Gameboy Color ~ Knockout Kings Review

Overview

Knockout Kings is the EA Sports series of boxing games. As the "kings" in the name suggests, we have a bunch of legendary boxers in the game including the likes of Muhammad Ali to boost this game's popularity. All of EA Sport's first lineup of Gameboy Color games like FIFA and NHL had a 2000 on the end of it. Knockout Kings here doesn't have that. So why is that? Knock yourself out by reading on…

Gameplay

The game is played in a birds eye view where you can see all of the boxer's body giving us the desired 3D gameplay effect. You can move your boxer in any direction. Each boxer will have the standard stamina meter. To box is simple. One button for jabs, the other for power punches. No blocking or ducking. Each match is 5 rounds at 1 minute each. You can win by the 10 count, 3 KOs in a round which is a TKO or judge's decision. The moment the match begins, your first instinct is to stick your face right up the other guy's snob then jab and power punch hardout to wear their stamina down. And yes, that is what I do and I can't really see another way of playing it, because any other way is going to let you down badly seeing if you backed off, you're giving a chance for the other guy's stamina to recharge. We can't let that happen can we? Throughout the match, these green objects appear on the canvas for you to pick up. Drink bottles replenish your energy, others probably increase your strength or speed. They're unrealistic to have in the game, but acceptable for this game's nature. There were many times where I felt ripped off, where when you knocked the other guy out for a 10 count and it looks as if he's dead, but DING DING! It's the end of the round and the match goes on. Talk about being saved by the bell.

7 out of 10

Graphics

All the boxers have skinny little bodies with huge as heads. Seeing this is a handheld game, their heads would have to be big so you could see their faces. Then again, why make their bodies so small? When you move the boxers around, their legs don't move at all, so they're more or less skating in the ring. The crowd are just big heads themselves that wriggle around repetitively. They're coloured black & white to give a night fight effect, but I still prefer colours.

4 out of 5

Sound and Music

The punching sounds are fairly messy. During matches, the crowd only make noise whenever someone gets smacked hard, then mute all of a sudden. The realistic Mils Lane refereeing voices do restore some credibility.

3.5 out of 5

Versatility and Playability

The only versatility involved is in the career mode where you get to improve 3 of your boxers stats before every match: strength, stamina and speed. Sadly none of it is interactive, you just pick heavybag, jumping rope and speedbag that each correspond to the 3 stats, then you can watch them train for however long you want. There is 2 player link-up, but I'd rather just play imaginary boxing with someone else.

2.75 out of 5

Options

Slugfest is where you pick one of the big name boxers like Ali, Oscar Dela Hoya and Sugar Ray Leonard, then fight all the other big name boxers. Lose a fight and it's over. Career is creating you own boxer, and fighting a bunch of funny name boxers. Danny Boy, Zan Man, Terrible Tony to name a few. You work your way up by improving your 3 stats and try to become the world heavyweight champion, something I couldn't bother doing after 7 tedious fights. Thank goodness there is password save. It's an ordinary set of game modes, nothing original. Not even 2 player link-up. To wrap up, you can turn KOs, powerups, sound and music on or off.

3 out of 5

For: big heads are funny, simple button bashing gameplay, Mils Lane, big name boxers, password save.

Against: gets tedious, messy sound effects, non-interactive training, unoriginal game modes.

An average boxing game. Starts off fun when you corner a guy and smash him down, but at the end of the day, there isn't anything original to keep you hooked. Call it Knockout Kings on ice if you want, they do skate in the ring after all.

So why doesn't Knockout Kings have a 2000 at the end of it? Beats me.