Old School Game Reviews: SSX Tricky

Welcome to the third edition of the “Old School Game Review”. The last two games I covered were Sega Mega Drive titles, “Streets of Rage” and "Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe". This time? I'm going back 10 years instead of 20, and talking about a Playstation 2 title. To celebrate the release of the new title in the series, my third Old School Game review is the amazing, SSX Tricky.

Not familiar with the “Old School Game Review”? It’s basically a gift wrapped game review so in theory it’s nothing new. But what is different is that before I divulge into the review I talk about what makes this game so good, and some facts and memories the game gave me. Oh and what counts as an old school game? My ruling is the game has to be at least ten years old.

When did this game come out? 2001

What console was it released on? Playstation 2

What else was it released on? Nintendo Gamecube, XBox, Game Boy Advance

Compilations? None.

Other interesting facts? Well this game was released less than 10 years ago in the UK... if you bought the Gamecube, XBox or GBA versions. But I bought the PS2 version so that's my excuse! I'm not cheating with my criteria!

Best memories? Probably doing the first course, Garibaldi, with a score of more than 1,000,000 for the first time. I don't know what the official world record is, but this is the biggest score on YouTube at 4.6 million, which is, quite frankly, ridiculous. Still, it's an amazing task to get a score of 1 million. I think my all time record is around 1.3 million, although it's been a very long time since I had the data on my memory card (oh those were the days... when you used memory cards... it felt like yesterday!).

Now onto the review!

For me, SSX Tricky, 10 years later, is still the best snowboarding game of all time.

SSX Tricky is the sequel to the original SSX game, which was released a year earlier as part of the new EA Sport BIG selection, a set of sports games that were unrealistic in style. SSX Tricky was basically SSX 2.0, with many of the tracks and characters making returns from the original games. But labelling SSX Tricky that way and thinking that it's nothing more would be a big mistake. SSX Tricky takes everything that was good about SSX, and mashes it up to make it bigger and better in every aspect.

The SSX game series are, as we said earlier, an unrealistic series of snowboarding games. The main course of the original SSX is a snowboarding race, and you can do tricks on your snowboard to try and give your character a speed boost for every successful trick pulled off. So you raced hard, did tricks off the big jumps and used your speed boost and try to finish the races in first place.

This is not going to end well...

SSX Tricky builds on this in a much bigger way. Much bigger. You see, you can still race against the other competitors, there's a "Race" mode for that. You can still use your tricks to gain speed boosts as well. But... the tricks are bigger and wilder than what was available in the original game. Not only that, but if you store your speed boosts to the top of the bar, the song remixes to include "It's Tricky" by Run DMC and you have access to what are called Uber Tricks. Uber Tricks are what make SSX Tricky special. They're incredibly flamboyant, melodramatic tricks on your snowboard that take a while to pull off, but look absolutely awesome. You also score much more points for pulling these off as a reward.

You'd be mistaken to think that so much emphasis on tricks in this game means there would be an actual trick orientated game wouldn't you? Well there is. On one end you have the "Race" mode, and on the other you have the "Showoff" mode. The purpose of "Showoff" is to, well, show off your tricks. More accurately, it's purpose is to give you the opportunity to get the biggest score tally possible. "Showoff" mode has big coloured icicles across the course, and doing tricks successfully through these icicles gives you a multiplier on the score given for the tricks done. The colour codes are yellow for a double multiplier, orange for a triple multiplier, and red for a quintuple multiplier. These icicles are pivotal for getting the highest scores in "Showoff" mode.

So you have "Race" mode and "Showoff" mode. You can access these options through "Single Player" and "Multiplayer" mode. But if you start from scratch only have access to a few tracks. To unlock more tracks you have to play the "World Circuit" mode. With "World Circuit" mode you, one by one, take on the courses in either "Showoff" mode or "Race" mode, it's completely your choice. With "Showoff" mode, you have to get a certain score to get either a Bronze, Silver or Gold award. Getting at least a Bronze will unlock the next track on "World Circuit", and it will also be available on "Single Player" and "Multiplayer" modes. For "Race" mode on "World Circuit" you will have to race the track three times, and will have to finish in the Top 3 in each race to qualify for the next one. After the third race, your placement will have to be in the Top 3 again to get a medal - Bronze, Silver and Gold again.

Getting a medal in "World Circuit" gives your character skill points to develop the attributes that are important to SSX Tricky - Edging is your sharpness for turning corners, Speed is your, erm, speed, Stability is how hard it is for you to get knocked off your snowboard and Tricks is how quickly you can do your tricks. If you get a Bronze medal you get two points to add to your attributes, four for a Silver, and six for a Gold.

