now consolidated Unreal Engine 4, which has allowed the development studio to find the right balance between attention to detail and a mostly smooth and trouble-free playability. Although it is a game strongly limited by its “static”, we did not find excessively disabling bugs during the game.
The cutscenes present, as well as the (few) animations present, have not revealed to our eyes no notable flaws. Being a strategic video game with gameplay focused on moving the checkers on the field in turn, and consequently dice roll to indicate a success of the action or a failure, one certainly cannot speak of fluidity of the game or of framerate of any sort.
The models of the characters and of the various “extras” seemed well structured to us, as well as the animations present both in the movement phase of the players and in the scenes in which a specific action was shown such as a fall or a blow to the opponent. Talking about the technical sector in a video game based on a board game and which shows the same mechanics is like talking about something surrounding it, as it would be enough to reach the sufficiency, and here in the technical sector it is exceeded.
Inexplicable the absence of a real tutorial that can introduce even beginners to understand not only the rules of the game, but also its own mechanics. The game menu itself and the in-game HUD are not easy to understand, navigating through it will not be simple at all and will require hours of attempts and “study” of cause and effect.
All in the field – Review Blood Bowl 3
And here things get decidedly more interesting, although presenting the same mechanics of the board game, the video game can be very fun. As well as the game of the same name, also in Blood Bowl 3 there will be a typical board game mechanic, moving each single piece according to its movement points, paying attention to the various “obstacles” that the enemies could represent.
Everything will be managed by the usual dice rollfor example to dodge an opponent’s blow in the movement phase, if anything we were to pass too close to him, a 3+i.e. a roll of a six-sided die and a result of 3 or higher. Obtaining a lower result would indicate that the opponent has managed to block us, if it were higher we would have skipped it without a hitch.
Yes, because in Blood Bowl 3 there will also be an adequate dose of violence, we will often stop our opponents (or be stopped) with unorthodox methods and with very little fair play. However, it is not an action game, and we want to repeat this, every move will be well reasoned and considered, on pain of serious injury (or death) of one of our players and the continuation of the game at a clear disadvantage.
Being a game based on American football the usual statistic points for each player cannot be missing, values that can undergo an improvement in the case of winning the games with the obtaining of experience by the players themselves. Players who represent the essential point of our team, and who will not be exempt from trading during tournaments.
Tournaments that it will be possible to create or in which it will be possible to participate by registering, the game does not only present an online componentbut (fortunately) i can also be playedn two players using the same console, and in a way now lost in time, that of sitting next to each other. Unfortunately for the online component there is a bad consideration to be made.
The online componentat the time we made the review of Blood Bowl 3is more like a epochal disaster what else. Participating in an online game is almost impossible, and there are no accessible games (it is not known if it is a problem of matchmaking or scarcity of gamers). It’s definitely not better if you decide to participate in a competition, which are mostly closed with a password or present an “unknown error” during registration.
Unfortunately the cause is to be attributed to the game servers of Blood Bowl 3, which in fact are unstable and at present do not allow gamers to be able to take advantage of the online component. Another note of demerit is that there are many skins and customizations, from the field to the grandstand, from cheerleaders to dice, also passing through the skins of the players, a pity that at present there is little or nothing.
And not knowing if these skins and add-ons can be introduced with paid DLC, if they will be purchasable individually with the game currency, or if worse, they will be purchasable exclusively using real money, does not let us sleep peacefully. At least being exclusively cosmetic contents they do not affect in any way the matches we will play.
Final considerations
Blood Bowl 3 it’s a niche title, which will probably be able to excite and entertain all fans of the game, whether it is the board game version or its videogame transposition. Unfortunately it is mostly indicated to them, as a neophyte could find himself confused and disoriented in the absence of a tutorial worthy of the name. The first few hours will be traumaticeven just moving a player and having them perform a simple action like passing the ball is going to be hell.
Once you master the game but you will also have access to a lot of fun, choosing a tactic, moving players, attacking opponents to create a space, everything will become quite automatic. Too bad for the problems affecting the online component. Stay anyway a good game that can offer you many hours of entertainment and laughteralthough it is advisable to play it in presence next to a friend of yours.
For this review of Blood Bowl 3 that’s all, we invite you to stay updated by following the pages of TechGameWorld.com, and if you are interested in purchasing this video game (or any other) we strongly recommend the Kinguin site, where you can find many video games at such low prices that they seem unreal.