Blood Bowl is a game based off of the Warhammer series, where the great American sport of football is played. Set in a fantasy world where there are basically no rules to what you can do, you can smash through your opponent to score that touchdown, Blood Bowl can be played in either the turn-based Blood Bowl, or you can even play the game in real time and be apart of the crazy action and high stakes.

In order to obtain the full enjoyment of the game, I highly suggest that you go through all the tutorials. Since Blood Bowl ‘the Video Game’ is based off of Blood Bowl ‘the Board Game’, if you really want to get to know every single rule of “the fifth edition rules” you can visit the Blood Bowl website or the Games Workshop website.

There are two modes, real time or turn based called Blitz Mode and Classic Mode respectively. In real time you can use pure skill and strength to defeat your opponents whereas in turn based you actually have to strategize but hope for the best because it’s based on the luck of the roll of the die, which in some cases can work against you. In some ways turn based possesses a strong RPG element to it - depending on what level your player is and what attributes and skills he has will determine whether he will successfully tackle, block, dodge, pass, or catch. In real time you don’t have that much time to think about what is going on, mainly because of the fast pace, but once you get the hang of it, it can really prove to be a better alternative, if that is your preference. In any case, although you have time to munch on a bag of potato chips, don't discount the turn based mode as boring because it is really quite engaging.

Blood Bowl features races such as: Orcs, Humans, Lizardmen, Dwarfs, Skaven, Wood Elves, Chaos or Goblins and each have their own particular strengths and weaknesses. Each race tends to favor a given style of play although that doesn’t prevent you from adapting your own tactics to the team. As you play matches, gaining experience and achieving outstanding actions, your players will progress and earn Star Player Points (SPP). SPP is used to level up your characters giving them new skills.

Each player is assigned a position to play (much along the lines of football) which is their specialization – not that they can’t play another position but they won’t be very good at it which is rather dangerous in Blood Bowl (see the Turnover Principle below). This makes loosing a specialized player to injuries – which happens often – quite detrimental your team, forcing you to change tactics.

Become familiar with “The Turnover Principle” as your knowledge of how it works will really help you to win matches. Basically, if your player fails to perform an important action like a catch or a pickup your turn ends – just like that – even though you may still have more time or turns left. Interesting, isn’t it? I did say to make sure you go through the tutorials in the beginning.

Since Blood Bowl for the Xbox 360 comes from a board game there is, of course, dice involved which adds a non-skill, take your chances element to the matches. A six-sided dice is used to determine the results of most of the actions taken by your players. The result of the dice roll is combined with the level of the skill that is being used which determines a success or failure. A different set of die called the Block Dice are used to resolve ‘blocks’ which does not depend on any player characteristics.

In Campaign mode you can set up a team and play in tournaments to gain prestige to play in even more difficult tournaments and championships to get rewarded with gold, which you can use to further upgrade and customize your team. Once prestigious enough you can participate in the most endearing competition of all, the Blood Bowl Cup. Play through different fields and show the rest of the world what you’re made of!

You can also form your own tournament to pit against the toughest of teams, and if you already played the campaign mode or have an old team you can use them for the tournament and crush your enemies.

Go through Bone crushing leagues to make it to the top and win that cup! Or even go online and challenge other players, or even show your friends who’s boss with your terrifying team.

Although a unique and interesting concept derived from a Games Workshop board game you may have difficulty getting used to all the rules and find the turn based play tedious. Once you get the hang of it though, you may find it engaging enough to keep on playing.