There's the checkpoint! Caution signs? Booby traps? Hmm...

 The characters in SSX Tricky are brilliant. You have lots to choose from, and you have to unlock a good few of them by getting gold medals in "World Circuit". All the characters specialise in different methods of SSX - some are very good at tricks, some are very good racers. There are 13 in total and all have different personalities - Moby and JP are arrogant players from England and France respectively, where as Marty and Kaori are quiet and shy players from Germany and Japan respectively. My favourite character however is Psymon, who is completely nuts but says some of the funniest and random lines in the game like shouting "French toast and syrup!" at the top of his lungs mid jump.

Another thing about the characters in this game is that for the only time in the entire series for SSX, there's an al-star cast who do the voices. You have Lucy Liu who does Elise's voice, of Ally McBeal and Kill Bill fame, Billy Zane who does Brosi and is famous for his roles in Titanic and Twin Peaks, David Arquette who does Eddie, famous for his role in the Scream film series, and singers Bif Naked who plays Zoe and Macy Gray who plays Seeiah. This all-stellar cast of voice actors to a great job and add to each character's personality really well. It's arguably one of the best jobs done by a group of celebrities in a video game in honesty.

The controls are quite slick in SSX Tricky, and once again are an improvement on the original SSX. You can use the D-pad or the analog stick to move your character and can sort this out in the Settings menu to change it to your preferences. You move with either, and you flip or turn your board with the D-pad, and with the shoulder buttons you can grab your board. You can press multiple shoulder buttons to do more complicated grabs with your board, which usually give you more points. Combining a turn or flip, or both (to make your character twist diagonally) and multiple shoulder buttons gives you by far the most points apart from the Uber tricks available if you fill your boost bar to the top. Regardless of how many combos you do, how many flips and turns you include, it's important to make sure that your character is as vertical as possible for landing, otherwise your character wipes out on the course, making your score not count on that 'trick'.

If you're racing, you can knock characters over by pressing the analog stick either left or right depending where they are to your character. Be warned though, characters often target you for revenge in the races if you continue to attack them. But if you knock a character flat off their board by using this technique, you're rewarded with a full boost bar straight away which can be useful. Your characters also have relationships with each other - some are friends with you while others are your enemies. For instance, Psymon fancies Zoe, so they are considered friends. Luther is a bully and picks on the cute Kaori a lot, so they're enemies. Your relationships can get better or worse depending on your actions on the track, if you hit them a few times they'll target you in the next few races for revenge. On the grand scheme of things this isn't that important but it all adds to the game that is SSX Tricky.

One of the finest parts of SSX Tricky is the pretty damn good soundtrack. "It's Tricky" by Run DMC as mentioned before, is the title track of the game, and the original song and the remixed versions on the game all make the game that much better. It's a fabulous song and thoroughly works with the style of game SSX Tricky provides. There are also some good electronic dance and rap songs on the soundtrack too, and Bif Naked, also mentioned before, has a track on here. A few tracks by Mix Master Mike of the Beastie Boys are also featured, and Mix Master Mike is also a secret character in the game... if you use cheat codes. Over the gameplay are parts of commentary provided by Rahzel, who is a beatboxer, who does a fantastic job of putting over the action and doing some random beatboxing once in a while. He did a similar job in the original SSX too.

Luther (top right) is totally going to land that trick. Eddie's afro is impressive huh?

As you play through "World Circuit" you unlock snowboards and character costumes to customise your character's look. The snowboards are all in different shapes, and each character has a preferred board type. Some boards are best for tricks, others for races and some for in between. If a character uses a board they're unfamiliar with, they usually struggle a little more with this board, but do get access to a different set of Uber tricks if they fill their boost bar up. Once again it all adds to the game that is SSX Tricky. If you get a gold in every "Race" and "Showoff" track on "World Circuit", you unlock a chrome outfit, which looks pretty cool.

If you ever want to take a breather and try things out in your own time you can always use the "Practise" mode. You can do it in either a "Race" mode style, but without any other competitors on screen so you're taking the track on in your own time, or you can practise certain tricks on one large jump. The latter also includes a tutorial to help you do certain tricks that are compiled in each characters individual "Trick Book". The "Trick Book" is a tick sheet of sorts, to fill up to hone your skills of performing tricks. If you complete a character's "Trick Book" you unlock that character's best snowboard in the game.

