You know, for all the racing games I've covered over the years, I think last week was the first time I ever played a simulation racing game. This week I'm going to re-visit another genre I haven't touched in a while: arcade sports titles.
Arcade sports games are a love it or hate it kind of thing. In some respect, it's difficult to pin down what exactly an arcade sports title entails. At its most basic level, it's a sports game that isn't a simulation of the sport it represents. But I personally would take it a bit further. It's any sports game that doesn't even attempt to simulate the sport it represents. Obviously, RBI Baseball on the NES isn't anything close to a simulation by modern standards, but it was the best they could do at the time. Would you consider that sim style or arcade style? At any rate, I think it's safe to include any over the top, ridiculous sports titles in the arcade side of things. Games like NFL Blitz and NBA Jam are some of history's most beloved titles and I don't think anyone would ever call them anything other than arcade sports games. I reviewed NHL Hitz early on and I thought that was pretty solid, especially when playing with others. This week I will look at the boxing equivalent of those aforementioned games, Ready 2 Rumble Boxing.
First, let's talk a little bit about the characters. You name a stereotype, its represented here. The cover features main character Afro Thunder, who looks and acts exactly like you think he does. You've got a martial artist from Taiwan named Iron Jett Chin (the boxing puns are also strong here), a Mexican matador called Angel "Raging" Rivera, a cowboy named Stubby, you get the idea. Also unlockable are then-Lakers star Shaquille O'Neal and, I'm not making this up, Michael Jackson. Yeah, sure, whatever. They are called "Mr. President" and "The First Lady," but obvious Bill and Hillarly Clinton round out the list of "celebrity" characters. It was cute when the Clintons appeared in NBA Jam, but at this point the joke wasn't funny anymore. By the time R2RR2 was released (Oct.23, 2000), Bill was on his way out of office and we were weeks away from the 2000 election, which, as you all remember, went off seamlessly and without a hint of controversy. Sorry, for the side rant, I said no politics when I started this, so back to boxing. I didn't find the characters endearing or amusing, I personally chose Croatian brawler Boris Knockumov, a Russian stereotype that, again, looks and acts exactly like you think he does.
At least all of the characters play differently. Afro Thunder throws punches in bunches, while Boris throws slow but deadly haymakers. It did feel like all of the characters moved at a different speed, but it did seem like their endurance was all the same. They did take more damage from bigger punches though, so that's a positive. Controls were pretty simple, and they were relatively standard for boxing games pre-Fight Night. Two buttons for high and low punches, one left and one right. Pushing the control stick or d-pad in conjunction with a button changes the style of punch and using the shoulder buttons allow for blocking and slipping. I played the PS2 version and it worked ok there, but R2RR2 also came out on N64 and Dreamcast, and I can't imagine playing on those controllers was enjoyable. The hit detection is okay, and I never felt like I should have hit when I didn't. It almost didn't matter though because so much of the bouts are just spent standing in the middle of the ring trading. Circling and movement almost doesn't matter, especially if you get good at the blocking. It's just generally boring and there's nothing to make one fight stand out from the other.
There is a career mode, which is fairly limited but pretty standard for a sports title of this era. You pick a fighter and take them through a yearly schedule consisting of training, prize fights and title fights. The prize fights give you more money to use on better training, which allows you to increase statistics without decreasing others like normal training. The title fights increase your ranking, you start at 12 and work your way all the way up to the top of the rankings before facing the champion. Training allows you to select from a variety of activities to increase your strength, stamina, endurance and dexterity. You have exercises like heavy bad, speed bag and weightlifting, all of which have a mini-game attached to them. These games are fine the first one or two times, but they get boring quickly. Fortunately, you can simulate through these, which is a major positive. Other modes include Vs. mode, arcade mode and team battle. Arcade mode plays more like a tournament fighter than a boxing game, which is okay, I guess. The team battle mode is just a series of one-on-one fights, which was a little bit disappointing. Anyone that's ever participated in a combat sport knows anything other than a one-on-one fight is a big no-no in competition, it's incredibly unsafe. But remember, this isn't a simulation. It would have been fun to have a boxing battle royale and this would have been the perfect opportunity.
I really don't think there is anything else I can say about R2RR2, it's just not that interesting. The graphics are fine, but the sound is almost non-existent. The humor is loosely based on seemingly random stereotypes, modern fans might even find it offensive and even back in 2000, it wasn't really funny. The biggest selling point, or at least what Midway seemed to think was the biggest selling point, was the presence of Michael Buffer. He's all over the opening cinematic, appearing as his actual self amongst digitized characters and repeating his famous catch phrase over and over again. I don't get it. The game presents itself as zany, crazy and over the top, but the gameplay is grounded in reality, almost too much so. It's not bad, not by any means. The controls work and it provides enough to do that its worth playing for more than a few minutes. But R2RR2 doesn't do anything to stand out once you actually press play. I talk a lot about series' that die out and after playing this and seeing what would come with Fight Night a few years later, I understand why this one went the way of the dodo.
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