Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first hour works because Game Set and Match 2 refuses to let you settle into a single rhythm. You can move from the longer tactical commitments of Ian Botham’s Test Match or Nick Faldo Plays the Open to the immediate pressure of Championship Sprint, Super Hang-On, or Track and Field. That variety makes it easy to find a game that suits the mood you are in, and just as easy to abandon one that is not clicking.

Track and Field is the clearest pick-up-and-play component. Its six events—100m dash, long jump, hurdles, javelin, hammer and high jump—give you quick, concentrated challenges, with four difficulty levels from easy through awesome. Play alone or with a second person, either event by event or as a tournament where qualifying times and distances decide whether you continue. The tournament structure adds stakes to what could otherwise be a string of disconnected mini-games.

The compilation’s strength is breadth, but that also means you need patience for shifting expectations. A sports game built around a complete match asks for a different kind of attention than an arcade-style race or athletics event. Treat it as a shelf of games rather than one seamless package and the format starts to make sense: sample freely, then return to the few that genuinely grab you. The Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum versions offer the wider lineup; the Amstrad CPC version leaves out Super Bowl and Winter Olympiad 88.

Graphics

This is a collection rather than a visually unified game, so the look changes with every selection. You move between sports fields, courts, race action and athletics events instead of seeing one consistent set of characters or locations, and that variety is part of the package’s charm.

Story

There is no story campaign tying these games together. The only through-line is competition: winning a match, improving a result, or surviving a sequence of qualifying events.

That is not a flaw for this kind of release. Each sport supplies its own familiar stakes, whether that means the measured pace of cricket and golf or the fast reset-and-retry pull of racing and athletics.

The result is a compilation you dip into rather than a journey you finish. It suits short sessions especially well, since there is always another sport waiting when the current one has worn out its welcome.

Overall Experience

Game Set and Match 2 earns its place on the strength of its selection. It packs a surprisingly wide spread of sporting styles into one release, from team games and precision contests to races and arcade events. That makes it more inviting than a compilation built around one narrow sport.

Its unevenness is unavoidable, because these are separate games with different pacing and demands, not carefully designed modes of one larger whole. Some sessions will be spent jumping between games before anything sticks. Others will turn into a long Track and Field tournament or a return visit to a favorite match sport.

Give it a chance if you enjoy the idea of an 1980s sports-game mixtape and do not need every selection to land equally well. The package is most rewarding when you follow your own interests, skip the sports that do nothing for you, and let the variety do the work.

Retro Replay Score

6.3/10