No, no, no and, er, no. Again. I'm not going to stand for this. The Scheming Celt Turncoat Steve McGill may like Brutal Football, but in my opinion he was wrong. Reviewed just over a year ago, this scored a mammoth (for Amiga Power) 88%. It was compared to the god-like status of Speedball 2. It was said to be quite funny.

Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not as easily impressed. If your idea of funny is stomping on people, stabbing them with swords and all manner of grotesque acts of violence then stick to your Nightmare On Elm Street or Friday The 13th films. And when the violence begins to get in the way of the game, then frankly it just ends up like Mortal Kombat 2 - all blood and no guts.

Okay, so the basic idea of the game is a bit of laugh and there are plenty of gaming options (league, cups and the like) but the whole effect is of just a hyper-violent yet diluted Speedball 2 rip-off, viewed from the side instead of above. And that's no good.

Well, it features freakish, senseless violence galore which is normally a good sign, and Brutal Football's easy enough to play, but the end result is neither as satisfying nor as compelling as the mighty Speedball 2.