Overall "SSX Tricky" is an amazing game. It pains me to know this game didn't sell very well. It's completely unjustified. For me, even 10 years later, "SSX Tricky" is by far not only the best SSX title in the series, but the best snowboarding game ever created. It mixes fine snowboarding racing, and over the top tricks. It has a brilliant soundtrack and the characters are all great and will appeal to lots of different players. "SSX Tricky" gets so many things right it's almost perfect. It really deserved more people to play this grand game, but with the new SSX game just coming out, at least new players will get a taste of a new, fresh title to play. But if you ever want to get a retro SSX title (I feel old typing that, it was 10 years ago though), this is the one to get. "SSX Tricky" trumps every snowboarding title out there before this release, and arguably, after.

Rating: ****1/2 stars

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Bitesize: #8

It's been four months since I did a Bitesize post. I don't try to do them too often, I'd rather do full articles, listings or reviews than to mix a few topics together into one post. I had intended on doing an article on my thoughts on The Undertaker vs Triple H for Wrestlemania again but it's getting a little late now and I haven't even started. But that will be a starting point for this Bitesize post.

In a nutshell (I would have delved more into this if it was the full article, but keeping short), have mixed feelings about Undertaker/HHH Part III. It's not about the quality of the match, but rather seeing the same spectacle yet again.

I loved Undertaker/HHH last year. It was fresh, the feud made sense and it was a cracking match. John Cena/CM Punk at Money in the Bank aside it was the match of 2011. I absolutely loved it. But this time round, what can they do that's different? Rumours are high that Shawn Michaels might be involved this year, probably as special guest referee. But why? What is to gain either way? It will be a great match yes, but for storyline purposes I just don't see why it should happen. If Shawn Michaels is involved as referee, it's bad no matter who wins. If Undertaker wins, and extends his Wrestlemania streak to 20-0 the streak still stands, and then what? I don't know if The Undertaker is actually planning on retiring if he hits 20-0, but if he is, why doesn't he have his last match against an up and coming guy? Or someone he hasn't wrestled at 'Mania before? And if Triple H wins, and the streak ends, then it makes Triple H look bad, for having to use Shawn Michaels in his corner to end the streak. And would The Undertaker retire then? Wouldn't it taint the streak a little this way? I don't know. I'm just not a fan of Taker/HHH Part III. If it happens it'll be a phenomenal match, quite likely the match of the card in terms of quality, but it just doesn't feel that good this time round, having done it last year and the storyline seeming a little stale.

What would I do instead? There is only one man that, schedules, contracts and agreements permitted, that would grab my attention for this match this year, and that is Brock Lesnar. I don't know how available Brock Lesnar is for a match at Wrestlemania, and if he would agree to it, but if it could happen, the WWE need to do everything in their power to MAKE it happen. Lesnar is finished in MMA, and it's possible he could come back to the WWE. He's never said never for coming back, and it would be a great pay-check for him if he came back. It would further boost the PPV in terms of star-power, proof of this is in Lesnar being the best box office draw in MMA by some distance in his time there. And of course, last year, an altercation occurred between Taker and Lesnar when Taker watched Lesnar lose his MMA bout against Cain Velasquez. It all depends on how available Lesnar is, and if he'd agree a match so soon. I reckon Lesnar could put on a good match at Wrestlemania. It's enough time between his last MMA fight, and with wrestling naturally being a lot less dangerous than MMA is, I'm sure The Undertaker, with his vast experience can protect him well enough for Lesnar not to get legitimately injured in the match. Lesnar is only 34 and was a phenomenal wrestler before he left the WWE, I reckon he could still go, and really well.

If Lesnar isn't available who else should take his place? I really don't know. For me, The Undertaker, at 19-0, and being so banged up that he can only have what seems like one match per year at the moment, he really needs to retire soon. It would have been better if The Undertaker took the year off, and then come back for one more match next year against John Cena. That is if Lesnar isn't available of course. John Cena has his hands tied with The Rock, so it's not an option this year. The Undertaker could have been inducted next year into the Hall of Fame, and Cena could challenge him when announced for induction. Hopefully Cena would be heel by then (we can all dream) and it would be a great match, completely fresh, and it would be The Undertaker's retirement match. Brock Lesnar and John Cena for me are the only two people who haven't challenged The Undertaker at Wrestlemania who are credible enough to take on the challenge.

