Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2

We've never exactly seen the point of boxing. Two big men wearing oversized gloves bashing hell out of one another? No thanks. As a sport though, boxing has always seemed to enjoy immense popularity, and so inevitably we've seen videogame versions appear. Up until recently, the N64 had two, Knockout Kings 2000 and Ready 2 Rumble, and now the latter title from Midway has gone and got a sequel.

Rocky V

If you can remember back to issue 34 when the original R2R was reviewed, then you might have noticed that it didn't get the best of scores. The faults that brought the game down were ones that could (we presume) have been corrected, but unfortunately R2R: Round Two still has all the same glitches as before! In fact, most of the negative points made in the original review can be applied to this game too. R2R2 is basically a game with buckets of style but very little content.

The aim of the game is the same as before. You pick a fighter, make sure that he or she wins more fights than anyone else, and proceed to win a tournament or two. The twist in R2R2, and probably why it doesn't feel right, is that it's something more akin to Street Fighter or Killer Instinct than a serious boxing game. This in itself is no bad thing but unlike versions of R2R2 on other systems, the N64 edition simply doesn't play very well. This is mainly down to the poor controls and meagry graphics, but more about those in a bit...

Of the selection of fighters available to you, some (as you'll soon find out) are rather stronger than others. This means that in many bouts the combatants are unevenly matched. Pitting a 400-pound monster against a nimble 108-pound lightweight means that the former relies on pure brute force while the latter has to rely on being fast on his feet. This would be fine if the faster boxers actually responded properly, but a lot of the time they don't.

Rocky Robin

Like the first game, R2R2 suffers terribly from a poor response time. No matter how fast you hammer away at the appropriate buttons on the pad in order to land a punch on your opponent, the amount of time it takes for the action to occur on-screen is far longer than you'd like. Things are not made any easier by the rather large amount of button combinations you have to deal with either! Most of the actual fighting moves are made with the C buttons and that leaves the A and B buttons for blocking. The punch buttons alone don't perform the actions you'd expect though. It takes a complex combination of controls to enable you to do something as relatively simple as a dodge – surely it would have made far more sense if the L and R buttons were used for this move?

In the case of Wrestlemania, you can understand why a wide range of moves needs to be available and why, because of this, a large number of buttons need to be pressed. With a boxing game though, these complicated moves come across as unnecessary.

Imagine this: you are desperately trying to land a punch on the other boxer. Assuming that you somehow manage to hit the correct sequence of B and C buttons to perform your combo, it's very annoying when what seems like several seconds later your boxer still hasn't done what he's been instructed to do – often by the time your pugilist does respond the other combatant has moved out of the way!

This is a problem which only seems to be apparent on the N64 version of R2R2. The game on other formats has proved faster, smoother and altogether more enjoyable than the N64 incarnation, so the question that has to be asked is: "why is the N64 conversion inferior to the ones on other consoles?" Is it that the machine simply cannot handle it? Or is it because all the other formats have had a version of the game, so someone has decided that the N64 has to have one too, and thus it's been merely 'knocked out'?

Rocky And Bullwinkle

The characters in this game, although obviously intended to be fun and funky, unfortunately just look ridiculous. There are stereotypical images of all kinds of races and groups on show here, and many of them are not particularly flattering. The British fighter, for example, is straight from the Victorian era that the majority of Americans still seem to think English people are living in today. The character, 'Big Willy' Johnson (ha, ha, what a funny name, I don't think), is the kind of person you'd expect to see training in a Big Top, lifting weights with two big black metal balls at each end! The Italian fighter, due to his hitman history, alludes to the Mafia and as such is portrayed as a big fat, dumb-looking madman. It's not exactly a fair image and one that is more at home in a Hollywood movie. As for the women, well what would you expect? Bar Mama Tua who is big, fat and ugly and therefore must be an evil character (it says so in the Big Book of Nasty Characters – £5.99 from all good bookshops) all the other women are totally gorgeous with disturbingly large breasts.

Now, I'm not usually one to complain about the size of boobies, I am after all only human, but the jugs on offer here are just plain ridiculous! This is never more apparent than in one of the training games where you partake in a session of 'Rumble Aerobics'. This is led by – and I quote – "bubbly Julie The Aerobics Instructor" (which sounds like something you'd find written on the back of an 'adult' video) and you must copy the moves she makes in order to get used to the many various buttons that you have to bash. As Julie bounces up and down, showing you her (ahem) moves, her breasts bounce about like a kangaroo on a trampoline! Now, without trying to sound like some kind of dull killjoy, do we really need this kind of gratuitous titillation? (Er... yes? – Roy) For those who have complained about Lara Croft's ample bosom, that's nothing compared to the knockers on show here!

Rocky Rhodes Ice Cream

Until the GameCube comes along we all have to make sure the games on our machine look their best, and R2R2 just doesn't cut it. The detail is all there in the characters' bodies and the moves look smooth enough when they eventually respond to your frantic button-bashing, but the overall look of the game is slightly – how can we phrase this? – grimy!

