Speedball 2 Tournament review (PC)

Speedball 2 was a classic sports title in the late 80s featuring soccer like action but with a futuristic, handball type setting. The fast pace and simple gameplay was what made it so successful and, though many have tried, no-one has really managed to equal the game in most gamers memories. The trouble with these nostalgic titles is that they're built up in the memories of gamers over the years, or decades since they were first popular.

That means that any remakes have a lot to live up to, not just the original quality of the title but the years of fond memories that many gamers have. Kylotonn have bitten off a big task in choosing to update the Bitmap Brothers classic sports title.

Warm up

The nostalgia begins immediately when you start up the game. Unfortunately, that's not a good thing here. The loading times are definitely reminiscent of the old disk loading times, if not the cassette loading times. That's never really going to be forgiveable on a modern PC game. To make things worse, the initial problems don't stop there. The main menu is poorly designed and confusing.

Although once you get the hang of it it's just ugly. That would be fine except that once yo do manage to start a game you have time to go and make a cup of coffee whilst it's loading. All of these presentation flaws could be fixed in future patches as long as the game plays as well as everyone remembers.

Main Show

The main action will be immediately recognisable to anyone who remembers the original. The update makes the game 3-D providing for a few different perspectives on the action. It also now supports Windows controllers so you can use plenty of buttons to control the action. The default control scheme harks back to the Amiga with the option of having a single button to control everything depending on the situation. That's reminiscent of the old single button joysticks that you used to get on the old computers.

You can still use the keyboard, but don't. It's almost impossible to control reasonably. If you enable all of the buttons on a controller then you get a much better control over the action. Unfortunately, even with an analogue stick, the control is still limited to 8 direction. That's pretty poor and really detracts from the action once it gets going. It becomes very difficult to aim a shot or a pass with any accuracy.

Doom and Gloom

So it's a long way from perfect but actually there's much to praise here as well. Speedball2 tournament has revitalised the graphics for the franchise. There's plenty of new perspectives to play from but, honestly, the old top down perspective is still probably the easiest to use. The action is fast paced, although it needs a pretty beefy graphics card to keep up with all of the options.

Still, the action is as fast paced as the original so that old skool fans won't be disappointed. The graphics have been updated but are still reminiscent of the original. The big shoulder pads are still there but the characters are now made of polygons rather than the old sprites. The sounds have been updated as well but the soundtrack still thumps along with plenty of grunts and thumps from the onscreen action bringing you into the thick of it.

Gameover

So there are issues with the presentation, and with the load time and the controls but these things can be fixed down the line. Maybe you're more interested in having a great selection of game modes so that you have plenty of tournaments and leagues to take part in. Well Speedball2 is OK on that score. If you like online gaming, and who doesn't these days, then I think you'll be OK. If you're more into offline gaming then you're still well catered for. For single player mode you can start with the a one-off game or knockout and then proceed into the leagues. There's a career or league mode available This allows you to build up your team and progress from the bottom league up to the top of the first league.

There are four leagues in total with a a total of 14 matches in each. The top two teams in each league get promoted each season so you have to fight your way up. During the season you can build up your squad by spending points that you win during the match. These come from the result and from tokens collected in the arena. These can be spent on upgrading the stats of your players and on buying the star players. Finally, there's a cup mode which contains 8 rounds with a 1st and 2nd leg against each team in every round.

Game on

All of the modes are available in multiplayer via online or on a single console. There's plenty of online options to try to drum up a community feel from having your team profile through to a team blog and messaging. Playing against other human gamers is much more fun than playing against the computer. This is really one of the big failings of the game. There's plenty of options for single player gaming but ultimately they'll succeed or fail based on the quality of the AI. In this case it's found to be rather lacking. Your team mates don't tend to cover the arena well to get positioned for passes or to make tackles. Whilst there are moments when they behave sensibly there are too many moments when they're standing around.

Of course, it doesn't help that only having an 8-direction control prevents you from passing with any accuracy anyway. This tends to mean that you'll take control of one player and try to run the length of the arena helping to get your players very out of position anyway. The opponent AI doesn't strike a good balance. In the lower leagues you find that they're rather too simple, lots of standing around, not much tackling and not much effort to avoid you. In the higher leagues they're a bit too good really. There's never a point where it feels well balanced.

Brutal Deluxe

So, it's clear that the game has its failings. I got the impression when I was playing it that the developer ia trying to appeal to the nostalgia market but to update it and capture a new audience. Honestly, I think it misses on the second mark but might just manage the first. The game looks and feels similar enough to the old game that everyone remembers that it should keep Speedball2 fans happy for a while. I think that in the modern gaming world that just doesn't cut it though. I'm all for reviving old games but they need to compete in the modern world.

What's up with having an analogue controller that can only aim in the old style 8 directions? What's up with the huge loading times and rubbish user interface design? All these failings could be solved in patches in the future but they really shouldn't need to be. If you were a hard-core fan of the original then this is probably the game for you. There's enough nostalgia in the title and the gameplay that it should keep you amused. If you aren't or don't even remember the original and are wondering what all the fuss is about then I'd suggest you steer clear rather than let this modern remake put you off.