I’ve been playing boxing games for many years, starting with George Foremans KO boxing on the SEGA Megadrive all those years ago! Now I’m a big fan of Fight Night Round 3 on the Xbox 360, and there is really no comparison between the two games as things have progressed. So with Fight Night Round 3 being released nearly 2 years ago I was expecting big things from Don Kings ‘Prizefighter’.
Sadly I was disappointed as not only have things not progressed, they’ve taken a few steps back! The main problem is that the gameplay is incredibly clunky, and your opponents health completely restores at the end of each round to make it very hard to knock them out. The graphics are detailed, but they are no where near the same quality as Fight Night.
However, apart from the fundamental problems there are some nice touches. There are 40 current fighters including the likes of Joe Calzaghe and Kelly Pavlik, there are some unique training games, commentary by Jim Lampley and Emanuel Steward, and there are a whopping 22 venues! But the part of the game that really impresses is the career mode, which integrates a rags to riches story in the shape of a sports documentary featuring a host of boxers, celebrities and of course Don King himself. This is a trick that the EA version has touched upon but missed out big time!
Ultimately the game has some nice touches that I hope they include in the next installment of the Fight Night Series (due for release in 2009), however the gameplay is clunky and frustrating which unfortunately ruins the whole experience. Shame.
Author:
admin
Posted in: Boxing Games
Tags: Don King, Fight Night Round 3, Prizefighter, Xbox 360
