Blood Bowl 3 Review
Many traditional sports games release a new edition every year, with mixed results on whether or not they feel different enough to justify themselves beyond a roster update. So I'm surprised at Blood Bowl 3, the latest digital adaptation of Games Workshop's ultraviolent board game parody of American football set in a wacky alternate version of the Warhammer Fantasy universe. It presents shockingly little reason for its own existence compared to the previous version, which came out almost eight years ago. I like the intense and hilarious premise and mechanics of Blood Bowl on their own, but what we have here is basically Blood Bowl 2, again, but worse.
If you've never played Blood Bowl before, you might be able to coast for a while just on the absurd novelty of the concept. Elves, dwarves, orcs, and minotaurs line up on a grid iron and try to bash, pass, and juke their way to a touchdown, with often brutal results. Because this is Warhammer, players can be seriously injured and even killed depending on how the virtual dice fall, which has the potential to create bitter and satisfying rivalries in long-running leagues.
Blood Bowl 2 is a smashy, satisfying, irreverent combat-sports melee that leaves just a bit too much of the outcome up to the six-sided dice. The inclusion of some seemingly unfinished playable races is a definite stumble, but a campaign with spectacular presentation and deep, crunchy multiplayer league options blitz this game into the endzone. - Leana Hafer, September 22, 2015
Read our full Blood Bowl 2 review.
Moment to moment, the turn-based mechanics are fun, tactical, and exciting. A lot of my pre-existing criticisms of Blood Bowl as a video game still stand, in that I think using six-sided dice for
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