After all these years, Speedball still works. But not for long.
But after a while the cracks start to show. For example, the age old sports game problem of automatic player selection is a pain here: the game decides which your active player is based on proximity to the ball, but its idea of who you want to control is not always the same as yours. AI is pretty rudimentary. The possibilities of developing different tactics seem very limited.
The biggest problem is that there isn’t really a learning curve. So, after a couple of practice and quick match sessions, I started a Cup competition, and got caned. After four hours of playing other modes, I went back to Cup… and got caned again, just as badly. It seems that your speed of reactions are the key factor affecting how well you do, and experience and practice with the game don’t make much difference. That is a little unsatisfying. It’s especially unsatisfying if you’re old enough to remember loving the original Speedball, because the odds are your reactions aren’t what they were!
That sounds very negative, but it isn’t intended to be. Speedball is still more genuinely engaging than many retro games, and for 800 points there’s enough fun here to make it feel like value for money. I had about 5 hours fun out of the title before it started to grate, and I’m sure I’ll go back to it again a few dozen more times for quick action blasts.
It makes a good alternative to Geometry Wars if you want a short action fix, with added nostalgia.