Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (Xbox 360)

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Description

Brutal Deluxe doesn't live up to their name - in fact they're the worst team Speedball has ever seen. As their manager, it is your job to transform their fortunes. As well as the league system, which consists of 2 8-team divisions and challenges you to advance to the top, there are also 2 cup tournaments, one of which is played out over 2 'legs' with the aggregate score deciding who progresses.

You can play the matches as well, which is the real meat of the game. They consist of 2 90-second periods, and the gameplay is futuristic, fast and frantic, with heavy tackling encouraged to retrieve the ball. Power-ups and tokens appear on the pitch, including ones to make your players extra-tough or freeze the opponents.

The sides of the pitch each include a score multiplier, which you can run the ball through to increase the value of your scoring - the opposition can sometimes immediately grab the ball and nullify this. There are also 5 stars which are worth 2 points each if you hit them (more if you have the multiplier activated), but these can also be cancelled out by the opposition hitting the same star, and their points values only become set after the half. Next to the stars there are 'portals' which throw the ball out the opposite side of the pitch, in the direction it was going.

You get money for the results, and by collecting the silver tokens which appear on the pitch at random intervals. Between each match you can spend these either on improving your existing players as far as they can go, or on buying better ones and fitting them into the team. Your original players can only be improved to a certain extent, so remembering where your signed players are and making use of them is important.

A variety of tokens also appear during the match, some of which boost your team's power for a short period of time, and one freezes the opposition.

Screenshots

Alternate Titles

• "Speed Ball II" -- DOS Kixx release media title
• "Speedball 2" -- Master System title

Part of the Following Groups

• Speedball series
• Theme: Future sports / Brutal sports

User Reviews

There are no reviews for the Xbox 360 release of this game. You can use the links below to write your own review or read reviews for the other platforms of this game.

The Press Says

Console Monster	2007	82 out of 100	82
Eurogamer.net (UK)	Oct 18, 2007	8 out of 10	80
TeamXbox	Oct 24, 2007	7.6 out of 10	76
Planet Xbox 360	2007	7.1 out of 10	71
Games Radar	Oct 24, 2007	7 out of 10	70
Gamernode	Oct 04, 2007	6 out of 10	60
IGN	Oct 26, 2007	5.8 out of 10	58
MS Xbox World	2007	5.5 out of 10	55
Gamers' Temple, The	2007	54 out of 100	54
Gaming Nexus	Jan 31, 2008	C	50

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Amiga version of Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Version differences

The Genesis port is a very quiet port, a lot of sound effects have been left out. The MegaDrive version that went out in Japan had silver and gold teams rather than red and blue.

Awards

• Amiga Power
  • April 1991 - #3 Best Amiga Game of All Time
  • May 1992 - #3 Best Amiga Game of All Time
  • May 1993 - #4 Best Amiga Game of All Time
  • May 1994 - #3 Best Amiga Game of All Time
• Retro Gamer
  • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #43 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)
• ST Format
  • January 1993 (issue #42) - #31 in '50 finest Atari ST games of all time' list

Information also contributed by Graeme Boxall and Martin Smith

Related Web Sites

• Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe (Bitmap Brothers' site for Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe.)
• www.gods-country.de (The Bitmap Brothers tribute page for this game)