BloodBowl Just Plain Sucks.
Andy Skaggs
It's the game.
I have been waiting for *months* for this game, at least since before the
Christmas releases began last fall. Talk about disapointing....
I have been playing BloodBowl for about 6 six years. I have the
boardgame, the Dungeon Bowl expansion, two metal teams, and the Campaign
book. I like this game. I even sacrificed my freshman year winter
quarter to write a version of BloodBowl for my Commodore 64. It played,
followed the 2nd ed. rules, and was a blast. A year and a half ago I
bought QuickBASIC and wrote a version for my IBM. It was funner, had
more options, and had almost every option Games Workshop ever released.
My friends loved it. The only thing I don't do is graphics and sound.
But people who knew BloodBowl didn't mind little X's and O's beating the
snot out of each other....
So when I saw in CGW that MicroLeague was releasing a computer game of
BloodBowl, I was *very* happy.
But then I bought my copy.
Lame lame lame.
*MY* all-text, no-sound, no-computer AI is infinately better than this.
The 2nd edition rules were complex, and they made sense. You could get
some serious strategy going as you moved people around and tried to open
holes. The skills were cool, and the mixed-race teams were fun. Now we
have a fairly smart AI taking too damn long to decide to move its dudes 1
step forward with OK graphics and worthless sound.
"OK Jim, lets take a closer look at that fumble....."
GRAPHICS: They suck. At least we all know MicroLeague has a color
scanner. Too bad they didn't get a good one.... Ok I take that back.
These are the best darn EGA graphics I've ever seen. Didn't they do any
original artwork? Everything I see is a colorized picture drawn by the
GW artists. It gives the game an authentic feel, but I would have liked
a bit of new crappy-resolution art to go along with the old
crappy-resolution stuff.
SOUNDS: The beatiful voices of Frank and Jim would be nice during the
action. The cut scenes are neat, and the opening dialogue is funny. The
"crunch crunch uhhhhh" of movement and combat is ok. But there is so
much more that could have been done. Good thing I have a CD-ROM, else
the game would be far too quiet.
MOUSE: What a joke. Idiots. Beta tests, anyone?
MODEM: They actually pressed a CD-ROM without finishing the game. Yet
another joke. Although why they used a CD is beyond me. Even though the
game loading screen shows a CD, it doesn't access it if you install the
game to the HD. This makes me think that the modem patch is more of a
copy protection scheme than a late finish. And I would like to thank the
publishers for the warning label they put on the side saying that there
was no modem support.
GAME PLAY: See MOUSE for comments. What happened to kickers? Heroic
tackles? A blitz just isn't the same. Making your own teams?
Positions? Those stupid formations don't help if you don't get to choose
who goes where. And how about improving players instead of replacing
them? Why do we have to play Nuffle rules? The old slug-fest style was
fun...
MISC: The intro has got to go. MicroLeague present a Games Workshop
game...BloodBowl... by Subway Software... written by Destiny Software
(the Destiny promo animation was the best graphics in the game!). Funny
how the best couple of free agents for each team look a lot like the
morphed faces of the programmers, huh? And as if that doesn't make you
sick of self-promotion, you can look at those pretty bitmaps as the
ending credits roll by. BTW, that was the final straw for me. I about
puked as I watched the company names roll by, but I did puke as the
programmers tried to look threatening.... Since the game relies on
scanned images so much, what exactly did the staff artist do? Shouldn't
he be a staff colorist instead? They didn't draw enough to warrant an
artist...
Well, enough ranting. It sucked. The rules are lame. That GW caused
the once great game to drop so low made me cry in shame.
Andy
Coach, Dyson Fears (Human, Skaven, Halfling)
Charles Moylan
>
>I have been playing BloodBowl for about 6 six years. I have the
>boardgame, the Dungeon Bowl expansion, two metal teams, and the Campaign
>book.
>*MY* all-text, no-sound, no-computer AI is infinately better than this.
>The 2nd edition rules were complex, and they made sense. You could get
>some serious strategy going as you moved people around and tried to open
>holes. The skills were cool, and the mixed-race teams were fun. Now we
>have a fairly smart AI taking too damn long to decide to move its dudes 1
>step forward with OK graphics and worthless sound.
