Knockout Kings
Score: 94% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: EA Sports Developer: Press Start Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Sports (Boxing)/ Fighting
Graphics & Sound: I was disappointed with Knockout Kings’ graphics -- the fighters are made up of large, chunky polygons and really don’t represent their real-life counterparts well. The sound consists of mostly grunts and thuds, crowd cheers, and voice samples from referees and your trainer(s) (which are pretty badly acted). One of the referees is Mills Lane, that cranky old judge dude. He was also the ref in the real-life boxing match when Mike Tyson decided to eat someone’s ear. No matter how hard you try, you cannot slug the ref. At least I haven’t yet.
Gameplay: Well, you can play as one of the many, many boxers included (my favorite is Butterbean), or you can create your own boxer and go up against the greats (which makes this game kick several cubic tons of ass). After creating the look and style of your boxer, go into the gym and practice. As you do, your attributes will increase, and you will slowly become more experienced. Start off boxing some of the scrub boxers (people I’ve never heard of -- probably Electronic Arts employees and programmers), and then work your way up to the big boys like Ali.
Difficulty: Knockout Kings is a little on the easy side, (at least when I box as myself, ahem). But the fun and exciting thing is, it only takes one good punch to lay out anyone -- even a Heavyweight can get laid out by a carefully placed haymaker thrown by a Lightweight.
Game Mechanics: You can throw several different punches like jabs, headshots, body blows, low blows, and my personal favorite, the haymaker. You can also duck, bob, and weave. The game has some very average graphics and camera angles that are worthless during most of the instant replays, but the game is a blast to play, and the create-a-boxer feature is so incredibly cool. Imagine making up boxers of you and your friends, co-workers, even your boss, and pounding the hell out of them. (Or better yet, make characters out of the Electronic Arts employees that shelved Thrill Kill and kick their asses). I would highly recommend Knockout Kings to everyone. Special Bonus For DexDrive Owners: Do you have Knockout Kings and a DexDrive? Would you like to test yourself against the employees of PSillustrated? (Or, do you want to beat the crap out of us for giving your favorite game a bad review?) Here is a DexDrive save that contains boxers in the image of Geck0, Ash (As “Sm-Ash” because there are no girl boxers in the game), and Glom. As a bonus, there’s a festive X-Mas Glom to pound on. So download us and work us over! Click here!
-Glom, GameVortex Communications AKA Pete Maher
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