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Welcome to another round of the toughest game in town: the one and only Speedball II! As you'll know by now, street fights are a thing of the past - nowadays the hard boys just pull on their shining suits of armour and beat the crap out of each other for B.I.G. bucks! Here we are at the Brutal Deluxe home ground for another feast of fighting fun, and I reckon ew're in for quite a bit of bovver.

In case you don't know the rules, I'll do a quick recap: there aren't any. Get the steel ball into the other team's goal as many times as you can, by whatever means you can. And don't worry if a few people get hurt - whaddya think we pay them for? Get out there and get kickin'!

Fast and furious are the watchwords for Speedball II, converted from the Bitmap Bros' Amiga classic. The emphasis is well and truly on speed, strength and reflexes with no points for second place!

The game centres on the steel ball which spins out of the central gun at the start of play. From this moment it's a fighting free for all, with just about anything allowed as you scrap for points.

Tap the fire button quickly and the player with the ball will throw it at shoulder height. Keep the fire button pressed down and he'll do a curling lob over the heads of the opposition, ready for his mate to catch further up the field.

Catch the keeper off guard and you may just slap one in the goal for ten points, a big klaxon and an action replay.

There's no room for wimpos in Speedball II, and there are a variety of bonuses on offer to really sort out the men from the boys. All are useful and some are so darned good they can make all the difference at the very last minute as you crawl back into the lead:

Stars: Stars line the playing field. Hit them with the playball and you'll score two points for each one. Light up the lot and you'll get a big ten point bonus. Hurrah!

Bounce Domes: Two of these little beauties lie dormant on the field. Hit 'em will the ball and it flies off in a random direction, racking up two points in the process!

Multiplier Ramp: Roll the ball in either direction up the Score Multiplier. Roll it up once and your scoring potential increases 50 per cent, roll it up twice and each goal is worth double - just the thing if you're lagging behind and need to catch up quick! Beware though, 'cos the other team can turn off the lights just as quick as you can spark 'em on!

Electrobounce: Two of these units line each side of the field. Hit 'em will the ball and it electrifies, glowing gold and knocking over the first player it hits from the other team!

Warp gates: Four of these line the field, and throwing the ball into one of them will cause it to warp out of another further down the field.

Speedball II offers you the chance to manage your team in order to get the best out of them and make sure they really know how to rough up the other side. In this section you can change your starting line-up, while the Gym screen allows you to alter a wide variety of team factors including Aggression, Attack, even Intelligence (or the lack of it!)

Little known facts of life: C&VG and Mean Machines liked Speedball II so much we organised a knockout compo. Who won? None other than Paul Rand. How? We don't know either, but it must be something to do with those Bitmap-style shades he wears...

Speedball II was an instant classic on the Amiga. You'll be glad then to discover that the Megadrive version retains every feature of the Bitmap's classic future sport.

The differences are all slight improvements. The Megadrive conversion is a little faster and smoother and for some bizarre reason, it suits the joypad perfectly. Graphically, the game is a joy to behold. Detailed sprites, smart backgrounds and some nice special effects all add up to a veritable visual feast. The sound doesn't quite match up to the standard of the graphics, but it still includes some lovely samples and tunes.

The options are comprehensive to say the least, with different combinations of teams, players and equipment available. All in all, the best sports sim available on the Megadrive and an essential purchase.

The original Speedball was the best scrap 'n score game outside the arcade, and Speedball II on the Amiga improved it still further. This is the Megadrive conversion of the 16-bit classic, and if anything it's even better in many respects!

The gameplay is certainly faster and smoother, and although you will see a tiny glitch in the scroll at certain times, you'll hardly notice. Graphics are great, sound's a laugh (and this time round there's no annoying little oik yelling "Ice Cream!" when you score a goal!)

Gameplay's where Speedball II can't be touched, though. Fast moving from beginning to end, it's intensely competitive for every second you're playing - especially if you take on a mate for head-to-head laughs. My only moan is that occasionally you lose track of the ball, but with a game this fast that would only happen in real life, so who's complaining?

This is one of the strongest titles on the Megadrive at the moment, so I suggest you snap it up right now!