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Back to the hey-day? Boxing games are far and few between, which is a sad fact of life but it is very true. The best of the bunch are the Punch-Out duo, and everything else is either god-awful to solid, if unspectacular. To that end, I was interested to see if cel-shading would really work for boxing, and the answer, which should come to no surprise to anyone, is no, of course not. The graphics might be pretty solid, but the gameplay suffers, like most boxing games seem to do these days. Only Knockout Kings has managed to get beyond that level of mediocrity. This game is the epitomy of mediocrity.
Graphically, the game stands on its own quite well. The dynamics are very clean and crisp, and it shows that there is a future for cel-shading, even though Zelda will probably the spokesperson for this kind of graphics. What Black and Bruised does is use the cel-shading to give the game a much lighter feel, and it has plenty of clean, crisp detail to give it the right atmospheric feel as you go in to pummel the other guy into oblivion, or girl, I might add.
The controls are the weak point of the game. They are okay, but the hit detection is weak and response isn't the best thing ever. It might make things tougher gameplay-wise, but for all of the wrong reasons. Usually, the hit detection is managable, but expect some rather unfair fights coming your way, I'm afraid.
The sound is nothing special. It is what it is. The sound effects are what you would expect for boxing and the noises are pretty good on the whole. I wouldn't call it better than most sports games, but it does hold its own for the most part. Can get rather tinny, so watch it.
The game can be fun, but only when the odds are on your side. The fights are fun, but you might be throwing your controller at the screen because you clearly got hit unfairly or you didn't get a punch registered, which will turn off most boxing fans, who will go back to either Punch-Out or Knockout Kings.
I would recommend this as a rental. It has some depth and some fun, but you won't want to spend fifty dollars on a boxing game that doesn't offer a whole lot that you can get for cheaper in one of the two games mentioned above. -- Chris Vavra, PGNx Media
---- Mar 4, 2003
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