Player Preview - Blood Bowl 2

  

Title: Blood Bowl 2
Developer: Cyanide Studios
Release Date: 22/September/2015

Official Site: http://bit.ly/1QOvRg3
Steam Page: http://bit.ly/1ZTt4bk

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at the turn based strategy game, Blood Bowl 2, developed by Cyanide Studios, the same guys behind Styx: Master of Shadows and Aarklash Legacy. Blood Bowl 2 has you managing and playing as your very own Blood Bowl team, Blood Bowl being like gridiron or American football but just a little bit rougher and set in the Warhammer universe.

The game plays player by player for one team and then switching over to the other team. Everything you do in Blood Bowl is tied to a dice roll weather you’re blocking an opponent, performing a throw or even just trying to pick up the ball which for some teams can actually be surprisingly hard to do. Most teams are made up of 3 different types of players with their own specific uses. You have your frontline that are your strongest players aimed at preventing any of the opposition players from breaking through to your ball carrier while attacking or to break through your enemies frontline to get to their ball carrier while defending. Blitzers that are aimed towards supporting other players due to their high mobility and finally backline players that are great at using the ball and scoring but are extremely fragile and need to be protected. 

For most of the game you will be attempting blocks on opponents, an aggressive action that can have 5 different results. On the low end you can push an opponent backwards, selecting 1 of the three possible locations for them to end up which is important when trying to clear a pathway for your ball carriers to get through unscathed. Then you have the 2 different successful tackles were your opponent will be downed, these two tackles work very much the same however there are player traits that can dodge the push tackle. Finally there are the failed tackles, the sides of the die you never really want to get. For both down your tackle will be successful against your opponent however in the process of the tackle you will also be downed. The worst result you can get though is attacker down. Your tackle will fail on the opponent and instead they will knock you down. Failing a block will result in a turnover so it’s best to leave 1 die blocks till last and get all your movement and double die blocks out of the way first. 

Having one of your players knocked down is bad for multiple reasons, the worst being that you have to roll on that players Armour Value to see if they receive an injury. If you fail the best outcome is to be stunned, the player will remain on the field but be unable to make an action for one turn. Being knocked out the player will be removed from the field but can make it back after a touchdown or halftime if they roll successfully on a 50% chance roll. Getting an actual injury starts off by having a player missing a game but can have players stats decrease or be out for multiple games and of course then there is the absolute failure state where the player can actually die which can be devastating if you have levelled up the player multiple times. You can purchase an Apothecary outside of the game that basically acts as a reroll on any injury a player may receive, you can only ever have 1 of these so it’s best to save it for the major stuff like deaths or stat decreases. If there are no injuries, knock outs or deaths then you just have the downside of the player having to spend some of its movement getting back up while it also counts as an action so you won’t be able to block with that player unless you blitz for a second action. Each turn you will only be able to blitz one player allowing them to move and block rather than just one or the other. Removing a player from play on your opponent’s side is a massive advantage especially if they have no players in reserve as now you have a numbers advantage. While you can perform blocks in the hope of knocking out a player or injuring them you can also push them off the field and into the crowd to remove them from play. This also has the same chance of injury as being knocked down.

Every player on the field has stats in four different categories that will help or hinder them in certain actions. These 4 categories consist of Movement Action, representing how many tiles on the field you are able to move in one turn. Strength, the number used in any blocks a player is involved in. Agility, used for dodging out of enemy players tackle zones and finally armour value that is used to determine if a player is injured when knocked down. It is possible to increase these stats during a level up however you will need to roll extremely high. To level up a player they must gain star player points by performing certain actions during a game including touchdowns, knock outs, injuring a player or performing skill based actions like passes. Once they reach the level up requirement you roll two die to determine whether or not you get an additional skill or statistic. Most of the time you will only be able to unlock another skill for your player in their specialisation like strength, agility and passing. Skills are an extremely important part of the game and can give your players significant bonuses like a re-roll on a failed dodge roll or if you roll a both down during a block you can get a skill that negates the knock down effect on your player. Reading through all of these skills and picking the right one is extremely important as players don’t level up all that fast especially some of the more specialized players that require up to 5 times the Star Player Points as normal players to level up.

