Speedball - 1988 - MS-DOS Game Review

[@isatty]

I never played this yet somehow the sound and graphics instantly made me think of Xenon... which makes sense since that was a bitmap brothers game too!

[@msdosgamereviews]

I can't wait to review Xenon 2: Megablast, as that is a game I do remember playing in my younger years!

[@ArttuTheCat]

This is the first time, i'm seeing the MS-DOS version of one of my childhood favorite games, SPEEDBALL. I played this game a lot on my Commodore 64 and Amiga 500 😺👍🕹️. SPEEDBALL 2: BRUTAL DELUXE was pretty amazing, too 😺👍🕹️.

[@msdosgamereviews]

Glad to bring back some memories!

[@Cur8or88]

Thanks!

[@msdosgamereviews]

You're welcome!

[@lurkerrekrul]

I played this on the C64 and Amiga. I actually found it more playable than Speedball 2, at least in one-player mode. In Speedball 2, the computer cheats.

[@msdosgamereviews]

I'll get to Speedball 2 eventually, thanks for the heads-up

[@lurkerrekrul]

@@msdosgamereviews What I mean by cheating is this; You only control whatever player is currently visible on the screen, and selected. The computer is responsible for moving your other players, and any members of your team who are currently off the screen. When the computer gets the ball and throws it down the field toward your goal, one of his players is almost always in a perfect position to catch it. When you do the same, and the ball lands, all your players are usually off on the edges of the screen, which is where the computer left them. Worse, one of his players is there to catch it about half the time. This is unfair because the computer can move his players into position, even if they're not visible, but you have to wait for your guys to both become visible, and be selected, THEN try to move them into position. Also, maybe not cheating, but at the start of a match when the ball is served, the computer always just runs right through my guy like he isn't even there. Even if I've upgraded my players, he still plows me over. And those score multiplying loops on the sides of the field are useless because any time you throw the ball around one of them, guaranteed the computer will be there to throw it right back. EVERY TIME!

[@BingleBangleBungle]

Bitmap Brothers made pretty good games.

[@msdosgamereviews]

They certainly did. This could be just the title where they got their feet wet... Their later games played really well, and had great sound as well as graphics.