Onto football now and Liverpool are in a good bout of form. We're taking on Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow and with Luis Suarez back as well, it's a big chance to make a big statement against the team currently in third place. I'll cover that match tomorrow on this site. Chelsea just drew today, and what with Arsenal and Newcastle winning, a win against Spurs would take us back to sixth, only two points behind Chelsea. It would be three points between the four teams fighting for fourth place, and we need to stay in this pack if we want Champions League football this year. Do I think we can get fourth place? Certainly. But it's really hard with Chelsea and Arsenal to battle against, and with Newcastle still arguably fighting above their weight, we have tough competition and need to continue with this vein of form to get there. I'm telling you now, a Carling Cup trophy and fourth place for me means an excellent season, coming on the back of our torrid season last year. And an FA Cup too? At this stage we can all dream.

As for replacing John Terry for the England captaincy? Steven Gerrard, simple. The man rarely lets the team down and while people might point at the World Cup as reason not to have Gerrard as captain, I think it'd be a tad unfair to put all the responsibility on Stevie G as the reason why England failed in that tournament. England weren't good enough and Germany were phenomenal. It's as simple as that. Rio Ferdinand has took himself out of the running due to the controversy that would occur if he was captain, what with Anton Ferdinand, his brother, being the reason behind John Terry being stripped from the captaincy for the second time. Gerrard has all the credentials and experience. It's the only option, in my opinion.

Onto games now. I just did my second Old School Game Review, reviewing the disappointingly forgotten Speedball 2. It was a great game and for some reason most people seemed to have forgotten about it. You can read that review here. Next on my list of games to review is Plants vs Zombies. I've been playing the PC version for years and recently downloaded the XBox Arcade version, so I'm still unsure what version I'll review. I'll probably compare the both, as there are differences between the two. I'll probably review that in the next week or two.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 was released on Friday. When it was announced I was really excited by it. I looked at the trailers and it looked quite interesting. The Japanese reviewed it last month when it was released there and gave it rave reviews. Then it was released in the US a few weeks ago and it got mixed reviews. It's amazing, the difference in opinion between the West and the East when it comes to RPG games. I've got to be honest, based on how many reviews I've read on the game from the States and the UK, it seems to be the same issues that we have with the game here in the West. I don't think I'm going to get the game for a while yet, mainly because I can't afford it, but also because the issues with the game are relevant and put me off slightly. I'll still get it, I'm a huge Final Fantasy fan and I've got pretty much every offline release they have done. I'll eventually get it, and of course, review it when I'm ready to. It will be a very long time from now mind. If you haven't' seen it already, I reviewed the original Final Fantasy XIII on this site, you can read that here.

In music, I'll be reviewing Florence and the Machine's "Ceremonials", probably on Wednesday. Also planned is Kasabian's "Velociraptor!" album, and PJ Harvey's "Let England Shake". I did the latest in my monthly "Yearly Music Review" on Wednesday just gone, reviewing the year 1993. You can read that here, it's a good read on what was a difficult year to review. I've been preparing 1992 recently and it's looking like a fabulous year in comparison. Look forward to reading that at the start of March.

Rumours are high that Marilyn Manson has retracted his February release date of "Born Villain". As I've said a few times, I'm planning a Marilyn Manson tribute on this site. It will begin the day the album comes out, and stretch for two or three weeks, ending in the review of the new album. It's a tribute I've been looking forward to doing, for one of my favourite music artists of all time. If you're a Manson fan I hope you'll love it too. I'm sure you will.

On a personal note, I'm sure you've noticed by now but I appeared on TV two weeks ago. I was "John II" on Winter Wipeout. I had an amazing time, and I documented my entire experience, with going to Argentina, meeting Amanda Byram, seeing how the show is done first hand and attempted the course itself, including the big red balls. To read all about it, in its 31,000 word glory, click here.

I reached 6,000 pageviews in a month for the first time last month. My website has been growing slowly but surely, and I'm really happy with the support I've been getting for it. I put a lot of effort into this and it's what I want to do long term and maybe as a profession one day. Thank you all so much for sharing an interest in what I do. I really appreciate it.

I'll end it on that. I hope you all enjoy your Sunday night and I hope to see you back here tomorrow when I cover the match between Liverpool and Tottenham. Take care!

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Old School Game Reviews: Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

Welcome to the second edition of the “Old School Game Review”. Last time I covered the classic Sega Mega Drive title, “Streets of Rage”, and you can read that review here. But while I’m sticking with the Sega Mega Drive, I’m taking a different route this time. I’m going to review a game you might not have heard of. This is a game called Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe.

Not familiar with the “Old School Game Review”? It’s basically a gift wrapped game review so in theory it’s nothing new. But what is different is that before I divulge into the review I talk about what makes this game so good, and some facts and memories the game gave me. Oh and what counts as an old school game? My ruling is the game has to be at least ten years old.

