If, like me, you're a slightly "older" gamer, you will probably have fond memories of classic systems such as the N64 and Sega Dreamcast.
If you were to further cast your mind back to these consoles, there was an incredibly popular boxing game released in 1999 called "Ready 2 Rumble Boxing" in which stylized, caricature boxers faced off against each other in an arcade brawler with some light technical boxing elements.
Survios' latest release "Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions" seems to be paying direct homage to this seminal title of yesteryear and bringing it bang up to date and on to current consoles.
The game offers Campaign and Versus. In campaign you take on the role of one of the fighters, go through training montages ...obviously... then fight, rinse and repeat. While versus, is, well a versus mode! (local only).
Controls are simple, Basic attack, Power attack, dodge, guard and "Super Move". There are some very basic combos and also some combos specific to particular fighters. In addition fighters have their own style, strengths and weaknesses, some are more technical which others are outright brawlers... Clubber Lang!
Graphically the game is pretty lackluster by today's standards, you can just about tell who the boxers are supposed to be via caricature heads slapped on to a generic body. But they have an awkward way of moving, which put me in mind of Indonesian Wayang Kulit shadow puppets, or a Terry Gilliam animation.
Audio is likewise lacking, cut scenes have the odd "huh", "yeah" or a grunt added to accompany a stationary picture and some text.
The game does make use of it's license though and features some of the classic tunes from the Rocky franchise....but not Eye of the Tiger unfortunately.
Big Rumble Boxing is an OK game that fills a niche gap in the market that has gone unfilled for quite some time now. There is probably good reason for this.
Boxing is the sweet science, technical combat aspects aside, the nuance and psychology of the sport just doesn't translate well to a video game. There are so many essential facets of boxing that are intangible enough that they can't be transferred to digital entertainment as straightforwardly as a "fighting game".
Without the super combos, finishing moves, fatalities and fireballs of modern beat 'em ups you are primarily stripped back to ..basic attack...power attack....dodge and block, exactly as we see here. This gives neither an authentic experience to boxing fans nor a fun experience to gamers.
It's not a bad game and for fans of the Rocky/Creed franchise its a fun playthrough, but ultimately Big Rumble Boxing doesn't have enough to keep you coming back. Pricing goes some way to recognizing this though and Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is available on Xbox and other platforms for $39.99
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