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Ready 2 Rumble Revolution Review for Nintendo Wii

Ready 2 Rumble Revolution Review for Nintendo Wii

The Wii really ought to be the place to go for boxing games. The Wii-mote/Nunchuk combo is perfect for acting out the sport’s moves, and the boxing game from Wii Sports proved right at the console’s launch that it’s possible to craft a simple, engrossing, and reasonably responsive control scheme. Yet for some reason, no subsequent game has improved on that scheme or even matched it. Ready 2 Rumble Revolution, a true disaster of a video game, is the latest in this long line of Wii boxing failures.

Ready 2 Rumble Revolution screenshot

You view the fighters from the side, move them in all directions with the Nunchuk joystick, and execute moves by swinging your arms (holding down the C button to specify body blows). There’s a pretty healthy variety of punches available: you can jab, hook, and uppercut, and even wind up for more powerful shots. Defense-wise you can dodge in various ways and, of course, block.

The problem is that the developers didn’t take nearly enough care in making sure the Wii could differentiate between all these inputs, and didn’t include support for a Gamecube or Classic Controller. They forgot one of the fundamental laws of Wii design: it’s possible to be precise with the Wii-mote’s pointer function, but the “waggle” function won’t reliably pick up moves that are only subtly different from each other. In other words, unless developers start relying more on buttons and less on waggle, it’s not possible to have many more punch types than Wii Sports had.

The result is that the control issues overshadow every other aspect to this game. It’s so bad that even a simple overall strategy, such as trying to use mostly jabs to take advantage of your character’s superior reach, is tough to pull off. You end up simply flailing, hoping for as many hits as you can manage, while your A.I. opponents block and strike with a fair amount of precision. If their “rumble” meter fills, they become ridiculously overpowered and pound you with even less mercy. It takes about two minutes to get fed up with this game, and while you can improve your success rate in eliciting the moves you want, you’ll never get anywhere near 100 percent.

Ready 2 Rumble Revolution screenshot

It’s a shame, because while the game’s other features don’t exactly scream “blockbuster,” they do show a fair amount of effort. Take, for example, the fairly detailed and good-looking graphics. The grainy-filtered cutscenes that introduce the game are well above average for Wii visual quality. The zany, over-the-top style won’t make anyone laugh out loud, but it could have made for a unique and fun experience. The characters, many of them parodies of celebrities, are colorful and well-drawn, and they move with quirky animations that fit the feel of the game. (Some may be offended, it should be noted, by some crude racial stereotypes and by the impossibly hourglass-shaped lady who struts through the ring between rounds.)

Meanwhile, in terms of sound, there’s some comically exaggerated voice acting (especially the announcing), buried-in-the-background music, and well-done if repetitive sound effects. In a better game, this in-your-face visual and audio style might have become grating after some time. As it stands, you’re usually too busy screaming about the controls to even notice any of it.

Ready 2 Rumble Revolution screenshot

To the game’s credit, it does come with a nice set of features. There’s a decent tutorial that teaches you the various moves (though, of course, it can’t get you to the point of executing them regularly). Once you’ve tired of trying to get the hang of it, you can fight a single match, work your way through the arcade mode, play training mini-games, create a boxer, get in tag-team tournaments, or try to win the championship.

Ready 2 Rumble Revolution screenshot

The latter is the title’s meatiest mode, as it incorporates most of the others. You begin by constructing your boxer as you’d make a Mii avatar, selecting from various body types, articles of clothing, and even fighting styles. The process is rather arduous at first, but as you play, you unlock various new options. Before each fight, you have the option of playing training mini-games to improve your various stats. This is an important feature, because the enemies become harder much faster than you learn the controls, so you’ll need all the firepower you can build up. On a side note, it does seem to help a bit, here and in the other modes, to turn down the difficulty in the options menu. Unfortunately, many of these mini-games suffer the same control issues the fights do, so you’ll find yourself leveling up some abilities far more often than others. It’s yet another example of this game’s developers going the extra mile to make everything worthwhile except the controls.

Finally, if you can convince someone to spend time with you on this game, you can fight them – good luck with that. These matches don’t feel as unfair as battling the computer can, since you’re both struggling against the same lame controls, but they are no more rewarding. There’s really no strategy involved; it’s basically a button-masher without buttons – we’re not sure what to call that; a waggle-masher? Wagglefest?

At this point it’s stating the obvious, but we’ll come right out with it: don’t buy this game. It’s not worth your time, much less your $30. If you’re a Wii owner who really wants a boxing challenge beyond that of Wii Sports, there’s nothing to do but wait.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.3 Graphics
Very good for the Wii. 1.0 Control
The controls ruin the whole game. 3.3 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music isn’t all that noticeable. The sound effects and voiceovers have more personality, but they could get grating. 1.0

Play Value
Playing this game, you only notice how bad the controls are.

2.2 Overall Rating – Poor
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • All-new roster of 20 crazy boxers.
  • Dodge, weave, and punch opponents.
  • Fictional and celebrity-caricature fighters.
  • Screen Resolution: Up to 480p (Progressive Scan, Widescreen).

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