Blood Bowl

The Good
Blood Bowl is a strategy game disguised as a sports game. The sport itself is some kind of variation of American Football or Rugby or something like that. I don't really care for any of those sports where big guys chase each other and more often than not end up in a big pile on the ground. It's tedious to watch, to say the least.

This game is even more brutal than these sports, and slightly more entertaining (not because of the violence, though). The reason this is entertaining is that it is in fact a strategy game with sports rules (although there are in fact very few rules). It's also very difficult, as often with more hardcore strategy games, but it's not hopelessly difficult. You just need to have some patience.

The controls are easy to learn, although not perfect, but the gameplay is hard to master, which it usually is in these types of games. You can tackle, pass, and make runs, not too many options, but enough to create dilemmas for any strategist. This is a nice little game, based on a board game I've never played. It's not perfect in any way, but it's quite fun to play a match now and then.

The Bad
First of all, this looks like crap. Graphics and sounds aren't that important in these types of games, but still. The top down view allows for the player to see little more than the shoulders and the heads of the characters. The graphics reminds me a great deal of those in "Dreamweb" (an excellent game with very poor graphics) in style, what with the lack of colour, and the details are hard to make out. It mostly looks like a mess of pixels being loosely strung together.

The sounds are nearly non-existent, and what sound there is you could do without. As with many old games it's better to just mute the sound and turn on your stereo instead.

Since it's based on a board game, it doesn't hurt to be have a four-leaf clover handy when playing this game, as it is governed by invisible throws of the dice, as in any rpg. It might not be a big problem, but it is annoying when the dice refuses to go your way, while the computer manages to throw perfect passes all too often. I sometimes get the feeling I'm being cheated. It might also be that I suck, plain and simple. I prefer to accuse the computer of being unfair, though.

The Bottom Line
I recommend you try it out if you want something different. If you like sports or/and strategy you could very well enjoy it. It's not perfect, but it's enjoyable.