When did this game come out? 1990

What console was it released on? Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

What else was it released on? Atari ST, Amiga, Amiga CD32, PC, Commodore 64, NES, Sega Master System, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance.

Compilations? None really.

Other interesting facts? Quite a lot of people who have played this way weren’t actually sure if there was an original Speedball game. The original didn’t sell well outside the UK at all despite being well received. There in fact is a Speedball one although the game was not quite as good as this sequel. Speedball came out on the Amiga but was also ported to the NES, the Master System and the PC.

Best memories? I love the fact that I borrowed this game from a friend, and that friend aside (who I haven’t spoken to for years), I have yet to hear one person hear of this game personally. I loved taking my team which was slowly built up through the season, kick some ass and struggle to win the league with a patched up side. Then if you won the league or won the playoff, you’d do it all over again but it was even more difficult in the first division!

Now onto the review!

Speedball 2 is a forgotten relic; a fictional sports game that’s solid and has more depth to it than most genuine sports games can capacitate.

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe was released in 1990 on the Sega Mega Drive (or Genesis for you Americans). It’s the official sequel to the sparsely heard of “Speedball”, which was released a year earlier on the Amiga, that was well received in the United Kingdom but barely received attention off these British Isles. Speedball 2 was released on the next generation Mega Drive, which naturally had improved graphics and the game took advantage of this and the other components that made it a much more powerful game console.

Speedball 2 is a fictional sports game set in 2105, and takes place ten years after the beginning of Speedball as a ‘sport’ where there is violence and chaos everywhere, the game is abandoned to the underground. In 2105, they try to revive the sport and all its vicious and bloody glory. The game has two divisions of eight teams and you take control of Brutal Deluxe, a new team on the scene just starting out. Your team is the weakest of the bottom division and it’s your job to either boost your current squad’s abilities to compete with the rest of the division, or to replace them with already established players that are available randomly on transfer.

So what type of sports game is Speedball? Well, in a nutshell, it’s a mixture of handball, hockey, rugby and football. It’s 9 players against 9, which consist of a goalie, two defenders, three midfielders, two wingers and a forward. The idea is to throw the ball in the other team’s goal. Sounds easy, but this is a game where violence is at the essence and is also rewarded. You can violently tackle other players and punch them, and if a player gets injured you get the points equivalent of a goal. The best way to pass the ball around is by throwing it from one player to another, although the opposition can easily intercept. You can run past players if you’re fast enough but they can tackle you. It’s a tough game.

You get points for injuring the opposition. He's bleeding by the way. Brutal.

Scoring starts at 10 points per goal but there are perks across the field that affect your scoring. On the two sides of the middle of the arena are multipliers, putting the ball through it once multiplies scoring by 150%, a second time will boost it to 200%, totalling at 15 and 20 points per goal respectively. On the sides of the arena are five stars, one side belongs to one team and one to the other. If you throw the ball at a star, you get one fifth of a goal (2 points, boosted to 3 or 4 with multipliers. Getting all five starts gives you the full equivalent of a goal, and the stars reset. Also note that if your opposite player throws the ball at your stars, or in the multipliers, it retracts the last bonus. Near both goals is a green circular object that each time you hit, gives you one fifth of a goal (once again 2, 3 or 4 points depending on the multiplier) but these points cannot be retracted unlike the stars and the multipliers. To emphasise the violence of the game, towards the end walls of the goal are buttons that heat the ball up intensely and you can throw it at your opposition, scorching them (for some reason it doesn’t scorch your players, but that logic can be overlooked). Also to reiterate, you get a goal equivalent of points if you injure an opposition member, so that can be a tactic if your team is strong enough to break the opposition down.

So with all these methods and perks to attempt to increase your score, you simply, have to score more than your opposition to win. But Speedball is hard. It’s a very hard game, especially as you start as the weakest team in your division. To make matters worse, you have to score quickly; the game is two halves of 90 seconds. While Speedball is a hard game it’s thoroughly enjoyable. I find it a lot more fun to play this game than most real life sports games. And while it’s violent, it doesn’t do it in a way that is tasteless, because the game is 2D and is viewed from above the arena; you see very little of what happens on the field that way.

There are other perks to. Randomly, items will be placed on the field that can temporarily boost speed or power, give the ball to your forward instantly, give the ball who got the item instantly, freeze all players on the spot temporarily, or instantly make all players fall over on the spot. Lastly, you can find coins that is used to purchase players in the League or boost your current squad’s abilities.

