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 with different rules. The first thing you see upon entering is a sports menu that evokes a bit of other sports games like Madden or Fifa. You can create a team and then choose the game mode. I really liked the amount of equipment available in this third opus: twelve, in total. Whether you choose a team of normal Orcs or a team of tougher Black Orcs, both are good options if you prefer a more aggressive playstyle. If you are looking for a more intense and fast match, you can choose Union of Elves, Dark Elves or Skaven. The latter are also quite good at eliminating 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 pulverize the opponent with their big monsters. I got the feeling that in this episode it is more difficult for Chaos factions to win matches, even if they are powerful. If you don’t like fast elves or strong monsters, there are other alternatives: humans, jack of all trades but masters of nothing, and dwarves, very good in defense and slow to finish. We are also introduced to a mixed faction of humans with living trees and other creatures in their range. I personally enjoyed a Chaos variant centered on Nurgle, the God of Chaos. This includes tentacles, diseases, and rotting bodies, but I like being able to stop faster factions while still having the power to advance the field. Teams can summon quirky secret weapons from time to time, adding fun twists to matches. These can be very powerful vehicles or characters that pulverize the enemy for a few rounds.

Blood Bowl 3
It’s easy to view stats and find information about your characters.

Matches are played on a large grass pitch with stands. You can position your players as you see fit and your opponent does the same. When the game starts, you take turns tackling, catching 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 may not match those in larger games, but it’s still a step up from the previous title in the series. Your characters can belong to different classes, with different functions and abilities. Just like in RPGs, weak points are also determined by the class of the character. New in this episode is that Agility has become more relevant. It is still present as we knew it and is used to dodge, run and catch the ball, but a new ability related to the old Agility has also been added: the pass. As the name suggests, if you have a high number of this ability, your character will be more adept at passing the ball. Other improvements are the ability to change team colors more often and save your formations for future matches.

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Additionally, your characters have a skill tree where you can level them up and specialize them even further. This is important for them to be as effective as possible in their role. If they die, you’ll have to repeat the process with new characters. There is a huge contrast in matches depending on the opponent: the AI ​​barely manages to hurt you or win you, but as soon as you try the multiplayer, they destroy you. It took me a while to figure out how to beat real opponents on the internet, so don’t expect this to be just a beginner’s sport. The rules are complex, the team organization has a steep learning curve, and the online opponents can be very good. That being said, the game has a ranking system, and eventually you’ll find the right gear for you, your specialty, and your own way to win. For me, this challenge was a lot of fun.

Improving his players is easier than ever, I prefer the system in third than in second.

On the other hand, I can assure you that the microtransactions are quite greedy. You can equip your players with different outfits and each is paid for with a special currency that you can buy with real money. One item of each can be purchased per character, meaning you immediately spend the amount of coins you receive for free at the start. You can also buy dice and other cosmetic items. I wouldn’t have cared so much about this problem if the selection available had been good from the start. If there had been decent cosmetic changes to choose from (including clothing), I wouldn’t have been so disappointed. It’s definitely not a full price game, but there seems to be less than five free picks in some categories, while there are maybe five or six pages of options to buy for real money. .

Bugs have also been an issue. There are plenty of them, and some of them are groundbreaking, while others are less over the top. Sometimes it crashes, there are visual glitches, unbeatable tricks, and permanently frozen menus. The same had also happened in Blood Bowl 2, but in the end the developers managed to fix it. However, I am evaluating the edition that I have tried myself and must warn that it is not in good condition. There are a lot more technical issues than would be acceptable and there are parts that are unplayable. However, there are specific times when it works really well and in those cases the game is very entertaining. It’s easy to jump into games when things are going well, thanks to its smooth interface, which stands out for its ease of use. Overall, I think this third installment is more polished in terms of mechanics and usability compared to the second game, despite the serious issues it has.

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Currency can be bought with lots of real money, and the menus are full of items you can buy with it.

Regarding the sound, there is not much to say, it works well. I wish there was a little more background music, but I can assure you that I loved the voice acting of the commentator couple, Bob and Jim. These two gentlemen make the show experience stand out even more. The humor does not always work so well in this third opus, but it sticks to the atmosphere and the sport. I also would have liked more advanced AI and a more robust campaign mode. When dealing with the AI ​​stopped being a challenge and the campaign didn’t offer enough variety, I quickly got bored. Creators should check out Starcraft 2 on how to create matches with original plot twists and drama. The campaign ends up becoming a bit like a puzzle that must be solved against disloyal opponents. There is great potential to be able to create something very fun with this material and these characters; a spin-off that focuses on a single-player game mode might prove interesting.

In short, this game has a good basic concept, but it is marred by technical glitches and greedy microtransaction systems. It’s a shame, because the improvements in terms of animations, graphics, mechanics, and UI stand out remarkably. I also appreciate the ease of use of this interface compared to that of the previous version. Considering all of this, I wouldn’t recommend the game at this time. We would have to wait to see if this third edition can receive the same improvements that its predecessor ended up getting. Blood Bowl 3 can’t score a goal, but from my point of view it’s still a work in progress. I had fun at times, but couldn’t help but be disappointed. When the game wasn’t working and the menus showed me more and more ways to spend my money, I couldn’t help but sigh wearily. Instead of playing it, buy Blood Bowl 2: Legendary Edition, which is still very good to this day. The third part still needs a little more time in the oven.

The world of Warhammer is perfect for placing sports bets inside.
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