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| Ready 2 Rumble was the first N64 Boxing game when it was released back in November 1999. The Game is half sim and half arcade with both elements involved. The game�s aim is to train up your boxer and win money and titles. The ability to bet on fights is a nice touch and up to $20,000 can be won (illegally) from winning just one fight. In turn this profit from your illegal dealings can be used to buy training methods such as a weight lifting session or a diet of Pills and potions. There are about 20 boxers to choose from including the hilarious Afro Thunder, Salua and �Big Willy� Johnson. The game is most enjoyable in the Championship modes where there is a real sense of satisfaction in training up your chosen fighter and winning titles. The Graphics are quite good and using motion capture the various punches and taunts look very life-lifelike although the same can not be said for the flat, 2D crowd. Most fights take place in what look like Hotels with perhaps 15 or so half drunk spectators. The Boxers though move very convincingly. The gameplay is pretty top notch stuff too with all fun of watching a fight on Sky Sports at 3 AM. Before each fight Michael Buffer, the so called and self proclaimed �Voice of Champions� does his little �Lets get Ready to Rumble� bit and then introduces the combatants including nicknames, weights and hometowns. The Multiplayer mode is also good fun and watching your friend screw up their face with every punch to the groin is pretty damn good fun! The music isn�t too good but then you don�t buy a Boxing game to listen to the music. The actual boxers talk trash all the way through their fights and the quality of all the sound is fun. The only real downside of this game is that after beating the gold mode with one boxer there isn�t really much to make you come back again and do it 19 more times. I suppose that the multiplayer might boost its long term appeal but with much more varied options in other beat-em-ups such as WWF No Mercy and Smash Bros R2R doesn�t really stand up to the competition it faces. Hence the lowering of the score. Ready to Rumble is all the fun of watching a grown man cry but the appeal fades after a few KO�s. 75% |
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