Speedball 2 : Brutal Deluxe, développé par les fameux Bitmap Brothers, est sorti en 1990 sur Atari ST, puis sur Amiga et une ribambelle de supports, y compris les plus obscurs (Amiga CD32, Acorn Archimedes…).
C’est une simulation de sport futuriste, une sorte de hand ball avec comme « petite » différence qu’il est possible, voir conseillé, de blesser ses adversaires (cela rapporte autant de points que de marquer des buts !). Sur le terrain on trouve quelques obstacles, comme des bumpers ou un tourniquet. Le gameplay est très simple, puisqu’adaté à un joystick avec un seul bouton : on attrape la balle automatiquement, on peut tirer, cogner, sauter… Et avec cette très simple recette, on obtient un résultat d’une redoutable efficacité. En solo, on peut participer à un championnat, et même gérer son équipe en réalisant des transferts et en améliorant leur équipement.
L’ambiance du jeu fait fortement penser au film Rollerball. L’original, pas la version charcutée par les producteurs et réalisée par McTiernan. Au passage, ce film de 1975 réalisé par Norman Jewison et avec James Caan reste un superbe film, et tous ceux qui l’ont vu ont gardé en tête le fameux « JONATHAN – JONATHAN ». Bref, je m’égare. Une fois de plus on constate que ce sont les recettes simples qui fonctionnent le mieux, et surtout qui traversent les époques (ce que Rocket League a tout à fait compris !). Ainsi, derrière ce gameplay basique se cache un jeu qui demande véritablement du skill : si on rate une action, le mouvement du personnage continue, laissant des brèches géantes dans notre défense. Après quelques parties, on se surprend à avoir de petits protégés dans l’équipe, et on développe son style de jeu. Certains sont ultra-agressifs et vont rechercher la baston, d’autres vont appliquer des schémas de jeu proches du football, en tentant des percées pour « centrer », d’autres vont privilégier le jeu de passes rapides… Quel que soit le style, il devient vite nécessaire d’apprendre à jouer avec les rebonds de la balle sur les murs, une technique très efficace pour « dribbler ».
Naturellement, à deux joueurs, le jeu devient frénétique ! Très vite on enchaîne les parties, pour faire la revanche, puis la revanche de la revanche, puis la belle, puis la revanche de la belle, puis la belle de la revanche de la belle. Speedball 2 a tout de même pris un petit coup de vieux, mais vous devriez y jeter un œil, par exemple sur la version Megadrive. Et franchement, je signerais des 2 mains pour un Speedball 3 reprenant exactement le même concept et remis au goût du jour.
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The Bitmap Brothers released many of their best titles for the Amiga computer, but among their most famous and best remembered games is Speedball 2 : Brutal Deluxe. Along with Doom and Lemmings, Speedball 2 is one of the few titles that continues to be updated, re-worked and re-released on modern platforms (although not always for the better).
Influenced by the 1975 film Rollerball, Speedball 2 is the sequel to the original (and much less known) Speedball, a hyper-violent sport similar to Rugby/American Football that pits two teams of armoured grunts against each other. The objective is to score points by throwing a large, steel ball into the goal of the opposing team whilst preventing the opposing team from scoring.
This might sound simple, but the reality is anything but when you realise that there are no rules. Players can punch, kick and otherwise reduce each other to quivering piles of viscera, much to the delight of the cheering crowd.
The game features a range of game modes, including league (shown here), knockout and cup matches to work through. The objective is to take on the management of new kid on block, Brutal Deluxe, and bring some serious silverware to their trophy cabinet.
Before each game, the player has the opportunity to improve statistics of each team member, thus making them more effective in the arena. Improving player stats makes a noticeable improvement to how the players handle and it’s impressive that you can upgrade on a per-player basis, as well as targetting whole groups and the whole team in one go. Boosting the team costs money, so coins must be collected during each match to keep the kitty topped up.
Once training is complete, the actual game begins and that’s when the blood starts spilling. The ball is fire into the arena by a central cannon and both teams must fight for possession, literally. Once controlled, the player must throw the ball over the goal-line of the opposing team, all the while making sure that the opponent doesn’t wrest control of the ball and score themselves.
As well as scoring goals, points can be scored by hitting pinball-like bonus bumpers, or by hitting star panels in the walls of the arena. Players can choose to risk the opportunity to boost their scoring potential by throwing the ball into the score multiplier loops located at either side of the arena.
Points are extremely important as every ten points scored during a match equate to one point being added the league score. This means that victory isn’t assured simply by winning matches ; it would be quite possible to lose the majority of league and still win the league by having a few extremely higher-scoring games.
On a technical level, perhaps the most remarkable thing about the game is the artificial intelligence. The CPU players tackle and pass the ball with ruthless efficiency, plus they make full use of the bonus multipliers and will collect coins and power-ups. Unfortunately, your team mates are actually quite dumb until you upgrade the intelligence stat ; do not neglect it !
The artwork and graphics produced by Dan Malone are simply superb. The cold, steely greys of the arena, the armoured bodysuits of the players and the actual ball look incredible. Just how all the artwork, sound and game was packed into a single 720k floppy disk is unbelievable.
The sound effects in the game are fantastic. From the cheers of the crowd to the clanging of the ball against the walls of the arena, the game simply oozes ambience and really conveys the impression of playing inside a stadium in front of a roaring crowd. One of the greatest and most memorable touches is the cries of « Ice-cream ! Ice-cream » from the vendor in the stands.
Despite the fondness that most people have for the game, it’s far from perfect. I had huge problems with the control scheme and the way the game decides which player is currently active, which led to several vocal outbursts during recording.
The CPU decides to change the player you’re controlling at the most inopportune moments, which regularly results in sending your players in completely the wrong direction. The worst time for this to occur is when the opposing team is near your goal-line, resulting you accidentally moving the goalie and leaving the goal wide open.
The second big issue I had with the game was that, until you upgrade your team, you will play many games against other teams that are grossly overpowered compared to yours. These games end up being less about winning and more about minimising just how bad a loss you will suffer. When the teams are evenly matched then the game can be completely thrilling, but it remains extremely frustrating until that point.
Despite problems, Speedball 2 deserves it’s status one of the classic games in the Amiga library.
! c’est génial de pouvoir se remémorer des jeux aux quels nous avons passé de super moments à jouer ensemble en VS à tour de rôle...
