“Blood Bowl, The Game of Fantasy Football”, a tag line that has stuck with thanks to the many long summer months whittled away playing Games Workshops tabletop version of Blood Bowl.  The game infuses GW’s massive Warhammer universe with the game of American football with motley teams of Orcs, Elves, Humans, Lizardmen and more fighting it out, literally, for the ball.

The game is split into 2 distinctly different game styles, either the real-time ‘Blitz’ mode or the turn based ‘Classic’ mode.  The classic mode runs true to the current rules for the tabletop version of the games, meaning dice rolls are simulated for everything from tacking and leaping to running and even picking up the ball.   Handily there is a display in the bottom corner of the screen that shows you the result of every dice roll in an attempt to prove it’s not really cheating when you fail roll after roll.

Blitz mode is an entirely different beast however, gone are the turns and the slow strategic style of classic.  In its place is a fast paced and frantic game that feels more like a Madden game.  I actually completely slated this mode in our review of the PC version of BB, but the real time play system suits the Xbox’s controller far better than a keyboard and mouse setup, however I still found it difficult to get to grips with controlling the entire team on the fly, normally leaving massive gaps in my defense for the opponents to exploit.

The online modes were where the PC version of the game really shined, and is sadly where this version falls down.  Its bigger brother allowed you to export your team from the single player modes to continue to gain star player points (experience) in online play, both as single matches and online leagues comprised entirely of real people.  Unfortunately the online league function has been entirely cut from this version of the game and whilst you can use your team from the single player games, they do not get to keep the points and gold they gain from the matches.

The online modes are not the only place where the console version of Blood Bowl falls down though, as the game is riddled with so many bugs I’m amazed it made it through any kind of testing.  Many times the game removed my choice for small movements such as following up, push back, pass block, etc., or changing my team setup after I have selected to start the match.  Neither of these flaws are the worst though, as you get deeper into the game you will begin to find players skills mysteriously disappearing never to return, usually resulting in having to fire the player and buy a replacement.

So all in all the 360 Blood Bowl would be a good game were it not for the truely gamebreaking bugs that ruin the experience, hopefully Cyanide will address these soon along with including the Dark Elf team that was patched into the PC version before this was even released.  Until they are fixed I’d urge you to get the PC version of the game that we reveiwed a while back, which is not horiblly broken.

5/10

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