Probably the worst offenders of all are the backgrounds. Although not always the most noticeable part of the game, especially in the heat of a really vicious fist-fight, they are still important, and in the case of R2R2, the backdrops are plain, sparse and, because of the lack of in-game lighting, may as well not be there at all! The fighters move fluidly, but because they are caricatures rather than characters, their moves at times just look odd!

Rocky Rooster

So what do you get for your money, apart from the feeling of being let down? Well, R2R2 is a game that has plenty of options available to you. There are 13 brand-spanking new boxers in the game, including some hidden ones for you to unlock. As you may have already heard by now, one of these boxers is Michael Jackson, which is a little weird, twisted gimmick to give the game an extra selling point. The way we see it, this game is naff enough with bringing him into it!

To unlock these new fighters, you play through the Championship mode that requires you to not only train against the legion of opponents available, but to also take your fighter through a calendar of events. These include Prize and Title fights and, of course, the training modes. There are seven training sections to get practicing on and these can also be accessed as minigames. If you have played other similar boxing titles, then the content of these minigames probably won't surprise you. There are weightlifting challenges, a selection of punchbags to pummel and the chance to jump rope, plus some games even require your shopping skills!

These sections allow you to buy all kinds of pills and vitamins, but you can only buy them when you win money from fights, and they don't come cheap (remember though kids: winners don't use drugs!) All these games are supposed to help train your fighter (or your fingers) to become more adept when in the ring, but actually they only show how unresponsive the controls are. In the Jump Rope section, which is just a variation of Bust-A-Groove on the PlayStation, the objective is to tap the appropriate buttons on the controller in time with the symbols on the screen. This is a really hit-and-miss affair however, as the slow response on the control pad makes proper timing a nightmare!

The Tournament and Arcade modes are fairly self-explanatory, and the final mode is Team Battle, which requires you to pick a team of four boxers and pit them one at a time against your opponent's combatants in all-out battle.

Rocky Racoon

Overall R2R2 is barely even adequate. It has plenty of flaws, and because these are the same problems as in the last game you really have to wonder "Why the hell did they bother?" Even if you are a fan of the original game, we can't really recommend the sequel too highly. The sound is funky and crisp, but who cares when the rest of the game falls so short? Another problem is that this game is too much of a contradiction. It comes across as a boxing game for those of you who don't really like boxing games, yet its complicated moves and odd button arrangements means that it's tougher than most serious titles!

Because of these shortcomings, this is one of those rare occasions when we're rather happy that the company behind it – in this case Midway – has made the decision not to release a PAL version of a game. Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 is an appalling N64 title, and the European N64 market is better off without it!

Arcade fisticuffs in the palm of your hand! In general, videogame boxing aficionados have divided opinions on the previous Ready 2 Rumble games on other formats. Some consider them fantastic fun, others find them too arcadey. Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2 on the Game Boy Advance is essentially (according to Midway at least) the PlayStation 2 version of the game, crammed onto an itty-bitty cart. While this seems like quite a claim, it's an indisputable fact that – graphically at least – the game does, superficially anyway, bear a striking similarity to the PS2 incarnation. You have a choice of several different boxers, almost as many as on the PS2, with only two of the bonus fighters missing (Bill and Hillary Clinton, in case you were wondering) and all the training modes from the original version are here for you to tinker with too.

Watch Us Wreck The Mic!

The object of the game (in case you didn't know) is to pick a boxer and train them up until they're the top of their field. You do this through various types of exercise, feeding them the right vitamins and supplements, and – of course – by fighting other boxers.

Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 is a great attempt at a boxing game and it does have a lot to it, however, the number of different move combinations may be a bit much for the casual gamer. Plus, we found that the need to hammer the A, B, L and R buttons repeatedly did get quite painful after a while. Doubtless fans of the Ready 2 Rumble series will love it though, and thankfully there's not a PJ or a Duncan in sight! “Thankfully there’s not a PJ or a Duncan in sight!”

Pros

• Looks fantastic
• Sounds great

Cons

• Rather complex moves
• Hard on your fingers!

BOTTOM LINE

CONTROLS

• L: Block
• R: Block
• B: Punch (right)
• A: Punch (left)
• Start: Pause
• D: Moves boxer around the ring
• Select: Select

ALTERNATIVES

• UFC: Crave (Reviewed: Issue 50, 22%)
• Batman: Chaos in Gotham: Ubi Soft (Reviewed: Issue 47, 79%)

RATING

• Graphics: 4 / 5
• Audio: 3 / 5
• Gameplay: 3 / 5
• Challenge: 3 / 5

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 is an arcade boxing video game released for the PlayStation 2, Sega Dreamcast and other platforms in the early 2000s. The game is a sequel to the original Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and offers players a fast-paced and exciting boxing experience with comedic elements. Players take on the role of one of various boxers, each with their own unique characteristics and fighting style. The goal of the game is to become a champion by defeating other boxers in the ring. During the fight, the boxers have health and fatigue indicators, which adds a strategic element to the game.

Game Features

• Cartoon style graphics
• A lot of humor, which makes the game more entertaining and less serious compared to realistic boxing simulators
• Fights are fast-paced, making them dynamic and exciting