To be fair, isn't the computer version an implementation of the 3rd ed. rules of _only_ the
Blood Bowl boardgame and none of the expansions? This is what I've heard.
>GRAPHICS: They suck. At least we all know MicroLeague has a color
>scanner. Too bad they didn't get a good one.... Ok I take that back.
>These are the best darn EGA graphics I've ever seen.
HAHA! Well said. In these days of SVGA, why they used those big chunky pixels is a mystery.
>GAME PLAY: See MOUSE for comments. What happened to kickers? Heroic
>tackles? A blitz just isn't the same. Making your own teams?
>Positions? Those stupid formations don't help if you don't get to choose
>who goes where. And how about improving players instead of replacing
>them? Why do we have to play Nuffle rules? The old slug-fest style was
>fun...
Actually I like the 3rd ed. rules insofar as they make the game run more smoothly. By
"smoothly" I mean that it less often degenerates into a mini-war where the strongest team
wins. When I played the old boardgame the Dwarves always won because they just beat the
snot out of the opposition. Even if they suffered a touchdown against them in the process,
by the time they were down 1-0 so many opposing players would be dead or injured that the
Dwarves could march up and down the field at will and win 3-1. I think the new rules
discourage that but still let teams beat up on people enough that it's a threat and a
viable strategy - just not an overwhelming one.
>MISC: The intro has got to go. MicroLeague present a Games Workshop
>game...BloodBowl... by Subway Software... written by Destiny Software
HAHAHAHA!! I was thinking the exact same thing. It's like no one wanted to take
responsibility to they're all passing the buck. "Hey, no, WE didn't write this game, it was
our subcontractor's fault! Honest!"
I guess it's fantasy on my part to hope that future patches (if indeed there are any) will
have a README.TXT that will explain the RULES of the freakin' game (since the manual skips
that little topic) and include improvements to the graphics so all the players don't look
the same. Oh well, I can dream.
Charles Moylan
Andy Skaggs
: To be fair, isn't the computer version an implementation of the 3rd ed. rules of _only_ the
: Blood Bowl boardgame and none of the expansions? This is what I've heard.
Well, I will admit this. When I wrote that post I was a bit pissed.
Looking back, the game sucks, but I suppose it does follow the new edition
rules. Which means they were faithful to GW when they released this
trash. BTW, the marketing scheme for BB seems to have come directly from
Games Workshop (release a game, then require multiple "expansion"
purchases, only this time the game is virtually crippled unless we buy an
update. ie., more teams).
: Actually I like the 3rd ed. rules insofar as they make the game run more smoothly. By
: "smoothly" I mean that it less often degenerates into a mini-war where the strongest team
: wins. When I played the old boardgame the Dwarves always won because they just beat the
: snot out of the opposition. Even if they suffered a touchdown against them in the process,
: by the time they were down 1-0 so many opposing players would be dead or injured that the
: Dwarves could march up and down the field at will and win 3-1. I think the new rules
: discourage that but still let teams beat up on people enough that it's a threat and a
: viable strategy - just not an overwhelming one.
With a calmer mind, I guess I can see the "smoother" bit. It definately
speeds the game up (unles the CPU is thinking....egads, how slow!). The
problem is I miss the intricate sweeps and traps I could do with the old
rules. Now I'm afraid to do them because if someone slips my turn is
over and the holes aren't plugged! And down goes my thrower!
: HAHAHAHA!! I was thinking the exact same thing. It's like no one wanted
:to take responsibility to they're all passing the buck. "Hey, no, WE
:didn't write this game, it was our subcontractor's fault! Honest!"
I didn't even think about that! Most likely true.....
: I guess it's fantasy on my part to hope that future patches (if indeed
:there are any) will have a README.TXT that will explain the RULES of the
:freakin' game (since the manual skips that little topic) and include
:improvements to the graphics so all the players don't look the same. Oh
:well, I can dream.
Patches? I suppose if people keep the game and MicroLaugh makes some money
on it. I returned mine so fast that the CD was still spinning when the
guy checked it!
Andy