Being a sequel let’s take a look at what’s new in the game. A campaign mode has been introduced that will have you leading the human Reikland Reavers team from the ground up to potential champions. The mode starts off as a tutorial to the game so any newcomers may want to start there as jumping straight into a multiplayer game may be a little overwhelming if you don’t understand the mechanics. Later on though the mode will start adding scripted events that are only available in the campaign mode like the referee taking out your players because he has a grudge against your team or one of the commentators joining your team for a game. The commentators also play a bigger part in blood bowl 2 delivering most of your team’s backstory and sideline drama between and during games in a comedic fashion that some will love but others may find it a bit corny. Stadium Customization is now a thing with 5 unique stadiums that can obtain upto 10 possible addons and will be used when playing at your home stadium. A player Marketplace has been added for online play where you can sell and buy players to create better teams however this feature doesn’t seem to be fully implemented yet. Lastly there is the cabalvision or replay feature that saves replays of your games that you can go back to and watch if you ever want or you can also watch current top tier games live.

Online play is definitely where BloodBowl 2 excels, however it’s not your typical matchmaking system. You will have to register your team as part of a league and then register that team as part of a competition within that league. Open ladders act as your main play anytime matchmaking ques but it’s the actual tournament structured competitions that will have you playing simulated rounds each week against smaller groups of players. Unfortunately you do have to go looking for these types of competitions and it’s not easy to find one that is currently taking new teams, something that could be improved by showcasing new competitions on the league front page. The official Blood Bowl league also seems to be the only league that offers Cyans after every game, the in game currency. Currently there is no use for these Cyans but customizable items for your team are planned to be purchasable with these later this year as well as being obtainable as rare random drops after a game.

Due to the aggressive nature of the game I do feel that some of the physically stronger teams like the Orcs or Chaos have somewhat of an advantage in getting players levelled up and just winning games by eliminating as many of the opponents players as possible. The more fragile skilled based teams like the High Elves and dark elves can perform some really great plays but there will almost always be a bunch of injuries during a game that will eventually cripple the team in the long run. Playing one of these more fragile skill based teams will require a lot of strategy and luck to be successful. It’s extremely obvious as well when you take a look at the top teams in any of the ladders usually consisting of Chaos, Dwarven and Lizardmen teams in the top rankings. Unfortunately due to this players will concede games if they are up against certain races so as not to lose any of their important players. Doing this though does have some negatives including that you don’t earn any star player points for your players to be able to level up, while the game still counts towards your players aging which will eventually lead to them gaining age injuries and eventually retiring. 

Outside of the main game you can purchase staff members for your team for added benefits, re-rolls being arguably the most important allowing you to re-roll a failed roll or block. The apothecary is on equal footing when it comes to importance especially later on when you have skilled players as it allows you to reroll injuries and deaths, you’re only allowed to have one of these so use it wisely. The next few staff members will help you on the random kick-off events, increasing your chances at good events for you through cheerleaders, assistant coaches and team fans. Right before you go into a match you will also be given the opportunity to buy other bonuses like another apothecary if you are playing against a strong team, a star player if you have the spare cash to purchase one for the game and a wizard spell which out of all the available purchasable bonuses can be extremely powerful, able to knockdown large groups of players in one shot leaving many injured if a 50% chance roll is successful. The wizard spell, more specifically the fireball spell is the only bonus that probably shouldn’t be in the game due to how powerful it is however it is quite expensive to purchase and it does only work half of the time. 

Other features of the game include a bunch of statistics regarding your overall performance as well as team specific statistics so you can find what your team is lacking and try to improve it via skill selection on player level-ups or just changing your play style. I would like to see player specific statistics as well though to keep track of certain player careers. If you want to play some friendly matches either against your friends online or locally you can, for online play you will have to have the person on your steam friends list.

