Blood Bowl 3 is a fantasy take on American football with a gory twist (as the name suggests). It is based on a miniatures board game of the same name, but has different rules. The first thing you see upon entering is a sports menu that is a bit reminiscent of other sports games like Madden or Fifa. You can create a team and then select the game mode. I really liked the amount of equipment available in this third installment: twelve in all. Whether you choose a team of regular Orcs or a team of more resilient Black Orcs, both are good options if you prefer a more aggressive playstyle. If you’re looking for a more intense and fast-paced battle, you can choose the Elven Union, the Dark Elves, or the Skaven. The latter are also pretty good at taking out enemies with the help of their monsters.
For aggressive action on the field, we also have the Chaos Renegades (a mixed faction) and the Chosen of Chaos, who will pulverize the opponent thanks to their large monsters. I feel like in this part it’s harder for the Chaos factions to win games even if they are powerful. If you don’t like fast elves or huge monsters, there are other alternatives: humans, all-rounders but masters at nothing, and dwarves, very good at defense and slow to finish. We are also introduced to a mixed faction of humans with living trees and other creatures in their lineup. Personally, I liked a Chaos variant centered around Nurgle, the God of Chaos. It features some tentacles, disease, and decaying bodies, but I like being able to stop faster factions and still have the power to push the field forward. Teams can summon quirky secret weapons from time to time that add fun twists to the games. They can be very powerful vehicles or characters that pulverize the enemy for a few turns.
The games will be played on a large grass pitch with grandstands. You can position your players however you want and your opponent will do the same. When the game starts, take turns hitting, hitting the ball, moving and more. All these actions work very well and the animations are smoother than before. I also like the improvement in terms of graphics. It can’t compete with those in bigger games, but it’s still an improvement over the previous title in the series. Your characters can be of different classes, with different functions and abilities. Just like in RPGs, weaknesses are also determined by the character’s class. What is new in this part is that agility has become more relevant. It’s still there as we knew it and is used to dodge, run and catch the ball, but it’s also added a new ability related to the old Agility: Pass. As the name suggests, if you have a high count of this ability, your character will be more adept at passing the ball. Other improvements include the ability to change team colors more frequently and save your formations for future games.
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Also, your characters have a skill tree where you can level them up and specialize them even more. This is important so that they can fulfill their role as effectively as possible. If they die, you’ll have to repeat the process with new characters. Depending on the opponent, there is a big contrast in the matches: the AI barely manages to hurt you or win, but as soon as you try in multiplayer, they destroy you. It took me a while to get the hang of beating real opponents on the web, so don’t expect this to be an easy beginner sport. The rules are complex, the team organization has a steep learning curve and the online opponents can be very good. Apart from that, the game has a ranking system and you will end up finding the right gear for you, your specialty and your own way of winning. For me, this challenge was very entertaining.
On the other hand, I can assure you that microtransactions are pretty greedy. You can outfit your players with different outfits, and each one is paid for with a special currency that you can buy with real money. One item can be purchased at a time per character, which means you’ll spend the amount of coins you get for free at the start right away. You can also buy dice and other cosmetic items. I wouldn’t have cared so much about this issue if the selection available had been good to begin with. If there had been decent cosmetic changes to choose from (including clothing) I wouldn’t have been so disappointed. It’s certainly not a full-price game, but there seem to be fewer than five free choices in some categories, while there are maybe five or six pages of options that you can buy for real money.
Bugs were also a problem. They are plentiful and some of them are groundbreaking while others are less over the top. Sometimes it crashes, there are visual glitches, unbeatable rounds, and permanently frozen menus. The same thing had happened in Blood Bowl 2 as well, but in the end the developers managed to fix it. However, I rate the edition which I have tried myself and I must warn that it is not in good condition. There are many more technical issues than are acceptable and there are parts that are unplayable. However, there are certain moments when it works very well, and in those cases the game is very entertaining. Thanks to the fluid interface that excels in its ease of use, it’s easy to jump into games when nothing goes wrong. In general, I think that this third part is more perfect in terms of mechanics and usability compared to the second game, despite the serious problems it brings.
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Not much to say about the sound, it works well. I would have liked a little more background music, but I can assure you that I loved the dubbing of commentator couple Bob and Jim. These two gentlemen make the show experience even clearer. Humor doesn’t always go over so well in this third part, but it fits the atmosphere and the sport. I would also have liked a more advanced AI and a more robust campaign mode. When dealing with the AI was no longer challenging and the campaign didn’t offer enough variety, I quickly got bored. Creators should check out Starcraft 2 to find out how to create matches with original twists and staging. The campaign ends up becoming a bit of a puzzle to solve as you face unfair opponents. There’s a lot of potential to create something very funny with this material and these characters; A spin-off that focuses on a single-player game mode could prove interesting.
In short, this game has a good basic concept, but it’s spoiled by technical glitches and greedy microtransaction systems. It’s a shame because the improvements in terms of animations, graphics, mechanics and user interface stand out remarkably. I also appreciate how easy this interface is to use compared to the previous version. With all of that in mind, I wouldn’t currently recommend the game. It would be to be seen if this third edition can receive the same improvements that its predecessor received. Blood Bowl 3 doesn’t create a goal, but from my point of view it’s a project that’s still under construction. Sometimes I had fun, but I couldn’t help but be disappointed. When the game didn’t work and the menus kept showing me more and more ways to spend my money, I couldn’t help but sigh wearily. Instead, buy Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition, which is very good to date. The third part needs a little more time in the oven.
