Recent reviews by tacetpressim

I should probably start out by saying I bought this game on special. I agree with other reviews that decisions you make within the game seem to have little effect on outcomes. But I
I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless.

Interesting story. Believable Characters. Meaningful conflict. Not too much dialogue. Having played all the Shadowrun titles now, I think this is the best.

3rd Edit (July 2016): Cyanide have finally seen sense and changed the cost of orc blitzers to 80k. It has taken almost a year but they've finally done it.

The support for this game has been slow but generally good and Cyanide have listened to their player base.

All they need to do now is make stadium upgrades optional and stop this stupidity of having anything over 150k adding to your tv.

The slow output of new races is acceptable as long as it continues.

However the AI is still absolute rubbish. This is not a single player game. I repeat THIS IS NOT A SINGLE PLAYER GAME.

This game still isn’t perfect but given the number of hours I’ve spent on it I have decided to change my review to positive.


*******Since writing, Cyanide have released an update with a grid, names and skills toggle, which frankly still isn't as good as in their original game. Simply because in BB1 you could play the game with these toggles on, now they take up so much of the screen you can't see what's going on.

On the positive side they have got rid of the laboured walking the players used to do to their positions at set up. It was particularly painful watching the treeman walk to his allotted square. They now teleport.

Statistics are finally available, although it would be nice to have this as a team overview, rather than having to click on each player to see their individual stats.

And in an attempt to woo back their disenfranchised fan base, they have declared that the next four races will be free to existing holders of the game, which is fantastic news.

However, until they return the rules to normal and make their new-fangled crap optional, I will not be changing this review to positive.

And it would be polite of them to remove the lies they've written all over the BB website about the AI improvements, since they obviously have no intention of fixing that.**********


For all of you hanging out, waiting to see whether or not you should buy this game yet, here’s why you should keep waiting:

Because this got really long so here’s the summary:

Good: Graphics
Bad: Everything else
If you want to buy a good game, buy Blood bowl: Chaos Edition. It is a supremely better game.

Now the long version:

Number of Races – Let’s get this out of the way first. It wouldn’t bother me that only a fraction of the all the possible races are available, if Cyanide had provided me with a product that was an improvement over the original game, but they haven’t.

BB2 is frankly no frills BB1.

Blitz mode – Where’s it gone? Or perhaps I should say, only Blitz mode is available. Why can’t I turn off the OP stadium improvements? Now the death roller can stay on pitch for the entire game!!!! [Still a problem as of July 2016]

Balance fixing – Some bright spark has decided the GW’s rules need to be ‘fixed’. And again, this can’t be turned off. You now have to spend your gold because anything above 150k counts towards your TV. WTF? That means when my wood elf team gets decimated against the dwarf death roller, I can’t buy any replacement players. [Still a problem as of July 2016]

Skill icons – Perhaps these will take some getting used to, but they are too small to distinguish and aren’t obvious. It requires you to hover your mouse button above the icon. But to do this you have to click on the player first. So you have to stop what you’re doing, which takes time. So much time. Would it kill them to put the names next to the skills, like they did in the promotional vids?

Grid – A lot of people have complained about this. I don’t think it’s so necessary with the new UI, but it would still be nice to have a toggle option. [Fixed]

Position labels – This is a big one. Not being able toggle names/positions/numbers makes identifying players, which look very similar, really hard. I have thrown blocks against chaos warriors thinking they were beastmen. [Fixed - although they can obstruct veiw]

Statistics – Another biggy. I don’t know who my top scorer is in any of my teams. I don’t know who’s suffered the most injuries. Why the hell not? This is part of the beauty of the game. This is what gives character to our players. More than fancy graphics. [Fixed - but cannot view whole team]

Fancy Graphics – While we’re on the subject of graphics. I would like to point out that the only thing Cyanide have improved is the graphics. But who cares? In my opinion this is the last thing you fix. Until you have a playable game, who cares if it looks pretty.

More stats – You can’t examine the line-up of the opposing team in the inducement stage before the game starts. In BB1 you could click on the match record after the game and see the opposing coach’s stats (percentage of games won/lost etc.). You could examine his other teams. You can’t do that anymore. Why not? [Fixed]

Matchmaking – Matchmaking is horrible. Teams with unbalanced TVs come up against one each other all the time. [Fixed-ish]

Slow set up – Every time you move your players before kick-off, they have to go through the action of actually running to where you told them to go, rather than simply appearing there. Great! It looks cool, like the action replays of my players hitting their opponents. But after the first game, I’d like to turn it off (as I assume most people did with the animations) because it simply wastes time. [Fixed]

AI – Now I know not everyone cares about the AI. BB is a multiplayer game. But I don’t always have time for a two hour game that I can’t pause. And when I don’t, I would like to play against something challenging. To be honest the promise of improved AI was the reason I bought BB2 in the first place. Otherwise I could have carried on with Chaos Edition (which is a better game – not just a bit better, supremely better).
Don’t get me wrong. The AI is different. It doesn’t do the same stupid s**t anymore. It just does different stupid s**t.
Is it better?
No.
On my first kick-off I was delighted to see a team of orcs set up a cage. The second kick-off they received, they started setting up the same cage. Then, halfway through, they just gave up, leaving a whole flank wide open. To make matters worse they never, ever picked the ball up with their thrower. Not once. They always elected to collect it with a Blitzer. Those are examples from one game, but suffice to say I have not even come close to conceding a touchdown to the computer and always win by 5+.
I don’t want to bore you with more examples. The short of it is that the AI is not an improvement on the old system. Given that Deep Blue could beat a chess master in 1997, is it really too much to ask for AI that plays BB in a way that doesn’t totally suck, in 2015? [Still a problem as of July 2016]

Conclusion:

Given that there are so many features of BB1 that have gone, what really cool things have Cyanide added to make BB2 better? I hear you ask. The answer is nothing. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Not one single thing that isn’t cosmetic.

It’s like Cyanide had a meeting with a big piece of butcher’s paper, on which they wrote every aspect of BB1, and then systematically crossed each off. Concluding, perhaps, that no one used those options. The second piece of butcher’s paper, designated for BB2 ideas, they left blank. Then all but the graphics team took a two year holiday.

So there we have it. Hopefully I haven’t left anything out. I apologise for the length, but so many features are lacking they need to be pointed out. BB2 is no frills BB1. If you want a good game buy Chaos Edition. Don’t waste your money on this.