Brutal Sports Football

Other Titles:
Crazy Football
Maker:
Millennium
Year:
1993
Systems:
Amiga (CD32) / Amiga (OCS) / PC (DOS) / PC (VGA)
Genres:
Sport / Action
Tags:
Misc. Fantasy / Fighting / Multiplayer / Team Sports
Language:
English
Median Rating:
4/5

Thoughts by Mr Creosote (13 Aug 2022) – Amiga (CD32)

You would think that a landmark game such as Speedball 2 should have inspired more imitations. Though it actually took a couple of years until the first serious one appeared. Released in late 1993 and updated for AGA in mid-1994, Brutal Sports Football was celebrated by the local British press, but broadly shunned in the German magazines. Very likely, the latter ones had a suspicion it would not be treated favourably by the censors responsible for the protection of minors.

Vikings versus lizardmen
Vikings versus lizardmen

Played on a field reminiscient of American Football and using a similarly shaped ball which has to be moved into the opponent’s team’s goal area, this is where the similarities actually end. Scoring goals is just one way to win the game; the other being the decapitation of the opponent’s players. At the end of the match, both goals scored and “headers” are translated into prize money which then needs to be used to revive or heal one’s own dead or injured players.

Conveniently, weapons are scattered across the playing field. A sword obviously being more effective in drawing blood than a regular punch. Power-ups randomly appear as well, ranging from temporary speed upgrades to freaky lightnings striking everyone down who comes close. Even in the way of weaponless fighting, jumping tackles (easy to perform) and close punches (necessary for decapitation) are distinguished.

Header!
Header!

The ways to fight spruced up, gameplay focus shifts considerably towards this aspect. Whereas Speedball 2 had player injuries by exhausting their health bar, it mostly occured as a side effect there. Brutal Sports Football not just allows for following such a strategy, but it strongly encourages to do so. Although enemy teams do place differently on the typical trade-off scale between “fast, but weak” and “slow, but strong”, the most reliable way to win is always to go for annihilation.

Appropriately, the sports part is rather basic. The few moves possible in Speedball 2 (low pass, high pass + aftertouch) could actually be used to perform beautiful combinations between the players there. Although low and high pass are available in Brutal Sports Football as well, the lacking team artificial intelligence and the generally chaotic running about the field of absolutely everyone makes a successful string of passes a rare, mostly random event. In spite of a “radar” view of the overall playing field.

Even score, time almost up, all players exhausted
Even score, time almost up, all players exhausted

All this makes the game into what can be called a team brawler where there just happens to be a ball bouncing around instead of a bona fide sports game. More than one match has been won by just dropping that ball in a corner, picking up a sword and simply slaughtering all approaching players.

Accepting it for what it is, it is rather great! Graphics and animations are as good as the musical score. Even scrolling is finally sort of fluid in the AGA version. Selectable control schemes offer something for everyone and would have graced even some otherwise superior games. The ultra-cynic tone and the exaggeratedly spurting blood certainly help keeping players at a healthy mental distance from what’s going on there on the screen. Most importantly, the fighting model is simple to pick up, yet just enough to make for some nice moments of (positive) frustration or triumph when a head comes off. Payoff is obviously much greater when playing another human controlled team.

Hey, that's unfair!
Hey, that’s unfair!

The one thing which could have made it last longer (apart from improving the actual sports part, of course) is the balancing. Even in league mode where losing one match should never be a big deal, interrupting the winning streak can actually lead to an unstoppable downwards spiral. Not even much of a spiral, in fact, but rather a crash into an abyss from which there is no escape. Prize money directly tied to scoring, a defeat often means that the team cannot be fully restored, decreasing the chances to win the next match. Newsflash: once again, The Bitmap Brothers were smarter, decoupling this.

Though then, the way to enjoy Brutal Sports Football is really to decouple it from expectations raised by its obvious inspiration and see it as a good game on its own right. After all, in spite of its similarities on the surface, it does play quite differently. The anarchic brawling is rewarding and after all, even the ball isn’t completely useless. Just decapitate the enemy goalkeeper and then score goal after goal after goal and you’ll see ;)

Archived Thoughts

Thoughts by Mr Creosote (26 Feb 2000) – PC

In contrary to the potential expectations considering the name, Brutal Sports Football does not have very much in common with soccer or football (or even sports). Some elements have been adopted, though. Two teams try to put a ball into the enemy’s goal while guarding their own.

The specific “rules” are completely different. That means almost everything is allowed. You can run as far as you want and get with the ball in your hands. The enemy tries to stop you by hitting, kicking, using swords or even flame and bomb throwing at you. This violence can also be used as a reason for itself: Instead of scoring more goals than the other team, you can kill all enemy players in the preset time. That is done by reducing their energy to almost nothing and then beheading them bloodily.

There are different kinds of teams and you should change your strategy according to them. If the enemy has very fast, but weak players that score all the time, you should rather kill them all. If you play a team of musculous dragons instead, you should avoid direct contact as far as possible.

In the match different power-ups appear from time to time. These can be collected and then be activated when needed. For example you can freeze all enemy players for a few seconds or strike them down with lightnings. If you are not careful though, you sometimes get disadvantages like temporary slowness.

According the game’s result you are paid some money afterwards that is used to heal/resurrect your hurt players. That works quite simple because they are supposed to be androids. If you lack the money to heal them all completely, you can as likely give up. So this option seems to be more than it really is. You have to restore your whole team completely in any case.

The common game modes exist: League, Knockout and single game (“Unfriendly”). There are no differences in the game itself.

It is almost impossible to describe why Brutal Sports Football is good. It is just fun! The simple concept is very approachable, but it is demanding later. You cannot play it for month, of course, but it motivates you for some weeks. And which new game can claim that?

Files

Play

Screenshots

Amiga (CD32)

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Amiga (OCS)

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Box

Amiga (CD32)

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Amiga (OCS)

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Videos

Gameplay (Amiga 500)

Gameplay (CD32)