Victorious Boxers (PS2)
	Developer Jyoji Morikawa/Kodansha Publisher Empire Interactive Reviewed by Mark Megerian [Feedback] [Author Bio] Review Date March 5, 2002

Rating (out of 5.0) 2.5 out of 5.0*

Judge for yourself

Strengths Snazzy graphics Realistic punch animations Weaknesses No visual display of fighter status Repetitive fighter/manager dialog Fighters get out of position too often

* Notes Gaming Voice ratings are based on the technical and/or gameplay merits of a given product as well as the developer's choice of features and delivery of same. Our rating is not an endorsement of the thematic content of a given title. Gamers and parents are cautioned to determine if such content conflicts or coincides with their values and beliefs.

After all, fighting and hand-to-hand combat are the types of action that many game developers have nailed perfectly. So how does one explain the lack of good boxing games? How can there be a string of martial arts success stories (Virtua Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken, etc.) with almost no comparable boxing titles? Most people think of the original Punch-Out on Nintendo when they think of boxing games. Heck, I don't recall a boxing game that occupied much of my time since Rocky on the ColecoVision (yes, I'm that old). I personally found Knockout Kings to be disappointing, and several boxing titles for the PS1 and PS2 to be virtually unplayable.

So when Victorious Boxers was imported from Japan for US release, I was excited. Perhaps this was the game to set the next-generation console standard for boxing simulations. Perhaps this was the game to capture that quick response feeling of other fighting games, and do it in a boxing ring. Perhaps not.

Victorious Boxers is not a terrible game – it’s just not very good. The single player story mode allows you to choose a character, and take him through the ranks of the local boxing competition, all the way to the title. The first character you are given is a cool-looking little guy named Ippo. This character is actually the star of a very popular comic book in Japan, which may be interesting, but that fact doesn't make the game any better. Ippo can perform the basic set of punches, jabs, hooks, and uppercuts. He also has some special moves, which pack extra power.

As you would expect, the punches vary in terms of how quick you can get them off, and how much damage they do. You might be able to pepper your opponent with quick left and right jabs, but you need to land some power punches if you want to knock him out. According to the manual, this game takes it a step further by also tiring out your boxer when he throws the heavier punches. So not only is the uppercut harder to land, but if you keep trying and missing, you will tire your fighter and make him susceptible to getting knocked out.

Notice I said "according to the manual". I said that because there is no visual indicator of how tired you are. There is no indicator of how tired your opponent is. You don't have any idea of how much damage your punches are doing or how much damage you are taking. You can see some redness around the boxer's eyes, but it’s very subtle and barely noticeable.

I've heard people say that this is a good feature, since it’s more realistic. After all, real fighters don't have big health bars and energy meters to tell everyone when they're about to fall down. However, if you ask me, that's a pretty flimsy argument. This is a videogame!! Of course I want to see a meter to tell me how close I am to knocking out my opponent! How else are you supposed to get a feel for the game? One would want to see the risk/reward of these big punches, and see how much they cost you in energy vs. how much they damage your opponent.

Sorry, its not there. To make matters worse, sometimes you will be seemingly ahead; having landed many more punches then your opponent, only to get knocked down by an ordinary punch. Without being able to see how you came to that point, or see which of his punches to avoid in the future, you are left to wonder what in the heck led up to this outcome.

Visually, the game is pretty impressive. The fighters look great, and the fighting sequences are very smooth. The cut-scenes between fights get very repetitive and boring, and you'll quickly learn to skip over all of them. Your manager is supposed to give you useful tips for each fight, but I found most of them to be obvious and not very helpful. The tips in between rounds are especially bad. He only has two or three different things to say, evidently triggered by whether you were knocked down during the round. The funniest was after a bad round; he'd say, "You look like a punch bag!" I don't know if that was supposed be translated to "punching bag" but it’s funny anyway.

The control of your fighter is pretty decent. You use the left stick to move around the ring, and the buttons for the various punches. But since you just move locations, your fighter is supposed to automatically face the opponent. The trouble is, he often doesn't. Several times in every round, you will get disoriented and be facing the wrong way. Then you'll have to back up just to reposition your fighter. It's annoying, and it makes your fighter quite vulnerable. I found it to be a big flaw.

The multiplayer aspect of the game is a little better, but still carries the same limitations as single player. The game could have been so much better. If the game engine is keeping track of each fighter’s health, please let us in on the secret. If they fixed that, and fixed the bug that results in the fighters facing away from their opponent, they'd have an excellent game. The control scheme doesn't need to be changed at all. There is the ability to move forward quickly and get a punch off, you can duck and sway, lean backwards, and even throw punches from these various positions. But again, without any evidence of how successful these various strategies are, you don't know which of them to employ. So you have to use the trial and error method, but with a learning curve that steep, you just may get frustrated with the whole thing. I sure was.

Victorious Boxers could have been great. In boxing -- and Brando -- terms: “It could’a been a contender!”