Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

Ice cream! Ice cream! Those that can remember the phrase will be pleased to know that Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe is now available on Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 MS points.

This is an enhanced port of the 1991 game that I first played on the Commodore Amiga and features both the original sprite based graphics and some new 3D graphics as-well as Xbox Live multi-player, the obligatory 200 gamerscore achievements and leaderboards.

The game of "Speedball" features two opposing teams of nine players split into attack, midfield and defence in a futuristic full contact sport. Each team will aspire to score a goal, worth 10 points, but this can be increased by using the score multipliers on the sides of the arena. Jotted around the arena are also various power-ups that may be picked up to give one team an edge for a limited duration.

Initially the "Brutal Deluxe" team you start with will be fairly weak, but through the use of the gym and money invested each players stats can be improved. Alternatively you could dip into the transfer market and buy better players if you have enough cash.

There are plenty of modes to keep you occupied like, "league", "knockout", "cup", "practice" or "league manager" and improving your players from weaklings to all conquering powerhouses that smash through the opposition is one of the highlights.

Unfortunately the enhanced graphics aren't that great and I prefer sticking with the original top-down sprites that I fondly remember, even though they don't look as great today on larger HD displays. The game is still good fun, especially with friends over Xbox Live, and even by today's standards it's certainly playable. However, as with all retro games something is lost between the memory and the actuality of playing it again, but it's still a happy trip down nostalgia lane.