Don King Presents: Prizefighter Review for Xbox 360 (X360)

System: X360, Wii, DS	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Venom Games	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: 2K Sports	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: June 9, 2008	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-2, 8 online	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Teen	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

With the gameplay being a complete dud, it almost does not matter how the game looks or sounds, but we shall press on. Visually, Prizefighter is a mixed bag. It looks pretty good, far from Fight Night, but good enough. All the pro boxers represented look a lot like their actual selves, which is always nice to see. As mentioned above though, the animations are pretty poor; the feel of the fights is just far too clunky. Although it does redeem itself with a slick menu interface. In fact, the game nails most of the presentation.

Don King Presents: Prizefighter screenshot

The tunes are all appropriate for boxing, all the text is narrated out loud, and the sounds of the ring or training sessions are on the money. One hitch here is the announcing. As you progress further into your title run, your matches will be announced by two of the best in the biz: Jim Lampley and Emmanuel Steward. Despite the greatness of their real life counterparts, the virtual announcers could not be more repetitive. The script for them may have been three pages long, and that is being generous.

The control mirrors the robot like movements of the fighters; it just feels stiff. The blocking, and we know how much I like this portion of the package, feels broken. Each punch is controlled by a face button, while the left trigger allows you to bob and weave. The right trigger lets you go to the body, and the right bumper gives you the ability to unleash body punches. All that is well and good, but moving your fighter around the ring is a slow process. So anyone who thinks they are going to be like Sugar Ray Leonard out there, you are sorely mistaken; these boxers wear concrete shoes, apparently it is the latest thing in the boxing world.

To sum things up, Prizefighter lacks the necessary skill set to become the next great champ or even contender for that matter. If I had to compare it to a fighter it would be the 'Hurricane' Peter McNeely of video game boxing. It does everything right to sell the fight, it just can't execute anything resembling skillful boxing once it steps into the ring.

By Tom Kelly
CCC Freelance Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

3.6

Graphics
The fighters look good enough, too bad their animations can't keep up.

3.1

Control
Good and bad, too often they fail you at the wrong times.

4.2

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Great set of tunes, accompanied by good voice work from the cast.

1.5

Play Value
One play through the career mode is about all it's worth and that is just to see the documentary play out.

2.5

Overall Rating - Average
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Prizefighter will bring the realism of live action match-ups and the true tactics of the sweet science together for the first time.

Players will be responsible for building a career by overcoming adversity, avoiding temptation, and balancing their commitments to train and promote, all while focusing on the goal of ultimately winning and defending the title belt.

The story will be told by a revolutionary sports documentary-style narrative never before seen in a video game.

Screen Resolution: Up to 720p (Full HDTV, Widescreen).