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Blood Bowl

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7.3 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 32 critic reviews
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Based on 27 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Focus Home Interactive

Developer: Cyanide Studios

Genre(s): Sports

Players: Multi

ESRB Rating: RP (Rating Pending)

Release Date: June 26, 2009

Summary

A brutal team sport unfolding in a parallel fantasy world based on Warhammer and American football, Blood Bowl invites gamers to form a team of players from races including: Orcs, Elves, Humans, Dwarfs and many other fantasy creatures, and launch themselves into battle in the bloodiest of arenas. This strategy sports game combines a fine balance of tactics and bone crunching action! The game offers two game modes. The first, which is fully real time, offers spectacular gameplay with intense battles between blocking linemen and daring displays of agility of players leaping and dodging through opponents tackle zones, while powerful spells and dirty trick special plays are unleashed across the field. All this creates a highly charged atmosphere. Of course, since it is sometimes difficult to keep an eye on the entire field at once, the game's interface offers different tactical and strategic setups, while the AI is responsible for managing the players on the field. The second game mode, an actual turn-based game, is a treat for players of the original board game because it is an exact replica of Games Workshop's tabletop masterpiece. The original rules have been faithfully reproduced, and it contains all of the devices, strategies, play and rhythm of the original game. [Focus Home Interactive]

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

PC Format

I'm thoroughly impressed with Blood Bowl. [Oct 2009, p.99]

Pelit (Finland)

The original board game is brilliant but Cyanide seemed to try everything to poison the idea. Luckily they didn’t succeed. Upgrades have fixed a lot of problems and only the online game system should be redone from the scratch. Online match making feels like it is 1999 again. [Aug 2009]

HellBored

By now, countless games have been made of various Games Workshop franchises, with wildly varying levels of success. As a full-priced game, Blood Bowl might not be for casual gamers, but the devotees are going to have a spike-studded ball. Where another developer might have taken the franchise and turned it another action-packed button-masher, Blood Bowl is the most faithful translation of the board game that you’re ever likely to get.

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Vandal Online

Blood Bowl can probably result harsh for many at first, and the real-time option is not so well balanced as the one turn-based, but even though, this is a very recommended and solid experience.

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ImpulseGamer

In conclusion, the version of Blood Bowl we played was rather impressive, however if you despise American Football but love the universe, we do suggest you take a look at the game due to the Warhammer references and items.

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Meristation

Blood Bowl features some interesting ideas, like introducing a real-time component to the universe of the board game. Furthermore, it really achieves the look and feel of the miniature game, providing a experience that resembles the original product without any doubt. Despite the fact that this is a product that fit good the fans liking, it can be interesting for every kind of gamer. Only the real time mode, that quickly become a nonsense melee is a visible drawback for a good planned and constructed game.

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PC PowerPlay

Despite some presentation concerns the rest of what was on offer during this match was truly thrilling. [Sept 2009, p.60]

Eurogamer Spain

This is a really addictive game, attractive for any gamer. It's only flaw is that most of its matches last more than an hour and a half, but you'll also enjoy the chance to create teams and raise their levels like you would do on a MMO.

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PC Gamer UK

If you can penetrate the mysteries of its boardgame-based rules, Blood Bowl can offer true barbaric happiness. [Oct 2009, p.74]

Play.tm

Ultimately, fans of the tabletop game will be delighted with Cyanide's videogame translation.

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Boomtown

This is a good videogame adaptation and none of the flaws prevent it from being immersive and enjoyable to play. You won’t find another game quite like this. American Football and the fantasy world of Elves and Orcs make undeniably strange bedfellows and their unholy offspring may be ugly but it is entertaining.

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GamingXP

Overall, I like this game very much. Sometimes it seems a bit unfair, but what should I say: it is Blood Bowl and you’ll only win, if you play hard and be more unfair than your enemy!

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Gamers.at

Blood Bowl needs a relatively long period of practice to understand the basic game principles, but when you figured out how to rough up your opponents, the game is a lot of fun.

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3DJuegos

The American football looks different thanks to the imagination of Games Workshop mixing it with the board game. The classical mode is recommended for the fans of the franchise and the real time mode better for casual players. Blood Bowl is a faithful adaptation to videogame of the warhammer board game series.

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GameStar

The game can be quite challenging, especially in the round-bases game mode, but after one week you've seen all the game has to offer. Nonetheless it's the perfect game for small tournaments from time to time and to give elves a good thrashing.

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SpazioGames

Blood Bowl is an atypical sports-game with good turn-based mechanics. Here there are football, fantasy, dice and lucky, in an original fairly good mix. Blood Bowl isn't for casual gamers, but if you are fans of the board-game and you can play it online, you certainly can give it a chance.

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PC Zone UK

If you're a fan of the board game, you'll like this adaptation - but if you're not, it's not going to sit well with any logical imagining that you've ever had for a Blood Bowl game. [Nov 2009, p.68]

Cynamite

A neat mixture between sports, tactics and the famous Warhammer franchise, but overall too hard for beginners.

