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Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Review
Noel Brady
00/12/0000
OK now it's the 64's chance to get ready to rumble, in this slightly dissapointing port.
Ready 2 Rumble was a truly great game and, along with the N64 version of Knockout Kings, it has proved that boxing games can be good. That said, this version of the game also goes to prove that you can't convert a stunning Dreamcast game to a less-powerful console without the title losing some of it's appeal, gameplay and overall presentation.
You've basically got three ways to play R2R to get the most fun out of it. The Arcade Mode just lets you jump right in and pummel somebody with any of the 13 characters that are available at the start of the game. The Arcade Mode is also how you'll get to the two player mode so you and a gaming buddy can quickly establish bragging rights. The Championship Mode serves as the career mode where you can take a boxer to the top of the R2R boxing universe. All of the modes are fun, but there's nothing like some head to head videogaming boxing to get your competitive juices flowing.
The Arcade Mode is straightforward and simple. Pick your fighter, learn the controls and proceed to whoop ass. Whooping ass in R2R is directly related to your mastery of the button and control system. Your C-buttons control your left/right hand and high/low punches in a very logical set up and the A and B buttons are used for defense to block and evade incoming fists. It's interesting that this boxing game might end being one of the best fighters on the N64, because you've got a variety of special moves and special attacks that use some complicated button and control pad/analog stick sequences. Just like your classic Capcom fighting games the fun doesn't start until you can use the special attacks with confidence. That's how you become dangerous.
Just like the Dreamcast version your players real power is increased when you throw six sucker punches and join the letters R, U. M, B, L and E to complete the word RUMBLE! It's now that your boxer's gloves begin to shine and Michael Buffer, the game's commentator, roars Rumblllllle! A whole new host of moves now become available to your chosen fighter. All fighters will be able to use a Rumble Flurry and will have increased speed during the five or so seconds of "Rumble Mode." The Rumble Flurry and other combinations available can knockdown all but the healthiest of opponents if the entire sequence of punches land cleanly. This is a very satisfying part of the game.
The Championship Mode is where you can take a fighter through the ranks of R2R's boxers, unlocking new fighters along the way. You start of with a choice of three fighters and a stake of cash. You pick your guy, name your gym and start your mission. You have 20 fights in which to advance to the higher class of fighters, designate by bronze, silver and gold. The challenge comes from the fact that you have to pay entry fees to fight other contenders, but you have to earn money through prize fights. Both title fights and prize fights count against your 20 fight total and there are 10 boxers you have to get through. Add to this that you also have to spend money training your fighter and all of a sudden you've got a heap of real world boxing problems that you have to deal with in this game. Like every other sport, the only thing that cures all is winning.
As you progress through Championship Mode you'll unlock new fighters that you can train to go along with the three you started with. Finishing the game means unlocking all of the hidden boss fighters that are usually the champions, or top contenders. You don't unlock the champs by simply beating them. That would be too easy. To finish the game, you'll have to take all of the regular fighters that you've unlocked and take them to the top. This adds up to hundreds of fights, even if you're good at the game. This is one area where R2R falls a little short because the tedium of knocking out the same fighters over and over again is enough to wear on anyone's nerves. Even though the boss fighters are simply badasses, that's a lot of game time for only a handful of rewards.
It's hard to say exactly what it is that makes Ready 2 Rumble so much less impressive than its Sega-flavoured sibling, especially when you consider that the game elements themselves are more or less identical in each version. The graphics are obviously not going to be quite so good but that's only to be expected - the thing is that the game just isn't that much fun!
Part of the problem lies with the controls. To start with, there are quite frankly too many of them. In Knockout Kings all the moves are accessed via the A and B buttons and the D-pad. This means that you can respond quickly, and hence pull off lots of combos. In Ready 2 Rumble there are six buttons (A, B and all the C buttons) and the D-pad to worry about; no matter how dextrous you are, you just can't move your thumb around quick enough to be truly effective. Which brings us to the other controls problem - responsiveness. To put it simply, they're not very responsive at all. This is something of a problem in the ring where it seems like your boxer is always a second or so behind the button presses, but it's even more obvious and doubly annoying in the training sections.
The graphics aren't that bad but it's just seems like a real pity when you run this game alongside the Dreamcast version. Knowing what this game could be is perhaps the hardest part of playing it. Where you get moving eyes and mouths in the DC version of R2R, you get dark, shadowed out areas on the N64 so as to obscure the fact that those eyes and mouths aren't animated. Really, all we're talking about here is detail. The moving body parts and boxing animations are present in the N64 game and very well done, but not as complete as those in the Dreamcast game. Meanwhile, a lot of the characters have lost some of their charisma with Afro not being half as cool as before and Butcher Brown looking a tad too hairy to be healthy.
While Ready 2 Rumble is not trying to be like Knockout Kings it's inevitable that it's going to be compared to that title as it's the only other N64 boxing game. And when you put them in the ring together Ready 2 Rumble just doesn't measure up. The gameplay is less polished, the controls too sluggish, the training downright annoying and there's no facility to customise your boxers. Need I say more?
