E3 2014: Blood Bowl II is the World Cup of orc football [Preview]

“Now we’re going to talk a little bit about football. Not my football, but your football. It’s pretty good too.”

Sylvain Sechi is talking to a room full of American reporters. In 24 hours the World Cup will kick off, and so the word “football” has just one day left to mean “that sport where they throw and kick an egg-shaped ball”. That’s fine; we’re only a month or so away from the NFL getting into high gear anyway, and Sechi and Cyanide have something to show us that will be ready soon afterward to capitalize on our American football tastes.

That something is Blood Bowl II. As Lead Game Designer for Cyanide on the project, Sechi is excited to tell us why we need a sequel to a game about orcs and humans playing a (more) violent version of the sport that the US loves so much. And though he doesn’t quite say it, I can read it on his face and in his words: because it’s the right time. The original product arrived to mixed reviews, unable to capitalize on the peak of modern video game football that the Madden NFL series was riding and failing to make a compelling single-player experience. Now, fan support is waning on the repetitive Madden, eSports are taking off, and technology allows us to do a lot more with our game experiences.

A brief primer on what Blood Bowl is: turn-based sports strategy, commanding a team on the field through a specific amount of dice rolls and time. Characters can be upgraded, selected from different races, and traded away. It’s not just about scoring points, but also clearing the field through killing, maiming or stunning opponents. It has weapons, magic, and armor. It’s more of an RPG with a sports sheen than the other way around.

There are two areas of change that Cyanide focused on when updating Blood Bowl: the accessible multiplayer and the single player experience.

As Sechi guides his team down the field, the action looks easy to understand; it’s like chess with a spiked ball and an end zone. “It’s not a difficult game to jump into. We want to make sure that past fans can continue what they already know, and new fans find it easy to pick up and play.” And why expand the audience? Because Blood Bowl II might have a good shot at becoming a popular eSport game. The team at Cyanide has made competitive multiplayer the core of the experience, adding live-streaming of games, sponsorships and creation of leagues of 2-1000 players. As people watch the videos, they’ll not only cheer their favorites but also feel comfortable trying the game themselves.

A big point of contention for fans of the first Blood Bowl was the less-than-optimal single player mode. The developers have revamped the mode from the ground up, injecting a long 15-hour campaign, multiple stadiums, and a pair of commentators that will narrate the plot as it unfolds. This is a rebuilding season for our team, and that will mean drafting and working with our players, improving our facilities and even changing the look and effectiveness of our stadiums. Though only 8 teams will be available at first, much like the original game Blood Bowl II may very well expand its roster through DLC. Improved AI will challenge us throughout the single-player modes, giving us something to do when we’re not in those 1000-player leagues — and may actually be enjoyable.

Oh, and the game looks visually pleasing this time. Gone are the last gen bugs and design limitations, in favor of a completely new engine that renders much faster. Players of the previous game will remember some of the weird clipping and frame drop hiccups that would occasionally appear, so this new engine looks to remedy that.

As I sit in the back of the demo room at Focus Home’s booth, two words pop into my mind repeatedly, causing me to grin from ear to ear: Base Wars. Like the classic NES baseball game in which robots replaced humans, Blood Bowl II might scratch that itch that I’ve had for over two decades. I’ve been hoping for more sports with a crazy twist, and it might be coming at just the right time.

Blood Bowl II ships later this year for PC and “maybe other platforms that we’re not exactly ready to talk about yet”.