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DarkZero

It’s clear this game is aimed at the Games Workshop crowd, and those who understand what Blood Bowl is are the ones that will gain the most pleasure from the game. Others will have to fight through the game’s resistance to stop newbies from playing.

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AceGamez

I love the whole idea of American football in a fantasy world as it takes completely separate game genres and moulds the together into one hulking brute. Unfortunately, this Sports come Role Playing Game come Strategy just doesn't do the striking concept justice.

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games(TM)

Think of Blood Bowl as a cross between Hero Quest and Speedball, and if neither of these games ignite a fond memory, then this is probably not for you. [Nov 2009, p.122]

Multiplayer.it

Players of the board game will be pleased to see how close the videogame is to the original, with its well made multiplayer. All the others have to face the not so good visual quality and the broken AI.

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GameSpot

This board game translation is a lot of fun, but it could have been so much more.

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Games Radar (in-house)

Blood Bowl’s soul lies in its tactics. It’s built for its existing fan-base, though anyone with a passing interest in strategy games can pick it up and get a lot of enjoyment from it.

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Total PC Gaming

It's not just for fans of the analogue edition either. [Issue#23, p.52]

GameShark

Blood Bowl is an A+ boardgame trapped inside a C level computer game design.

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Gameplanet

Blood Bowl seems to be the result of a fiendish coupling between extremely inflexible Warhammer lore and a studio hamstrung by licensing requirements. It's not exactly intuitive, and requires significant investment and patience to see rewards.

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Strategy Informer

The harsh void of an instructive and friendly tutorial is enough to send away newcomers within the first minutes of firing up the game.

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Eurogamer

What Blood Bowl offers is a way for enthusiasts to enjoy their chosen tabletop sport without much of the hassle, remotely and conveniently - and for those with friends who'll also indulge, it's probably a no-brainer purchase.

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Teletext GameCentral

An accurate adaptation of the table-top classic, but it fumbles the ball when trying to expand its appeal.

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Gamer.nl

Blood Bowl as a board game is great, but this video game adaption is not. The bad interface and slow campaign make the game tough to get into and the steep learning curve doesn't help either.

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LEVEL (Czech Republic)

A perfect board game does not mean a perfect video game. Controls and game system are pretty bad, no-brain AI makes things even worse. Only hope to improve playability are future updates and patches. [Aug 2009]

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 27 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ian P gave it a1:
Terrible A.I. ie each team adopts the same crowd-around-the-player-with-the-ball tactic and then goes out and succeeds in wiping out your team with a sucession of successful dicerolls. Makes for a frustrating and fruitless experience. I owned the very first edition of this game and became quite good at it but this game is almost unplayable with the A.I. at the minute.. Need some serious patching before I play this game again.

John B gave it a5:
An over-priced, faithful interpretation of the original boardgame. With lackluster tutorials and inconsistent feedback from the game interface, this really is for Blood Bowl fans only. This is only compounded by the awful real-time mode which is if anything, a step back from Cyanide's previous title Chaos League. Play it with friends and you'll have a good time, play it by yourself and you'll end up screaming at the screen as you lose the game due to random dice-rolls.

Brad K gave it a9:
I have always been interested in Blood Bowl, but have never been able to try it out. When i heard the PC game was a faithful recreation of the board game, i was excited to say the least. This game is all that i hoped it would be. I learnt how to play by reading the official board game rules, and suffice to say, it's pretty damn faithful! It's a hell of a lot of fun, with excellent multiplayer prospects, and is being well supported by Cyanide. If you're interested in the fantasy Warhammer universe, or a just interested in the idea of a medieval styled game of gridiron, you won't be disappointed!

Joshua C gave it a10:
If you like miniature games and strategy games. the turnbased elements of this game are great. the multiplayer interface could use some help but the Pro's well out way the cons

Matt L gave it an8:
Neat, tidy and faithful recreation of the best board game ever. Everything a Blood Bowl fan would want and a easy to use intro for new players. Only down side is some funniness with ports

Joe C gave it an8:
Have you heard of the board game version of this video game? Well, this is still very much a board game, make no bones about it. If you wanted more of an action-type game, don't bother--the real-time adaptation of the game leaves much to be desired. The meat and potatoes is the turn-based version. If you like board games, chances are you'll really dig this game. The mechanics are clever and keep the action tense. There's tons of dice rolling, but there's also a ton of luck-mitigating factors to make a serious strategy game out of it. Skill plays a dominant role both on the pitch, and off it. Expect to grow an RPG-like attachment to your team as you watch it grow in size and ability through the seasons, and be ready to cry some large nerdy-man-tears when your star players get killed, never to play again. Nevertheless, tons of strategy and hours of fun--IF you're into strategy/board games, comfortable with a fantasy setting, and care enough about sports to laugh at it. Likely a seven or more if this applies. If this does not apply, you'll likely rate this no higher than four. Sounds and visuals will get repetitive. And since you won't fall in love with the mechanics, you probably won't come back.

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