Xofi
Blood Bowl 2 2015
Log Status
Completed
Playing
Backlog
Wishlist
Rating
Time Played
--
Days in Journal
2 days
Last played
February 23, 2024
First played
February 21, 2024
Platforms Played
It has charm. It tries hard. Maybe not incredibly hard, but still. It tried.
My main problem with the game is honestly that as a parody of gridiron football, it really doesn't work. This is likely the fault of the source material, but no one who created these rules and even the aesthetic actually seems to know what it is besides that you can throw the ball and tackle people. It's not offensive to me that it doesn't care for what it's satirizing, but rather, I see the missed opportunity for things like overtime, an actual shift in offense/defense lineups, downs forcing you to get the ball down the field, etc. There was a lot more opportunity for actual gameplay mechanics to engage with rather than rolling. Even the units feel very very boring and homogenized, all able to pick up the ball and run with it, all able to tackle whoever they want. The only difference is some are better at it than others. It would have been more fun for me personally to have the more specialized roster roles of gridiron football rather than the generalized ability to do everything, some just do certain things better.
Now, the dice. Oh my god. It is pain. There feels to be very little strategy, more that you just hope your RNG goes well. Sometimes your characters decide to just not listen to you, which is always really fun in a video game. This would be fine for like, one off-shoot unit like a possessed daemonhost or something. But two people in your campaign roster with the loner trait ignoring rerolls, and your ogre hving a 83% chance to just not do anything for a turn? Oh, it's awful. I was losing my mind.
The lack of simulation also hurts a bit in blowout wins. It's very, very dull to be up by 5 with 3 turns left and the AI is playing like it can actually make a comeback. It'd be nice to just press a button to fast forward through all that.
The commentators are not nearly funny enough to be doing their same 3-lines-per-match dialogue on a constant loop for the 10-20 minutes the matches go for. But repetitive commentators are a common sports game problem, so hey, they got that part down.
It's not a bad game. But a frustrating, unpolished one. And this is just me, but I wish the singleplayer was a bit more involved than a generic human campaign. There is, technically, a story, but it never really feels like it. You're just playing a bunch of vs. AI matches with scripted events to change up the field of play every couple games. If nothing was written to make you feel like you were coaching an underdog sports story, then at least let me play more than one faction.
Skaven for life.
My main problem with the game is honestly that as a parody of gridiron football, it really doesn't work. This is likely the fault of the source material, but no one who created these rules and even the aesthetic actually seems to know what it is besides that you can throw the ball and tackle people. It's not offensive to me that it doesn't care for what it's satirizing, but rather, I see the missed opportunity for things like overtime, an actual shift in offense/defense lineups, downs forcing you to get the ball down the field, etc. There was a lot more opportunity for actual gameplay mechanics to engage with rather than rolling. Even the units feel very very boring and homogenized, all able to pick up the ball and run with it, all able to tackle whoever they want. The only difference is some are better at it than others. It would have been more fun for me personally to have the more specialized roster roles of gridiron football rather than the generalized ability to do everything, some just do certain things better.
Now, the dice. Oh my god. It is pain. There feels to be very little strategy, more that you just hope your RNG goes well. Sometimes your characters decide to just not listen to you, which is always really fun in a video game. This would be fine for like, one off-shoot unit like a possessed daemonhost or something. But two people in your campaign roster with the loner trait ignoring rerolls, and your ogre hving a 83% chance to just not do anything for a turn? Oh, it's awful. I was losing my mind.
The lack of simulation also hurts a bit in blowout wins. It's very, very dull to be up by 5 with 3 turns left and the AI is playing like it can actually make a comeback. It'd be nice to just press a button to fast forward through all that.
The commentators are not nearly funny enough to be doing their same 3-lines-per-match dialogue on a constant loop for the 10-20 minutes the matches go for. But repetitive commentators are a common sports game problem, so hey, they got that part down.
It's not a bad game. But a frustrating, unpolished one. And this is just me, but I wish the singleplayer was a bit more involved than a generic human campaign. There is, technically, a story, but it never really feels like it. You're just playing a bunch of vs. AI matches with scripted events to change up the field of play every couple games. If nothing was written to make you feel like you were coaching an underdog sports story, then at least let me play more than one faction.
Skaven for life.