Bloodsports.TV

It’s been stated time and again, but originality in games is harder to pull off these days. For Bloodsports.TV, it means that it fails at threading that needle with a twist on known giants, unfortunately. From arena game to artificial intelligence (AI) wave bashing doesn’t make for an exhilarating breath of fresh air, nor is it a big leap at all. In fact, the cobbled design is much too narrow in its in own right.

Apparent in the title, Bloodsports.TV is framed in post-apocalyptic sensationalism. Massacres are broadcasted live for entertainment, with an announcer relishing in the destruction of event participants. What’s the prize? Whoever wins doesn’t get their town destroyed by a tactical missile strike. Carnage is displayed in thickly saturated cel-shaded visuals, stimulating eyes with rich colors and heavy contrasts for that speckled, grimy look. This colorful dystopia links back to Krater, a previous roleplaying game (RPG) release from developer Fatshark. It is, however, only an aesthetic choice, unless the diagonally-down camera counts as well. Bloodsports.TV is its own monster.

The meaty portion here stands from playing loose matches against hordes of enemies, either alone or with up to 5 people. Each person can pick a certain class, proficient in their own territory, from bruiser to healer. Characters come with four gradually unlocked skills that increase potency, manipulate the environment or deal massive finishers. Throughout a round, killing opponents yields currency rewards, which can then be traded to acquire stat boosts through equipped items. Gear comes in this giant list of minuscule alterations. It’s the arena spiel through and through. That’s strike one; Bloodsports.TV is played out before it even starts.

Now, everything works accordingly in the idea of invigorating this scheme of tired mechanisms, let’s give credit where due. Waves of enemies, divided by small grunts and opposing champions, come in after a timer. Opponents possess similar skills to player classes, striking with straight lines, areas of effect and so on. Periodically, these assaults are transformed into boss fights that dial up the chaos. In association with the gaudy display, the beast’s plentiful attacks nearly vomit all over the screen. Frenetic certainly is a vibe this title is going for.

One of the more subtle points in Bloodsports.TV is map variety. This design makes it apparent that at least the team has thought about creating diversity. Some locations are stretched in a linear fashion, making the main structure harder to reach, since it’s protected by a path of defense turrets, arena-style. In circular environments, however, it’s a lot easier for enemies to get to that gooey center, which means more zone control for gladiators. Additionally, obstacles and rigid paths can force directions into pinpointed areas. This leads to both a requirement of solid planning, to get to the next wave in time, but also the ability to manage hordes efficiently. Since a lot of attacks target a specific area, a funneled crowd will be easier to swipe at than a scattered group. Moreover, neutral monsters on the map, which can be farmed for more currency and experience, can have different priorities, either spawning on the side, in bigger numbers or not at all. If anything switches up the runs of going wave after wave, it’s choosing another stage for the destruction to take place.

That said, there’s only so much another playing field can do, when the core aspect just isn’t exhilarating for too long. Bloodsports.TV never changes. One wave is equal to the next, forever. Matches only alter in difficulty, which can be facilitated by playing over and over to unlock milestones that boost classes. Those enhancements only grade characters along with the higher challenge, so slicing mobs will still be the same and that gets boring a lot faster than it should.

Several issues lock into one to drive the game’s repetitiveness into the ground. For one, while there is a plethora of items to choose from, the arena model suffers from self-defeating variety blocking. Only one or two items will actually matter to any given gladiator, the rest might not even exist. This false selection greatly minimizes the amount of variety Bloodsports.TV thinks it presents and what it actually offers. Making matters much worse, the key ability of Vamp Strike trumps pretty much all other traits, since it’s the only thing to replenish health at faster rates. More health means more survival probability; it’d be foolish not to go for it. So, in reality that whole shop design falls back on less than a dozen items to be selected time and again. That’s strike two.

As if Bloodsports.TV’s choices weren’t cut to size through its model enough as it is, the four available classes also suffer from vast similarities. At a first level, the numbers are grouped more as two brawler types and two ranged units. Deeper yet, a lot of champions rely on a skill to increase speed or an ability to stun. It’s all so homogenous. Only the ranged units manage to mix things up with different play styles. A character based on movement can make use of one skill to gain attack speed as long as they don’t move. To circumvent that, another ability allows for hopping around the map. All other gladiators can get by, raising one trait alone, usually the same one. Being so damn unchanging on a model that revolves around keeping things alternating is this arena game’s third strike.

Bloodsports.TV is an abomination. It might disguise itself behind the Krater name to be something it’s not, but it’s not fooling anyone. Going after AI beasts instead of human opponents doesn’t make it any more an RPG or its ridiculously self-appointed “co-op top-down Hero Defense game.” It’s just yet another arena game and one with a limited scope at that. There is a surprising lack of differentiating aspects, which kills the excitement only hours after first starting. No one is waiting to beat the same grunts over and over with the same characters, grabbing the same items and using the same skills.

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed (@Daavpuke)