Don King presents: Prizefighter (Xbox 360)

[  « Previous Page | 1 | 2  ]

There are loads of punch types

On top of your standard punches performed by pressing the four face buttons you can hold two face buttons together for an uppercut, hold down the right trigger to create four different body shots, hold the right bumper and a face button for a step around punch, and even hold the right bumper and right trigger for a step around body shot. It takes more than a while to get used to all the different punch options and it doesn't quite feel right. At times you'll press a button and nothing will happen or a punch is thrown but with a slight delay, and they rarely land with the force you'd expect them to. Only knockdown punches ever seem to have any force behind them. Collision detection on punches also isn't great at times, with punches either going straight through your opponent or registering as landed when they clearly missed.

Then you have your stamina and adrenaline bars, adding even more depth to proceedings. Stamina is pretty self explanatory, with your boxer becoming tired and losing speed if you do too much work. Backing off and cooling down for a short period will soon see this meter fill up again. Your adrenaline bar fills when you land punches and allows you to perform signature punches or activate Adrenaline Boost mode, which temporarily gives you an advantage in the ring. Your adrenaline bar is tied to your media profile, so if you're a celebrity you'll start the fight with a high bar, giving you a slight upper hand. Again, while it's an option, I found training in the gym to be more worthwhile.

 Advertisement

Adding some variety to your career are a number of unique scenarios, such as a broken bone in your hand which forces you to box the majority of a fight with just one hand. You also get a number of historic fights with 'of the era' picture quality, used to highlight a certain boxing style or spirit. In the end, though, the career mode comes down to training hard and then repeatedly knocking down your opponent, with tactics almost completely out the window towards the end.

Outside of the career you've got the usual array of quick fight options and online play, including tournaments. Single system multiplayer works fine, but online the often sluggish controls take a further turn for the worst. With ample online functionality it's a shame, but I can't see many people sticking around to form a decent online community for the game.

Visually it's not quite up to Fight Night Round 3

Presentation is solid although not up to the standard seen in EA's now rather old Fight Night Round 3. Out of the ring there's not much to complain about, but inside the fighter models and arenas simply can't compete with EA's fighter. Punches feel softer, faces don't look as realistic, and the arenas don't look as spectacular. It's far from an ugly game, but Fight Night has the clear edge in terms of visuals. On the audio front Prizefighter has a brilliant soundtrack, even including Eye of the Tiger, which automatically makes it a better game.

Don King Presents Prizefighter is a solid game, but its career mode is flawed and the gameplay is a strange mix of complex controls and arcade-like knockdowns. If you're after something new having grown tired of Fight Night, Prizefighter is worth a look, especially if the unique documentary storyline is of interest to you, but it's just not the great evolution of the genre that it could have been.

[  « Previous Page | 1 | 2  ]