Blood Bowl 3 Reviews
It frustrates me that I have to leave Blood Bowl 3 with a middling review, but despite the solid core gameplay, everything around it frustrates me too much for me to continue playing. These issues may be fixed in the future, but at the moment I struggle to recommend this game to fans of Warhammer, strategy, or possibly even the more hardcore Blood Bowl fan.
Blood Bowl 3 is as niche and complex as turn-based tactics games get, it just does it all with Orks and Elves and dwarves with silly beards.
Blood Bowl 3 is a whole lotta fun to play, with the brutal action and strategic focus making for a really addictive experience. Admittedly, I am a newbie to the series so I might not have noticed some of the bigger changes made to the gameplay mechanics, but the core experience felt intuitive and it was surprising just how much depth came into each play. There is a bit of a learning curve (and the UI can be painful), but the game did enough to ease me in learn the ropes.
On the surface, Blood Bowl 3 should be the kind of game I’d hate. As a denizen of the United Kingdom, I know as much about American football as the average house cat. By contrast, I know a lot about Warhammer, but even that has been twisted in Blood Bowl 3, with the familiar factions settling their disputes through sports, like some kind of ultra-violent take on Mario and Bowser playing tennis together.
Blood Bowl players no longer have to make their own fun. Tournament creation is easier than ever, cosmetic upgrades are plentiful and varied, and the core game is the same as ever. Question marks still loom over the live-service elements like towering punctuation-shaped advertising blimps, but if you’re a Blood Bowl fan, you’ll like Blood Bowl 3. But you probably knew that already.
For Blood Bowl fans, Blood Bowl 3 is the definitive version of the game, so long as you’re okay waiting a bit to get your DLC teams back. If you’re new to the series, however, you may want to try out Blood Bowl 1 or 2 first to get a feel for the game at a friendlier price.
Blood Bowl 3 is undoubtedly the best new way to experience Blood Bowl. It is filled with character, brimming with options, and has plenty of depth for players to explore and toy around with. However, it is unfortunate that it doesn’t give new players the proper tools to break through its outer crust. For those that are hungry for more brutal sports action, however, you’d be hard pressed to find anything better.
I have been a fan of Warhammer for a bit, but my knowledge of Blood Bowl has been practically non-existent until now. I wasn't sure what the appeal of a tabletop football strategy game was, even less as to why there are three video games based on said game. Having played Blood Bowl 3 for this review, I get it now. I went in optimistic, but I did not expect this game to open my eyes to its appeal as much as it has.