Games for Lunch: Don King Presents: Prizefighter
In a nutshell: Only in America.
7/29/2008 9:08 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Developer: Venom Games
Publisher: 2K Sports
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Systems: Xbox 360 (reviewed), Nintendo DS, Wii
ESRB Rating: T
Official Web site
0:00 My experience with boxing games begins and ends with the
Punch-Out!! series, and I've been OK with that -- until today!
0:01 "Endurance!, Excitement! If I can do it, you can do it! They say in America anybody can do it!" Don King's voice is mixed in with a generic rap about the thrill of boxing over a red-and-black title screen. The effect is unique, to say the least.
0:02 The difficulty levels are Amateur, Contender and Champion. I could have been a Contender -- and I am. The Don King rap continues. I swear I just heard a line about a blueberry muffin.
0:04 I guess I'll start with the "Training." Boston's "Long Time" plays over the loading screen for some reason.
0:06 The jump rope training is just a glorified rhythm game with no music. I have to press the buttons that scroll under my jumper's feet. It gets tough pretty quickly, even at the Contender difficulty. "Perfect! You're training like a boxing monster," says my trainer in a voice that sounds like he's been beaten down by the world.
0:09 "Right, I want to see you mix up those punches and combos on the bag." The second training game actually lets me throw punches at a heavy bag with a moving white chalk target. I'm getting a feel for moving around and putting punches together. "I love seein' you combinate," says the trainer. Heh.
0:11 The focus mitts session is much less interesting, just hit the button that appears on screen as quickly as possible. The trainer says, "That's it, kid," roughly a million times through this training game.
0:13 "Jump on the speed bag and show me some hand speed." That's what she said! This one's another glorified rhythm game, with buttons falling from the edges of the screen into the center, where I have to press them. It reminds me a bit of
Gitaroo Man, which is not a bad thing. "Look at that bag move!" the trainer says in a voice that suggests he's never seen a bag move before in his entire life.
0:15 Shuttle run is the final training game. Just tap A and B rapidly, then hit a shoulder button to turn at the white line. Reminds me of those old-school track and field games -- which is not a good thing.
0:18 Starting a new career. A TV show called "Boxing Legends" is presented in a cut scene: "A hard luck story that ultimately ends with redemption and glory." Don King talks about the "extreme spectaculosity of two titans in the ring with one throne." Cut from video to a 3-D render of a firework-filled Parthenon-style boxing arena at the Emperor Resort. The challenger won't come out first, because he says he already owns the title, so the champion agrees to come out first to avoid further delay. OMG, drama!
0:20 Cut back to videos of some old pro fighters, trainers and such, talking about "the kid" (I guess that's me?) in vague terms. "When you think of how he started, it's like a movie or something," says a girl sitting at a recording booth for some reason.
