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Clearly Mirrorsoft are hoping to capitalise on the massive success of Speedball 2 with the re-release of this, its predecessor. The game follows the game basic principle but is simpler in most respects, with a smaller pitch, fewer players, and no management elements. Whereas Speedball 2 was in essence a future soccer game, Speedball is more like five-a-side, with the action zipping from end to end with incredibly regularity.

The most interesting aspect is probably the bribery feature, where, by collecting tokens on the pitch, you can gather together enough cash to persuade the referee to give you a goal-lead at the start, or to extend the previously-finished game, giving you a change to recover from a losing position.

You can also use the tokens to increase your team's skills and stamina, or reduce those of the opposition. The gameplay itself is easy to pick up, and the graphics are the usual rather pretty metallic Bitmaps fare, but the sound is rather out-of-place, and would be much better suited to a shoot-'em-up. Generally the feel is of something nice, but a bit dated.

Speedball is a fun game, but in one-player mode it gets easy (and hence boring) very quickly. If you play in two-player mode it's brilliant, but then so are most two-player sports games. Mirror Image also seem to have rather misunderstood the concept of budget software, and pricing this game at £10 puts it rather too close to its vastly superior big brother for my liking.

A fine game, but (if you can afford it), you'll find Speedball 2 is well worth the extra investment.