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Rating: Good When creating a boxing game, the development team needs to make sure that the game has balance, replay value, and decent Artificial Intelligence. Unfortunately, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing has none of these elements. My first thoughts when watching the intro were that Michael Buffer seems to get more robotic with each passing year, and that the game's theme song is very annoying. After the intro, the music started to skip and the game crashed. Not the best first impression I could have imagined... After I reset the game and got used to the idea that the music is usually going to skip and the game is going to crash from time to time, I found that Ready 2 Rumble's character designs are excellent. Most of R2R's personality comes from the unique qualities of each character (and it's about time there's a video game character named Lulu). Midway did a fairly good job of making R2R an arcade-style boxing game while still making every hit look and feel like it really hurts. The facial bruises that develop over the course of each fight make the game seem more realistic, although it would have been nice if the characters got cuts on their faces in addition to bruises to make the hits feel all the more intense. Also, it's hard to believe in the impact of the punches when you consider that knockouts almost never happen. I won over 50 fights in a row, but not a single one of them came by knockout. What super-human abilities do the boxers in R2R possess that prevent them from ever failing to beat the ten-count? As entertaining as some of the "falling down animations" are, it stinks that you can't punch your opponent after an animation begins even if they're still on their feet. Instead, you have to stand by as they stumble around and eventually fall over, despite the fact that it would be much more satisfying if you could finish them off for yourself. I also found that you can punch your opponent a full second or two after the end-of-the- round bell tolls, and you can even win fights on such illegal punches. Also, it doesn't take long for the crowd to become grating, and for much of the game it does nothing but yell "Yeah!" at seemingly random moments. Internet play was going to be included in Ready 2 Rumble at one point, but it was removed when Sega pushed back the Dreamcast's online gaming debut until next year. Internet play would have helped immensely in giving this game the replay value it so desperately needs. The Championship Mode gives the game what little replay value it has, but the challenge of the Championship Mode doesn't last long because all you have to do is pour all your money into weight-lifting to build up your strength rating and you'll be nearly invincible (although, illogically enough, you have to pay $5,000 every time you want to lift weights in your own gym). If you lift weights enough, you'll breeze through the game even if your Stamina level is at one percent. Rather than dwindling over the course of a fight, your stamina goes down to zero after each punch and then goes back to 100% if you go for a few seconds without throwing any punches. Now that makes sense... When you add all this to the fact that you can break out into several devastating and nearly unstoppable offensive flurries per fight (and the fact that it's very easy to avoid your opponent if you just want to kill time), it becomes clear that Ready 2 Rumble isn't a very balanced game. The bulk of the game is extremely easy, and when it does eventually get harder, it's for all the wrong reasons. It doesn't get harder because the computer opponents gradually get smarter and tougher as you progress through the game, it gets harder because the computer magically gains the ability to block 80% of your punches when you get to the Gold level. I gave this game a "Good" rating because I did have fun with it for a while before it got old, and I found it to be a worthwhile rental. You won't be disappointed with Ready 2 Rumble Boxing if all you want to do is have some mindless fun with a few friends, but those looking for a deep and balanced single-player game should look elsewhere. Send your thoughts on this review to ivan@mastergamer.com
© 2001 ivan@mastergamer.com