Perhaps some games are better left in the past. After all, many are born from the technological limitations and desires of the time. They shine brightly, usually because there's nothing else like them around.
The problem comes when you take a game from that era and try to make it work somewhere else. That's when things start to go awry. Speedball Developer: Rebellion Publisher: Rebellion Platform: Played on PC Availability: Out now in early access on PC ( Steam ) Case in point: Rebellion's new Speedball game, which just launched in Steam early access.
This is a series that's remembered fondly from the late 80s and early 90s - a violent blend of handball and hockey that has teams of grizzled, padded players beat each other to a pulp as they try to score goals. It's like Mad Max does sports; it's grey and dystopian, brutal and uncaring. Can you survive the league and even win it? And of course, it was perfect for the games machines of the time.
You ran up and down the 2D field, because games didn't do 3D, mashing buttons to flatten other players and sling a ball around while avoiding them flattening you. I think you only ever pressed one button, maybe two, because that's all machines had back then, and it's all the game needed. It was simple, punchy, and memorable, and that's why I was excited to see it come back to life again now.
But the new game doesn't really work. It works in the sense that you can play it, although being in early access some important chunks of the experi.