The main game mode is the league, as explained above. You start off as the weakest team and can build your players up to be competent, or, as a quick fix, purchase players on transfer. Either way you have to build your team to be competent and quickly – if you don’t place in the top two at the end of the season it’s game over. It’s hard but it’s a great challenge if you’re willing to take it. To get coin, you have to collect coins that are randomly placed on the arena floor in the match. I believe there’s a coins boost for winning matches too, although I’m not too sure about the technicalities of that. Either way, you find coin on the arena, collect it. You’ll need it to boost your team. Trust me, you don’t want to try and take on the league with your team the way it starts. If you get to second place at the end of the season, which is 14 games (you play all the teams twice, like in football), you’ll have a playoff match with the team that finished seventh in the top league. The team placed seventh in the top league is usually a tougher team that won the league, so it’s a tough match to go through. Winning the league is the easier route, as you then automatically gain promotion to the top league. The top league is much harder than the second league, all the teams play at a high tempo and hit you hard. You’ll once again be the weakest team in the division, but you’ll have the chance to further boost your squad again and have access to even better players than you did in the bottom league. You’ll have to win this league or its game over. Either way, the game ends at the end of the second season. You can also play the League mode like a manager; watch the games unfold and purchase or build your team up yourself, although this is no where near as fun (and it's much more difficult) as playing the game itself.

Playing League mode is a lot of fun, this is your starting line up, but you can buy better (and cooler looking) players later on.

The points structure in the league is quite simple. If you win a game you get ten points in the league. But you also get bonus points based on your tally for each match, you get one point for every 10 points scored in the match. For instance, if you win a match 52-16, you get 10 points for winning that match, and 5 more points for scoring more than 50 points. The opposition would get 1 point for scoring more than 10 points in that match. So basically it’s okay to lose matches, providing that you score a lot of goals. The top sides in both divisions score loads against the weaker sides, so you need to be capable of scoring high against these sides to compete as well. Winning 14 games out of 14 games doesn’t mean you win the league, because that will give you 140 points, but if you win each game 8-0 rather than 80-0, that’s a large difference (140 points, where as 14 x 8 is 112, giving you a tally of 252 points, a lot more). So win games and score lots, and you’ll be fine. Scoring lots and not always winning is also fine, but don’t depend on just winning.

There are other modes as well. There’s the Cup, which puts you in two legged matches against random teams from the second division. Other the course of these two matches you need a better total tally than your opponent and then you’re through to the next round. You take on three second division teams and then a team from the top division, usually one of the elite sides of that division. In these matches you also have to collect coin, although you can’t purchase players in this competition, meaning you have to boost your players with the coin you collect on the field. The Cup mode is okay, but it’s not a very balanced competition; you have three relatively decent sides and then put against one of the best sides in the game for the final. You’ll find more balance however, in the Knockout mode. In this mode you basically take on each side individually in order of difficulty, and if you lose once you’re out. Once again you cannot purchase players in this game, but have to boost your original squad with the coin you find. This game is arguably harder than the cup because of the fact that you’re depending much more on the coin you find than in the league. But it’s a thoroughly rewarding game mode as well. Lastly there’s a practise mode, which is not very good, as there’s no opposition. You take to the field on your own and can pass the ball around and score in an empty net.

The controls of Speedball are very simple. You only control one player at a time. All the other players are controlled by AI. If your player is off screen, you’re in control of another player afterwards. So if you’re in midfield and the opposition have the ball and start to attack your defence, you’ll probably start controlling a defender or a goalie. You can press any of the action buttons (A, B or C) to tackle if you haven’t got the ball. Once you have the ball, you use the D-pad to move and pressing any of the actions will throw the ball. You can throw it low or high, a low throw is quick but easy for an opponent to intercept. A high throw can take out an entire line of formation if thrown forwards, and your player (or an opposition player) can catch it on its way down to the ground. So you simply throw the ball to players, to arena perks or to the goal. If you haven’t got the ball you tackle the opposition, or if the ball is thrown into the air, try to catch it. As I said, the controls are very simple and easy to learn, but the game itself is difficult to master. Also be aware that the arena is closed off, there’s no out of bounds area and throwing the ball at the wall bounces it back into play and can be used to your advantage.

