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Blood Bowl takes its name from the popular tabletop game from Games Workshop which first saw release way back in 1987. Since then various reiterations of the game in the form of new and updated rules have been released over the years bringing new teams and new fans to the world of Blood Bowl. For anyone not familiar with what Blood Bowl is, Blood Bowl pits various fantasy teams against one another such as Orcs, Dwarves, and Elves in an American Football style game where not only is it your job to score but it's also your job to beat the other team into a bloody pulp. One could say it's like playing a game of madden with wrestlers and boxers on each team.
You may be wondering how this all plays out since the tabletop game is turn-based, thankfully Cyanide Studio the developers behind Blood Bowl have made the game in two halves, one being the turn-based "classic" mode, the other letting you play the game in realtime, both modes strictly follow the Blood Bowl's living rulebook fifth edition which is available for free on the internet for those wishing to read through it's 60 odd pages.
The game will be heading to the PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS, unfortunately PlayStation 3 players won't be able to enjoy the carnage unless the game does extremely well, Cyanide stated they didn't want to make a game on the PS3 platform because it was too risky for a first release, so their is still hope for the PS3 fans. All four versions will give you the same control over the camera allowing you to move the camera freely around the pitch and zoom up close as your opponent gets battered and maimed by one of your players, however the handheld versions look different from the PC and 360 versions due to the graphics, the PC, 360 and PSP offerings are in 3D where as the DS game is isometric with 2D players on the pitch. The two portable versions do not include the realtime game mode or the "blitz" rule set either which adds various extra features to the game such as extra upgrades, team sponsors, drug testing on your players, and crowds that invade the pitch and attack the teams. Regardless of which platform you choose to purchase the game on, the turn-based game mode in Blood Bowl looks set to replicate the tabletop experience fully by showing you everything from the dice rolls and end results, stats on your team and players, wounds and injuries, bribes and more.
The turn-based game mode is very in depth for players who have never heard, seen or played Blood Bowl before, it's even daunting when you take a look at the rulebook and since the "classic" mode recreates the tabletop gameplay as closely as possible, players who know the rules or have played the tabletop counterpart will have an instant advantage over those that don't. Turn-based games can sometimes take around an hour and a half to get through, especially if each player waits out there four minute turn time. The controls in turn-based do seem easy enough to grasp, you simply select the player you want to move and then the location with a grid showing you the places you can move to and those places that pass by enemies which are a danger to your player, from the outset it seems fairly simple but once you start diving in to the whole gameplay it can get overwhelming from the looks of things this is probably the reason players unfamiliar with the game will choose to go with the realtime mode over the classic one.
Upon release Blood Bowl will ship with eight races for you to create a team from, these include; Humans, Dwarfs, Skaven, Orcs, Lizardmen, Goblins, Wood Elf and Chaos. There are plenty more races which could be added to the game later in the form of download content or expansions such as the Undead or Dark Elf but that all depends on the games success according to the developers. Not only do you get to create your team from the eight races but you also get to choose star players to ally with, these come in the form of minotaurs, ogres, trolls, treemen and other large man eating creatures, these can be recruited once per team so choosing the right one for the right job is another strategy you need to take into account.
No game like this would be complete without multiplayer and thankfully you'll find it quite in depth. It will vary depending on the platform your choose to play on with the two handheld versions offering wireless support and the PC and 360 versions offering leagues, rankings and player run events, the PC version also allowing players to upload replays of their matches to share with other players. Cyanide have even said they may introduce a spectator mode sometime after release as well which would be a great tool to watch leagues with.
Blood Bowl is set to release on June 26th for the PC as a digital download with the PSP and DS versions following shortly after. The PC and 360 retail editions are going to be released sometime in September however.
