King of the ring? or flawed boxer? (Knockout Kings 2000 (N64))

Member Name: jamesmonkey4u

Product:	Knockout Kings 2000 (N64)
Date:	31/10/04 (190 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good graphics, Big selection of characters

Disadvantages: Can get boring after a while.

When this game came on to the scene there was one other main boxing game available called "lets get ready to rumble" a fun game which is more for casual gamers EA’S Knockout Kings, is more for the serious gamer who enjoy realism or so you would hope. EA are renowned for the FIFA serious some bad games, road to world cup1998 one of the worst games they have ever made, to FIFA1999, which was a much-improved version, so have EA brought us a knockout or a blow to the ribs? Read on to find out.

How to play
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Most people will have seen boxing at some point or another, probably on one of the "rocky" films. In boxing you have to either knockout you opponent out or if you knock them down three times in a round you automatically win, or you can win on points, if you complete the entire 12 rounds of boxing. You can play this game on 3 different difficulty settings Easy, Medium, or Hard. Easy is for beginners or for people who haven’t played computer games before. Medium and hard modes are more for the more serious gamer that have played games regularly.

Controls
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The controls are quite easy in this game and don't really take much mastering, but there are combo's which do take a little bit of getting use to. You use the control stick to control the boxer during the game. Pressing B releases a weak punch. Pressing A releases a stronger punch. If you press A/B together and up you will do an uppercut, if you press A/B and down you will do a body punch. You hold the Z button is used to defend and up down left or right depending on which section of the body you want to defend. There are more complicated moves where you have to hold buttons together in combinations to achieve higher level damage, for example is you press Z/A together and up down left or right you can do a Overhand punch this will damage the opponent a lot more then normally.

Game-modes
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They are three different game modes, Quick start, and Slugfest and Carreer boxers.

Quick start
This is where you can get a fast and it will start almost straight away just pick your character and off you go.

Slugfest
This is where the fights will last a longer time, which in some ways makes the game feel more realistic, but there are options where you can make knockouts available in this option and also change the difficulty settings.

Career boxer
Have you ever wanted to be the champion of the world then here is your chance you have to battle your way through a selection of real life boxers and win to become the supreme boxer!

Multiplayer
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Up to four people can play this game at once this is good fun but can become a bit repetitive and a bit confusing because usually it ends up as 3 on 1 usually against me. But being able to beat your friends is good fun and worth a go.
Extras
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Create a player
They are many games which have this feature from the wrestling games to the FIFA games, this is a good fun feature you can make either a male or female character with there own characteristic's.

Training
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This is where you train your fighter to increase there boxing abilities so you can become a more successful fighter. Before each fight you have a chance to increase your fighters skills either Offense Defense or just a quick train. This is a good feature and makes you feel more the part of the boxer, which increases the realism factor even though this does get a bit repetitive.

Characters/Arenas
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There are 25 playable real life characters, Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, and the legendary Mohammed Ali These are very realistic looking characters, and the movement is very good The punching and the reaction of the fighters is free flowing not like the FIFA games were the movement sticks. The Arenas are very detailed and the rings like very realistic. You in venues like Wembley Arena and Caesars Palace they are many other arenas.


Graphics
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The graphics come across pretty good, the characters look like their real-life counter parts, the punch and movement of the legs is realistic. This Arenas are quite impressing looking, the rings look basic but they do their job well and the effect of the ropes is good.

Sound
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You get a lot of funky music in this game that works well and gives you the feel of attitude from the characters. The sound effects are very nice The characters sounds are good you can hear the pain in there voice when the fighters are working hard or being hit a lot, the sound of the punching is also good
Gameplay
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This is the main factor in all games if this isn’t good no point playing right? Ask all the FIFA players. The movement of the characters is fast and the responsive and looks realistic the punching looks good and feels good the buttons work well, even though some of the combo’s and special moves can be hard to pull off, the controls are pretty good overall.

Likes
The graphics are great. I really enjoy giving my friends a good knock about. Control system works well is easy to use.

Dislikes
this get will get a bit boring after a while because they are not many different modes, to be honest there is much they could do with this game.

Overall
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I am quite impressed with this game it delivers just not graphically but an all round enjoyable fit which is super realistic and the movement and sound only add to the atmosphere, The controls are simply and most beginners should be able to play this without much of a problem. If you want just a fun game this isn’t really for you but if you want something of a good standard which is for serious gamers or for fans of boxing its real good fun playing this against friends. I would recommend mend this game it’s a class game and I have been playing it for a long time. 4 out of 5 stars
I first wrote this review on ciao.co.uk Under then name Jamesmonkey4u

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