Altogether Blood Bowl 2 brings fantasy and football together quite nicely having you sitting on the edge of your seat for every block and roll. You can become incredibly invested in your players and team with each match adding to their own unique narrative and if they get injured or die, it can be devastating. The almost complete randomness of the game may not be to everyone’s liking but the randomness can create amazing moments in the game. To get the most out of the game you will have to go looking for a good, consistent league that runs competitions in your time zone or get together with a bunch of friends and create your own league competitions. If you enjoy turn based strategy and the competitive nature of American Football or any sports in general then Blood Bowl 2 is definitely worth a look. If you’re sitting on the fence maybe wait for the patch due for the end of this year as some more features will be added to the game that may sway you on whether or not to get it. 

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for Blood Bowl 2. The game officially released on the 22^nd of September on PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One and is available on steam for $45 or your regional equivalent. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links below. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you guys next time.

Player Preview - Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

Title: Warhammer: End Time - Vermintide
Developer: Fat Shark Games
Status: Closed Beta
Release Date: 23/October/2015

Official Site: http://bit.ly/1OkYCmF
Steam Page: http://bit.ly/1jcEg25

 

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at the Co-Op medieval FPS, Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide, developed by fat shark games the same guys behind War of the Roses and Escape Dead Island. Vermintide brings 4 heroes together to push back the Skaven hordes as they mount a full scale offensive on the people.

The comparison to Left 4 Dead is an easy one to make as many of the games mechanics are very similar if not the same. The biggest difference though is instead of fighting off zombies with guns you will be fighting off hordes of rats or Skaven as they’re known in the Warhammer universe with primarily melee weapons like swords, hammers and daggers. Being the same developers behind War of the Roses, a Medieval Combat game, all the melee weapons feel great to use with quick and heavy attacks tearing through the Skaven hordes in a satisfying matter. When things do get a bit dicey or overwhelming you can block enemy attacks at least for a little while until you run out of stamina. If you’re getting completely mobbed you can also push enemies back causing them to stumble, giving you a couple of seconds before they fully recover.

While your melee weapon is your primary form of offense each character also has a ranged weapon, most of which are ammo dependant, the bright wizards fire staff the only exception. These ranged weapons can be bows, crossbows, pistols and single shot rifles. Almost every one of these weapons are a one shot kill however even being extremely powerful as they are, they’re best used to pick off a couple of enemies here and there before the horde manages to reach you. You can’t really use them as your main weapon either due to the ammunition consumption, even using them now and then will result in you running out of ammunition, luckily Ammo crates can be found at various locations around the map so you can top up if need be.

Other items found around the map to help you out on your missions include potions, grenades and healings items, each with their own inventory slot. While utilising these items isn’t entirely necessary in the easy and normal difficulty modes, you will have to take full advantage of them in the other 4 modes. The potions you have available to use include a power potion that increases your damage output and a speed potion that increases your move speed and your attack speed both potions being equally important and requiring you to use them at the optimal time as they only last around 10 seconds or so. As for grenades, there is also 2 options with a normal explosive grenade dealing a large amount of area damage and a fire grenade that will leave all enemies caught in the blast burning and taking damage over time. Lastly the healing items and again there are currently 2 options with bandages that can heal you or can be applied to a team mate and a healing potion which can only be used by the owner both items healing for around the same amount.

As a character based game Vermintide currently has 5 characters to play as, allowing only 4 players for each game this does allow for slight strategic picks. The different heroes include the Witch Hunter with a pistol and rapier best used in the front line attacking extremely quick while also being quite resilient. The Bright Wizard with a fire staff and a Wizard Sword, the only character that relies on a ranged weapon more than melee but you will have to stagger your damage output so as not to blow up. The Dwarf Ranger with a battle axe, shield and Dwarven Crossbow that can take a beating and dish it out. The Waywatcher with a longbow and Dual Elven Daggers that is rather fragile and better of sniping targets at a distance with her bow and finally the empire soldier with a Handgun and Great Sword that is all about brute strength breaking through even the toughest armour. These characters aren’t locked to these loadouts able to change to different weapons once obtained that will have variations in 5 different stats including speed, damage, knockback, targets and finally range depending on weather it is a range weapon or not. 

