| “Yo, Adrian! I
did it!”
Little did Apollo Creed
know, way back in the mid-70s, that when he gave an underdog
fighter the chance to compete for the biggest title in the
world of boxing that he would be opening a can of
mythological proportions.
The story of Rocky Balboa,
the southpaw from Philly, has been chronicled through five
movies. From his rise as a collector for a loan shark and
hack fighter working for peanuts to the pinnacle of the
boxing world and back to the beginning, Sylvester
Stallone’s series has been a feel-good cinematic ride.
Ubi Soft and Rage have
partnered to bring the story of Rocky to the GameCube
with wonderful results. This is a boxing game, pure and
simple, but players can chart Rocky’s progression from
street fighter to the upper echelons of the international
boxing community.
Apollo, Clubber Lang, Ivan
Drago and Tommy Gunn are all here, all wonderfully captured
and animated for the game. The game even uses dialogue,
though voiced by other actors. With the possible exception
of the voice work for Mick (portrayed by Burgess Meredith in
the film), the voice work is excellent. And of course,
powered by Bill Conti’s memorable theme, and other tracks,
the musical score works quite well.
If there is a setback to
the game, it is the lack of venues early on. Rocky, even
after beating Apollo (if you are good enough you don’t
have to wait until Rocky II comes along to accomplish
the task), there seems about three sites that Rocky fights
at. Although much better than the high school gyms (they
must be fieldhouses but look like gyms) and backstreet
boxing forums that he begins in, they still aren’t quite
what is expected for the heavyweight boxing champion of the
world.
The game has several modes
of play. There are the exhibition mode (as you fight and
unlock boxers, they show up in this venue and you can have
any matchup you wish), the movie mode (track Rocky’s
career through the five films), a knockout tourney (you have
to complete the movie mode in order to unlock this feature),
and sparring mode (learn the controls while tagging an
opponent who is there for precisely that reason). There is
also a gallery that is progressively unlocked as you move
through the movie mode. While not featuring movie clips
(well, there are a few), it does feature the animated
characters re-enacting the critical scenes from the films.
The movie mode is by far
the most enjoyable feature of this game. Rocky, the
game, begins the same way that Rocky, the film, began
– with the battle against Spider Rico. There are several
fights that take place before Apollo picks Rocky for the big
fight.
“You wanna fight the
fight? Yeah, I’ll fight the fight. Get my brains kicked in
…”
Between fights, Rocky has
to train. You can auto-train, in which points are added to
one of five critical areas (strength, speed, stamina,
determination and movement), twice between bouts. In fact,
you have to train twice. If you don’t select auto-train,
you can train yourself, with the opportunity to do better
than in auto-train mode. You can also do worse. At the end
of each fight, two categories are docked points.
Every fighter mentioned in
the movies is represented in the game. As you progress,
regardless of the difficulty setting, the fights get
progressively harder. You can take a monster like Clubber
Lang (who is highly rated in each category) and go in
against a pug like Spider Rico, and if you are playing at
the contender or champion setting, you will have a real
battle on your hands.
The control elements have
been kept relatively simple and are easy to use. If you get
knocked down, you have to vigorously tap the A button to
generate enough energy to heave your bloodied body off the
canvas. This is a reflexive game. See an opening, know what
controls trigger which punch and fire away.
The graphical elements are
very good. Even though you can score a knockout by pounding
a guy’s shoulder (guess that is it supposed to be his
head), you can’t just flail away. Hooks to the body and
head can be devastating; a well-timed upper cut will lift
the opponent off the mat and into the ropes; ducking,
bobbing and weaving will open up sections of the body for a
quick combination. Rocky’s looks change as the game
progresses.
This is an exceptionally
well-done game that does a remarkable job of mimicking the
movies. With solid sound effects, terrific graphics and
challenging fights (how can they say, in Rocky III,
that he is fighting a bunch of nobodies? – those guys have
power and speed and can rock your world), this is a game
that is certain to score well on the cards of fight fans, as
well as fans of the films. Ubi Soft and Rage touched gloves,
came out fighting and delivered an entertaining title.
This game is rated Teen for
violence.
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