Chaos League

Chaos League
PAL boxart of Chaos League
Developer(s)	Cyanide
Publisher(s)	Digital Jesters Focus Home Interactive
Platform(s)	Windows
Release date(s)	NA 8 March 2005 EU 8 August 2004
Genre(s)	Sports management game
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer

Chaos League is a fantasy-based sports management game developed by Cyanide Studios and published by Digital Jesters. It was released in Europe on 8 August 2004 and later in North America on 8 March 2005. The game is a spin on American football, the violence of the Medieval football with no rules and rugby-style of sports yet set in a fantasy world with teams being made up of fantasy races such as dwarves, elves, orcs and undead, along with the use of magic and other fictional elements during a "match". The tone of the game is satirical with comedic color commentary and adverts for fictional in-game universe products. An official expansion was later released in 2005 bundled with the original, titled Chaos League: Sudden Death that added new features and gameplay tweaks.

While not a direct video game adaption, Chaos League bears resemblance to Games Workshop's Blood Bowl tabletop board game, which is also about fantasy sports. Cyanide Studios would later develop the video game version of Blood Bowl in 2009, which itself utilizes certain features from Chaos League.

Gameplay

Chaos League falls into a multiple genre category, both real time strategy and sports games as the game involves war based tactics like unit positions and fighting strategies but the main goal of the game to score points by getting a pig skin ball to the opposite end zone, very much like the same rules found in American Football and Medieval football. Players are given a choice of 10 different fantasy based races (13 in Sudden Death) to play as their team, each with their own style of play, skill and tactics. The player then has to handle the teams finances in order to hire different players like Linemen, Quarterbacks etc. after of which can name them individually to their liking. When gameplay starts, players are given 1 minute to set up their formation, after game starts in real time. The player can click on individual team mates and give them an order like attack opponent and pick up and/or throw. Each game lasts 10 minutes, after players can be upgraded to gain extra speed or strength or to add new skills or magic abilities, all from gaining experience during the last game they played like scoring or crippling an opposing team mate.^[1]

Other aspects that differ from normal sports games include causing player knock outs, injuries or even deaths. Chaos League also includes rather crude options like stamping on downed players, intervening hooligans, drugging players before games and bribing or assaulting the referee when the rules are broken.^[2] The main basis of the game's comical style is from the commentary, done by a pair of dysfunctional Chaos League enthusiasts that would insult both each other, the fans and the players in the current game. The Sudden Death add on expanded the features to include team clans to help during gameplay, fighting the ref, and aging players over time, requiring new players every few seasons.^[3]

Player positions

A team can hire up to 15 players (9 per team on the pitch during the match) with a choice of player positions, each one with their own skills, looks and game style. However not all positions are available for all teams.^[4]

• Lineman - Physical players, injures Quarterback more easily.
• Receiver - Fast runners and good at catching the ball, can make a feint against a Running back more easily.
• Linebacker - Offense force, injures a Bigfoot more easily.
• Quarterback - Ball passers, inflicts feinting penalty on a receiver.
• Running back - All round player, stronger with ball with armour bonus against Linebacker.
• Bigfoot - Special brutal fighters, protection penalty on a Lineman (one per team, except Goblins who have a wider choice).
• Champion - Unique players in many ways, mostly on their race's special skill.

Races

Chaos League featured 9 races, all the traditional fantasy style classes similar to that of Warhammer and Dungeons and Dragons. Teams have specific restrictions on the positions they are allowed to choose from as well as the potential to use Bigfoot players.

• Humans - All round players with the skill to adapt their personal play against other teams.
  • Bigfoot: Ogre
  • Restrictions: No Linebackers
• Dark Elves - Skilled in the arts of magic and can handle the ball very well, yet are weak in fighting.
  • Bigfoot: Dark Ent
  • Restrictions: No Linebackers
• Wood Elves - Better at handling the ball than Dark Elves but not as skilled with magic, they are also weak in fighting.
  • Bigfoot: Ent
  • Restrictions: No Linebackers
• Orcs - Aggressive players backed up with some magic but they are much slower and handle the ball less well.
  • Bigfoot: Troll
  • Restrictions: No Receivers
• Dwarves - Very slow, poor at magic and terrible at handling the ball, however they are the strongest and best fighters in the game.
  • Bigfoot: Ogre (Sudden Death: Elder Dwarf)
  • Restrictions: No Receivers
• Goblins - Very small and weak but they are slippery characters, plus they can hire multiple bigfoot monster players.
  • Bigfoot: Minotaur, Crazy Balgor, Mad Troll (Sudden Death: Goblin Rider x2, Minotaur)
  • Restrictions: No Linebackers, Running backs or Quarterbacks
• Barbarians - Like humans but better at fighting, more vulnerable defense.
  • Bigfoot: Minotaur (Sudden Death: Hunter)
  • Restrictions: No Running backs
• Undead - Wider player options to vary speed and strength depending on position choices.
  • Bigfoot: None, stronger linebackers
  • Restrictions: No Quarterbacks
• Praetorians - A race of humanoid wolves. The best at long distance running and fair at handling the ball but incredibly weak.
  • Bigfoot: Balgor
  • Restrictions: No Linebackers
• Mercenaries - A round up of weak linemen from all of the above races, varying play.
  • Bigfoot: None
  • Restrictions: None

The following races are included in the Sudden Death expansion pack.

• Gnomes - Slow and stumpy yet use heavy steam powered machine walkers for their advantage.
  • Bigfoot: Machine
  • Restrictions: No Linebackers or Running backs
• Damned - Demons. Use black magic for fighting situations rather than playing passing games.
  • Bigfoot: Demon
  • Restrictions: No Receivers or Running backs
• Cicturas - Lizardmen. Weak yet slippery players who use projectile poisons and bites to wear down foes.
  • Bigfoot: Cicturi
  • Restrictions: No Receivers or Quarterbacks

Blood Bowl

According to Eurogamer, Cyanide originally pitched the game idea to Games Workshop in hopes of developing a licensed Blood Bowl video game. When they were rejected, they developed Chaos League independently.^[5] Besides the obvious connections to the style of the game itself, both being violent fantasy sports, minor similarities were also noticeable to Blood Bowl fans. Most notable were the recurring skills in both like "Mighty Blow", "Bulldoze" and "Projectile". Even during a loading menu in after games, a well known red sun with an Orc face, usually found on Games Workshop inks can be seen in the background.

Games Workshop has announced that Cyanide Studios now have a license to create computer games based on Blood Bowl and that "Any differences between Games Workshop and Cyanide have been amicably settled for an undisclosed sum, and as part of the settlement the Chaos League title has been assigned to Games Workshop".^[6] The game Blood Bowl was released in Q3 2009 for the PC, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and Xbox 360.^[7]

References

External links

• Playable demo at CNET.com