Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe never really divided gamers. It was pretty much unanimously considered one of the Amiga’s finest games. This makes it a valued property of the public domain, and any attempt to bring the concept up to date is liable to be met with confrontation (as the HD version on XBLA discovered).

Fortunately, having Mike Montgomery at the helm (one of the founding Bitmap Brothers and developer of the original Speedball games) relieved much of the potential for disaster, and now that Tournament has finally arrived, sighs of relief are being heard all around the metal clad arena. Speedball 2 – Tournament, fans will be glad to hear, preserves the shin-hacking, bone-crunching designer sport gameplay of the original with reverence and fortitude.

Naturally, the game’s gone 3D, although this doesn’t appear to have been done merely for the sake of it. The polygonised characters and futuristic stadium now allows for greater on-pitch involvement and more fluid animation, and deepens the sensation of actually watching a blood sport playing out in the polished sheen of a futuristic pit. Speedball 2 was always replete with cavernous atmosphere, and Tournament certainly hasn’t overlooked the vital background importance such apparently small details make to the overall experience.

Where Tournament really makes technological headway, therefore, is not in the replication of the Brutal Deluxe gameplay or ambience, but in a new, previously unachievable online community. Tournament attempts to lift Speedball out of the single player (or, at best, one-on-one game) arena and craft it into a genuine, worldwide league: a literal sport with amateurs, professionals and legions of rabid fans.

Currently, the dedicated servers are still bolstering up support and understanding from the brand new Speedball players, so it’s a little early to say whether or not the Bitmap’s awesome 17-year old (if you can believe that! I got that game the day it came out. How old does that make me, I wonder?) concept will finally realise its own prophecy and become the massively supported underground designer sport it was meant to be.

There appear to be a few kinks to iron out in terms of online play - mainly in the region of the central hub. A Frogster account is required, although there’s no obvious way to set one up in-game, meaning you must find the site manually, sign up (for free, though) and then go back to Speedball and get yourself into the rather sparse, clumsy public area. This isn’t a significant problem, just a minor inconvenience, and one that’s sure to be rectified as the game fully catches on (which this reviewer feels it undoubtedly will), so no points lost on that account as yet.

There’s also a raised eyebrow in terms of game control which, back in the day, was perfectly supported by a digital joystick and single fire button and is now controlled using four different action buttons. While a few hours of gameplay rain your fingers quite adequately, it does make one wonder if there really needs to be such extensive commands on a Speedball joypad.

But there is a refined system of passing the Speedball and player selection which is most welcome and completely unachievable using the old Amiga controls, but the number of missed button-presses that cost a game often get a little exasperating. And you can forget entirely about playing Tournament on a keyboard – the sheer number of fingers required to manage a team (whose formation can be adjusted in real time as the teams tear around the blood sport pit) makes it a non-started before the game even begins, so make sure you’ve got a decent joypad for your PC before taking to the Bitmap’s brutal pitch.

To close, it’s worth mentioning that Speedball 2 – Tournament actually weighs in at five quid lighter than the 1990 original which, when taking 17 yeasr of inflation into account, makes it a bargain by default. If £19 is too much for a game that provides a thrilling, dynamic designer-sport  violence fix as Speedball 2 – Tournament delivers, I’ll eat my own teeth (voluntarily – not as part of the exciting gameplay, of course).
Why wouldn’t you buy Speedball 2 – Tournament? There’s no reason I can think of.