The missions in the beta, of which there were 3, varied quite a bit. In one mission you will be running through the city streets, the next climbing a massive tower. The mission objective however is a bit the same throughout basically coming down to making your way to a certain objective, activating it and then having to hold out against a very large horde of Skaven. I hope there is a bit more variation in the final game, which I fully expect there to be with different objectives like trying to outrun a horde bearing down on you or even perhaps some boss fights.

The enemies you will be facing are all Skaven based units starting off with the common clanrat with weapons and armour consisting of whatever they can their hands on. Skavenslaves take the next spot but only barely being completely unarmoured with basic weapons and their main purpose of overwhelming their target rather than overpowering. The elite units of Stormvermin are like a Spartan unit with heavy armour and halberds, these guys march around the maps in large groups and are best avoided if possible. That does it for the basic units of the game but there are still quite a few specialist units like the poison wind globadier that will throw gas grenades on your position, The Gutter Runner that will assassinate any team members found by themselves, the Packamster that will single out a player and run off with them trapped in its pole arm catcher, the Ratling Gunner that is equipped with a Gatling gun and finally the most powerful of the lot, the Rat Ogre. A large abomination that is capable of destroying a whole team on its own but when aided by other members of the Skaven horde makes it almost impossible to deal with. 

Vermintide offers some progression elements to the game utilising its unique character loadout system in a really cool way. At the end of a mission that has been completed successfully you will get an opportunity to roll dice in order to unlock and obtain either a weapon, helmet or trinket. The higher the roll you achieve the higher the rarity of item you will be able to unlock. You can help your chances of a better item by collecting tomes scattered around the level that will give you 1 higher chance die for each tome. There are also Skaven Grimoires that will give you a guaranteed roll success but will also reduce your team’s health quite significantly while carrying them. Finally in terms of collectable ways to increase your chances there is a slightly better chance die that can be found in any loot spawn area like chests. The biggest difference in your item rarity chances however is the difficulty level you play a mission at with normal difficulty allowing you to only achieve a blue item on a 6 die success while on harder difficulties you can achieve an orange item, the rarity colour scheme going white, green, blue and then orange. So a 3 success roll on normal you will get a green item but the same roll on hard will give you a blue item.

So what do these rare items do exactly, well their base stats don’t change from the standard version of an item to a red rarity item. Instead, the rarity will provide a weapon with bonus stats. Green giving you 1 bonus, blue giving you 2 and so on. These bonus stats include things like a 5% chance to gain 25% attack speed on a kill or a 10% chance to replenish a weapons ammunition on a kill. These bonuses also work off the same rarity system, for example a green weapon can have an orange bonus stat, and the bonus stat need to be unlocked at the forge with a gem before taking effect. These required gems can only be obtained by deconstructing weapons at the forge with the resulting gems rarity dictated by the deconstructed weapons rarity. Another option you have for unwanted weapons in your inventory is to trade up 5 same rarity items for 1 higher rarity item again via the forge.

Other features of the game include a really nice lobby system that is almost completely void of menus and menu screens. Loading into the game you will load into the tavern as your selected character able to move around, attack, try out new weapons, access the forge, your inventory and the mission map all via the in game tavern. It’s a small feature and not an entirely needed one but it is much nicer then menu screens. Other than that there is also best performance awards given out after every successful mission with most kills, most damage taken and least knockdowns being a couple examples.

Altogether Warhammer End Times: Vermintide is a great Co-Op experience that looks great, feels great particularly on the melee weapons and adds a ton of replayabilitiy to the left 4 dead formula with the RPG item rarity feature. I would like to see some more mission variety and maybe a couple of boss fights here and there as something else to work towards outside of better gear, harder difficulties and completing the storyline. I would also like to see a special ability or ultimate of sorts to add onto the combat system but that may just be the MOBA player inside of me speaking. For anyone looking for a really solid Co-Op game to play with friends with a really great setting and progression system then Vermintide is definitely a game to check out.

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for Warhammer End Time: Vermintide. The game is officially releasing the 23rd of October on Steam for $30 or your regional equivalent. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links Above. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys next time.