Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe (Amiga)

Super Adventures in Bitmap Brothers Games - Game 5

Wow, I had no idea Speedball 2 takes place in Gotham City.

The internet tells me that apparently the theme tune is a track by Nation 12 called 'Brutal Deluxe', though to be honest it just sounds like early 90s video game music to me.

The prologue explains that corruption and violence has driven the sport of speedball underground. Considering that the first game was built around punching other players and grabbing money off the ground to bribe referees, I'm guessing things must have gotten pretty dark before they pulled the plug.

But eventually the people in charge start to miss all that money they were making, and decide to regain public interest by relaunching the sport as 'speedball 2'. Yes, apparently the sport itself is a sequel.

No team selection this time, I'm stuck playing as Brutal Deluxe. However I do get to upgrade my squad's equipment with this handy intuitive shop screen. For instance I can buy Bitmap shades to increase my 'AGR'... somehow.

I gave up trying to figure it out in the end, and just pressed the 'ALL' button, which is apparently short for 'spend all my money automatically'. Which works for me.

Ah, this seems more or less as I remember from Speedball. Only this time I've had some practice, and more importantly I know what colour I am.

Speedball 1 (Atari ST)      |         Speedball 2 (Amiga)

It pretty much plays the same so far, but they have changed the rules a bit between the games. The pitch is much wider now, and there's more players on each side.

Plus the graphics look about 72% more awesome.

I didn't have this much trouble trying to outrun people in the first game though. I'd usually make it all the way up to the enemy goal... before they'd take the ball off me and throw it back into my goal where it belongs.

Still, I'm better at the game now than I was then. If I keep passing between my players I should be able to make some upwards progress. Assuming that any of my teammates feel like walking on screen.

Noooo! You bastards!

Wait, they scored TEN goals? That ain't right. It must be 10 points for a goal now.


A FEW GOALS LATER.

I've got the ball, so I should be charging straight up to the enemy stronghold, (especially as I'm 36 points behind) but look at all these mysterious pick ups! If I leave them here I'll never know what wonders they hold.

Well okay I grabbed them and I'm still not sure what they did. I'm sure it was something awesome though.

I'm not even sure what the hell's going on with the points anymore. I have a theory it's got something to do with these large obvious stars lining the wall though. I feel like they're making this way more complicated than it needs to me.

Final score 000 to 038. Not bad, could have been worse.

I'll give it another shot, now that I know what I'm doing. Well, some of what I'm doing.

Well, fuck. Aren't I supposed to have a goal keeper for this sort of thing? Why can't I ever just throw the ball straight into their goal?


SIXTY FOUR SECONDS LATER.

OH YEAH, look at that shot! Straight into the goal!

Now it's 10-36 with 12 seconds left. Just two more goals and I've won!

Dude, we've got 6 seconds left to win, stop playing around with the... wall mounted loop thing. You don't even know what it does.

10-64 now. I'd probably be doing better if I had players on screen. Maybe they'll turn up later, who knows.

The good news is, I got points this time. The bad news is they beat me twice as bad as last time, and last time they beat me pretty damn bad.

You know this was considered to be one of the best sports games ever made at the time, but to me playing it feels a lot like bashing my head against a metal wall. There's a minimum skill level for entry here, and right now I don't qualify.


LATER.

YESSSSSSSSSS! I finally managed to keep the lead until half time. If I can just keep those bastards away from my goal I can finally actually win a match.

This could be the very first time in history of the site that I actually win anything in a sports game. All those games up to now have been leading up to this moment, this victory.

Son of a bitch! I have to admit it's a nice looking screen though.


Well overall I found Speedball 2 to be a lot like Speedball 1, except shinier and more complex. And wider. I didn't much enjoy continually losing against the AI, but it seemed to be playing fair so I have no one to blame but myself. Plus it's a sports game, so it probably gets way better when you've got a few friends together and a second controller plugged in.

Bitmap Brothers games:
Part 1: Xenon (Atari ST)
Part 2: Speedball (Atari ST)
Part 3: Xenon 2 - Megablast (Amiga)
Part 4: Cadaver (Amiga)

Part 5: Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe (Amiga)

Part 6: Gods (Amiga)
Part 7: Magic Pockets (Amiga)
Part 8: The Chaos Engine (Amiga)
Part 9: The Chaos Engine 2 (Amiga)
Part 10: Z (MS-DOS)