Speedball 2 Brutal Deluxe
Foul play
Antique Code Show I know it’s not 2095 yet but with Boris back in power and the Olympics imminent, I am preparing myself to witness London fall into terminal decline due to sports related overspending and aggressive austerity measures. Indeed, I can envisage an appetite for a Rollerball-style games event; entertaining the galleries of corporate sponsors. A spectacle probably quite similar to a game I used to play, Speedball 2.
Speedball 2: a different kind of blood sport
Speedball 2’s introduction tells us how the original Speedball-league was unregulated and ungovernable due to corruption and violence. With some hasty reorganisation – to make it fit for public consumption – Speedball 2 is reinvented.
I take control of a brave new team, Brutal Deluxe. Although low in the league, I reckon these guys have some prospects. Still, looking at the state of some of these players, I will have to arrange some shifty transfers and expensive upgrades to make sure we make it to the top of the league.
Picking winners
In Speedball 2 each match is made up of two halves running at ninety seconds each. Nine players on each side violently tackle each other for points and a place at the top of the league.
Gameplay is a meat grinder mix of rugby and football with a little hockey/handball thrown in and no penalties for fouling against my opponents. In fact, fouling is actively encouraged. I get the same amount of points for injuring the other team as I do for a goal, watch out goalkeeper you're going to take a bashing!
Goals? Well, they come into it somewhere
Yes it’s all about the goals but collecting money and speed buffs at the side of the court will help me outrun opponents and buy nifty upgrades. Like Rollerball, I try and keep my grip on the metal ball, passing it when things become too violent or I am at risk of being overwhelmed.
Next page: Tournament battles
COMMENTS
An utter classic.
I lost count of the joysticks I knackered playing that.
No mention of Ice Cream?
Quel disappointment!!
I used to build my centre forward up and just have him muller through the opposition in a straight line all the way through to the goalie then slam the ball in for good measure :o)
There was a throw you could do to bounce the ball of the electrifier so it went along the side through any opponents and round the multiplier loop, too. Most effective!
Must have destroyed 4 Kempston Pro joysticks.
Ice Cream, Ice Cream!
Absolute classic. From an era of British classics, Bitmap Bros, Sensible Software, Code Masters, Team 17, Bullfrog...
The Bitmap Brother's The Chaos Engine deserves mention in any compendium of the Steam Punk sub-genre, too, taking as its premise 'What if Babbage's difference engine had gone a bit HAL9000?'
The closest I have experienced in recent times is Wario Stadium Soccer on the GameCube- takes the sensible step of not aping too closely the sport it is based on. Trying for and failing a slide tackle on your opponent gives them the opportunity to drop a massive Kooper Shell on your side of the pitch. The automated goal keepers are crocodiles... Superb mayhem.
@ Sir Runcible... Very vaguely, from the pages of PC Zone... there was what looked like a rugby pitch with bombholes in it...
Not bad...
....but my favourite Bitmap Brother's game was The Chaos Engine. Classic style shooter with chunky solid graphics for the time. If anyone knows where I can get an emu version, I'd appreciate it.
sensi
for gods sake, cut to the chase and do an article on the best game ever made - sensible soccer.