For its time, the music, while not having many songs, is quite good. The songs are basically some techno beats, to emphasise the futuristic setting of the game. The sounds are also fine, the tacking songs sound harsh, the throwing of the ball sounds reasonably realistic and because the players are all wearing metal protection and the walls and floor are metal, there are a lot of metallic sound effects which all add to the atmosphere nicely. Also you have an announcer saying “Get ready” after a goal has been scored, or the start of a new half, which is nice, and when you score you get a buzzer noise, followed by the same guy saying “Replay!”, and the build up and goal done in slow motion, which all add to the game. There is a multiplayer option available on the game, but it’s just a simple match between you and a friend. You have a certain budget of coin to spend to boost your players’ skills to, and you and your friend can do this in your own ways. Otherwise it’s just a plain one on one match between you and your friend; there are no league or cup options or anything like that, which is a shame.

I love the celebration guy. It's the same guy. With the same palette colour. Every time.

Overall Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe is an often overlooked game that deserves more merit than it has. I’m not saying it’s the best sports game of all time, but I will however say that it’s possibly the best fictional sport game ever made – there aren’t many of them around and this game does a solid job of making a fake sport interesting. I always thought that the premises for Speedball 2 would make a very good film; it has the violence, the passion, the energy and believability of a real life sport and would make a fine story to be told on a cinema screen. The game being done in the underground would also add to the dirty, filthy almost coliseum-like element the game has.

This is true praise of the game. For a game that came out over 20 years ago on a console limited in comparison to today’s standards, Speedball 2 does a lot. It’s frenetic, it’s difficult, it’s a tough game but it’s more than playable. It’s a great game. It’s such a shame that reboots of this game have been unsuccessful, it’s not because it’s a bad game (although the reboots have never touched the quality this game had), it’s because, well, how do you market a fictional sport? People aren’t interested in these type of games, not anymore. In the Mega Drive/Genesis era people were interested in innovation and ‘different’ games, nowadays all people want to do is shoot stuff. If they like sports games they’ll pick a replica of a real life sport done on video game. Speedball 2 is lost as a forgotten relic and it’s a damn shame.

If you have your old Mega Drive/Genesis and have never played this game and enjoy the sound of it based on this review, seriously, get it. In the UK at least you can find copies very cheap on Amazon, and I doubt it’s much different in other countries. The game sold relatively well back 21 years ago, so that’s not an issue. Sustainability is. But if you’re bored, want to play a retro game that you’ve never played before, give it a go. I implore you. Because to me, Speedball 2 is a forgotten relic; a fictional sports game that’s solid and has more depth to it than most genuine sports games can capacitate, and it simply doesn’t get the credit it deserves.

Rating: ****1/4 stars

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Old School Game Reviews: Streets of Rage

Welcome to a new section of the website called the “Old School Game Review”. Now this is basically a gift wrapped game review so in theory it’s nothing new, but what is different is that before I divulge into the review I’m going to talk about what makes this game so good, and some facts and memories the game gave me. Oh and what counts as an old school game? My ruling is the game has to be at least ten years old. So the inaugural “Old School Game Review” is the classic, Streets of Rage.

When did this game come out? August 1991

What console was it released on? Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

What else was it released on? Sega Game Gear, Sega CD, Sega Master System, Nintendo Wii, iPhone

Compilations? It’s appeared on “Mega Games II”, “Sega Genesis/Mega Drive 6-Pak” and “Mega 6” for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, “Sega Classics Arcade Collection” for the Sega Mega CD and the “Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection” on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (which I reviewed here)

Other interesting facts? It’s considered the spiritual successor to the “Golden Axe” series. Its spiritual successor is considered “Fighting Force”, which didn’t sell well and flopped on the Playstation and Nintendo 64. After Streets of Rage III, no other game in the series has officially been made.

Why review this game? It’s probably the first multiplayer I absolutely fell in love with. It was one of the first games I ever played on the Sega Mega Drive, as part of the “Mega 6” mentioned earlier. I have some absolutely golden memories playing this with my two sisters when I was a wee child.

Best memories? I remember the first time got to Mr X with my sister and we chose different options to join his syndicate. If you didn’t know, if you play two-player and get to this stage and choose different options, you get the bad ending. You then have to fight each other and the survivor gets the option again, if you choose not to join the syndicate, it doesn’t matter, it gives you the bad ending regardless. The first time I got the bad ending, with the horrible ending music and the sprite of your character sitting in the chair looking into your soul from the TV gave me chills. Of course, that and beating the crap into your sister on games was always fun and there was a lot of doing that I promise you!

Now onto the review!

Streets of Rage packs a mighty punch as a game on top of its generation.

