2008 X-BOXING CHAMPIONSHIP WEIGH-IN

In This Corner…

DON KING'S PRIZEFIGHTER

WHAT’S HIS STORY?: Revolving around your custom-created boxer in a classic rags-to-riches tale, Prizefighter features 40 real-life athletes (including 30 active fighters) and another 40 created by Venom to help move the story along. The career mode is truly the emphasis, with documentary-style cutscenes featuring both actors and real-life personalities (and by that we mean Don King) helping to chronicle your virtual life.

WHO’S TRAININ’ HIM?: Newcastle, UK-based Venom Games, who are the folks behind Ubisoft’s 2004 Rocky boxing title for the original Xbox. They also handled the 360 port of our 2006 co-shooter of the year, Prey.

PREVIOUS RECORD: 2004’s Rocky: Legends was the very definition of mediocre, earning a 6.6 out of 10 from us. Prey, on the other hand, literally turned our world upside-down, pulling down a 9.0 and an Editors’ Choice award.

WHAT’S HIS WEAKNESS?: No dirty punches? No blood? In a simulation boxing game? It’s all for the Teen ESRB rating, Venom tells us, but having realistic amounts of plasma didn’t stop Fight Night Round 3 from earning the same rating. The animation was also a bit stiff in our demo, but they have plenty of polish time before Prizefighter ships.

HOW’S HE LOOKIN’?: Promising in the early stages. We saw clips from the late-’70s/early-’80s–set movies, and the actors managed to avoid both ham and cheese. In the ring, the visuals are solid if not quite Fight Night Round 3–quality, while we were pleased to hear HBO’s Jim Lampley behind the announcer’s microphone. Punches are thrown with the face buttons and various combinations thereof — including a “juice meter” that fills up and lets you unleash signature punches — while the training mini-games are DDR-esque button-matching sequences that looked a lot tougher than you might think. This kid’s got a shot, for sure.

And in This Corner…

FACEBREAKER

WHAT’S HIS STORY?: Citing Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! as an inspiration, the creators of FaceBreaker are building a boxing game that’s as outlandish as it is arcade-y. All fighters will wear gloves and duke it out in a ring, but there are no refs, no rules, and “the smallest punches...are about as big as the biggest punches in Fight Night Round 3,”
says producer Todd Batty. You’ll win bouts in two ways: by knocking out your opponent or by breaking his face. The latter, we’re told, is cool without being gory or grotesque.

WHO’S TRAININ’ HIM?: EA Canada, which ported FNR3 from the Xbox 360 to the PlayStation 3, and also produces EA Sports’ FIFA, NBA Live, NHL, and Tiger Woods series, plus more casual fare like NBA Street Homecourt.

PREVIOUS RECORD: FNR3’s PS3 version was, by all accounts, a quality translation. And the most recent FIFA, NBA Live, NHL, and Tiger Woods games all earned an 8.0 or higher from OXM, as did Homecourt.

WHAT’S HIS WEAKNESS?: It’s not a handicap per se, but the game’s stylized approach may irritate fans of serious, real-world boxing sims. FaceBreaker’s 12 pugilists will be over-the-top original characters like Romeo, the Latin Lover and Ice, a fighter reminiscent of Wesley Snipes in Demolition Man. Besides conventional (and slug-tacular) punches, boxers will have special moves such as head butts, groin kicks, and a curb stomp, and rings are set in unusual locales like an insane asylum and a trailer park.

HOW’S HE LOOKIN’?: Though we haven’t seen him in action, we’re intrigued by this feisty challenger. Batty promises a core boxing mechanic that’s “easy to pick up, yet possesses some depth,” along with interesting backstories that’ll make us care about each contender. And it may be gimmicky, but FaceBreaking sounds like goofy fun, especially in multiplayer, where, thanks to a Photo Game Face feature (à la Tiger Woods 08), you’ll get to mash a friend’s mug like never before.