Monday, June 29, 2009

Blood Bowl

Blood Bowl was released on Thursday (in the U.S., available via digital download only for now), and I've spent a few hours playing since then.

That's not as much as I've wanted to play.

Yes, the A.I. can be a bit wonky at times (see Bill Abner's excellent post here), but the game is tremendously fun and feels like a faithful translation. The atmosphere is outstanding, and the campaign mode is more interesting than the franchise modes of both NCAA and Madden. The ability to play in either turn-based mode (faithful to its board game roots) or in a hybrid real-time strategy mode (where you can pause the game and enter commands as needed) is an excellent piece of design.

To clarify, you can't mix modes during a game, but you do get to choose which mode to use up front. I've been playing quite a bit in real-time strategy mode and haven't missed turn-based mode at all.

So this is a sports game, nominally, but there is so much wackiness and so much strategy that its appeal should stretch much wider. If you're a fan of Blood Bowl, this is an absolute must-purchase, but even if you're unfamiliar with the game, it's worth a look if you enjoy strategy games and have a sense of humor that is a bit dark.

Bill Abner loves this game and is doing a wonderful job covering it over at The Nut And The Feisty Weasel.

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