Streets of Rage was released in August 1991, making it twenty years old. Two years earlier Sega had released Golden Axe; a side-scrolling beat ‘em up that was set in a medieval fantasy land with monsters and warriors. While the game was successful, there was an idea to have a similar game in a modern setting. That’s where Streets of Rage came in.

The game is set in a high-energy city that was once nice and peaceful, but has recently fell under the control of a criminal syndicate. The damage and effect on the city was so big even the police had their hands tied. Violence and crime was rife and no one could do anything there. Three police officers try to take control on an attack in the city. But the police didn’t want a special unit to disrupt the syndicate’s activities. In disgust, they hand their badges in and decide to take matters into their own hands. On their own, the three ex-police officers, with brute force and firsts, take on the syndicate to bring the city’s control back to the people.

The three ex-police officers are the three characters available for choice in the game. They all vary in fighting style, jump abilty and speed. First there’s Adam, who’s got a boxing background and is the strongest character in the game and can jump well. To compensate, he’s also the slowest. There’s then Blaze, who has a judo background, who is the quickest character but compensates it for being the weakest. Axel is the third character with a martial arts background, and is of medium strength and speed, but is a poor jumper. All three characters are useful in different ways and are very well balanced.

This is some party.

The game’s controls are simple. Moving with the D-pad, you simply press one of the eight directions you wish your character to move to and they will move on the terrain in the direction you choose. You press “B” to attack an enemy in front of you, and rapidly to do a combo. If you walk towards your enemy and latch onto them, you can apply a grappling body attack. If you grab them from behind you can suplex them backwards. To jump you press the “C” button, and combine it with either moving left or right to jump in either direction. Combining a jump and an attack is also simple, press “C” to jump and then “B” to kick them mid-air. If you press the “C” button when you have hold of an enemy, you can jump over them, either forwards to backwards or vice versa, to suplex them or pummel them, depending what way you’re facing them. If you are grappling them, pressing the “B” button and the opposite direction to which you are facing to throw them behind you, possibly throwing them into multiple enemies.

As well as melee attacks you can also use weapons. To pick up weapons simply press the “B” button when directly above one. Weapons vary from baseball bats to knives and vary in use; bats can reach enemies from further away but knives can be thrown.

That leaves one button on the Sega Mega Drive controller, which is the “A” button. This is your special attack, one that you get automatically per life you have, or you can pick them up on a very rare occasion otherwise. Your special attack calls on a secret member of the police force who is discretely supporting the three ex-cops, and shoots from afar; either with a large missile launcher or a heavy duty machine gun. Both of these actions do the same thing, which is basically wiping the screen completely of enemies. The exception is the bosses, and instead it takes a chunk of their health.

This is an even better party!

Streets of Rage has eight levels, which you progress from left to right in typical side-scrolling fashion. There are different enemies on route, with different levels of health and difficulty. Also on your way are breakable items, for instance, the first level is the street, and here you can find telephone boxes to break. On the fourth level is a bridge, and you can find cones lying around which you can break. In these items are different things, either apples or steaks that give you a health increase, the former less than the latter that brings your health to the max. There’s also bags of cash, other weapons, and on rare occasions, extra lives or extra uses of your special. After side scrolling to the end of the level a boss will appear. These bosses are large in size and pack a punch. Bosses have their own fighting style and increase in difficulty as you progress through the game. On some of the later levels you may have to fight bosses multiple times throughout the level.

The one thing that has always stood out about Streets of Rage is the fantastic soundtrack. Every level has its own track that fits perfectly with its design and the boss music is absolutely brilliant too. All the games in the Streets of Rage series has good music but for me personally neither sequel has beat the first for quality. Aside from the music, the sound is as good as any Mega Drive title; the enemies give out cries when they are defeated and the sounds that are made when you attack and are attacked are different. I wouldn’t say it’s realistic, I mean this was 1991, but the idea is there and it sounds good enough.

...the party is not so fun anymore.

To finalise, Streets of Rage is one of the best games of its generation. Yes the second game improved on the foundations this game set, but back in 1991 there was nothing better than this. Streets of Rage still brings great satisfaction and enjoyment today, in a time were complexity and graphics are considered favourable. The game is great if you’re playing on your own and takes around an hour to complete, but it’s even better with a friend. If you’ve never played this game before, you’re missing out, get a copy, you can find it quite cheap in many different places. Or get the “Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection”, which features this and the other two titles in the series, amongst its 40+ game collection, which you can find for less than £15 in some places. Streets of Rage packs a mighty punch as a game on top of its generation.

Rating: ****1/2 stars

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