Eyes of the pixellated tiger in the review of Prizefighters

The fascination of boxing has not been too exploited in the videogame field, also due to the objective difficulty of replicating the mechanics of a boxing match with all its rules and rhythms.

Of brawls obviously there are plenty of them, but this is another question: the clash between boxers in a ring, beyond the romanticism that have always done as a necessary accompaniment to this ancient sport, is in fact a rather technical thing and not even too funny to translate into video games, in most cases.

So few are the simulations, and few even the reinterpretations in an arcade of this type of struggle, except for some rare examples.

The most famous and successful title of the latter category is definitely Punch-Out, the Nintendo series that originated with the old 8-bit NES and went on,

The concept is the same, and given the adoption of the same shot is clear that the structure is very similar to that of the original Nintendo: it is to face various opponents following the career of a boxer, with the clashes reproduced in a very intuitive and basic, but not for this not very demanding.

This is an arcade that does not try to realistically replicate the course of a boxing match but it leverage the timing with which to launch attacks and apply defensive maneuvers, while trying to manage the energy to overcome the opponent.

The shot is behind the fighter, which fully resumes the particular cut of Punch-Out and therefore makes the action somewhat similar to that of the model, although in this case we are quite far from the level of gameplay of the classic Nintendo .

CAREER WITH FISTS

There is a sort of career to follow that is essentially a long sequence of fights to face, with the ability to choose your opponent or accept any challenges for the defense of the title.

The combat system is based on simple touches on the screen, both for attacks and for defensive maneuvers: touching the top of the screen you hit the face or keep the guard high, the touch in the lower part corresponds to the attack on abdomen or low parade, while the different duration of the pressure determines the power of the attack and the movement of the finger on the screen instead allows to dodge in the chosen direction.

The game is therefore structured entirely on the use of the touch screen and this is good and right for a mobile title, being intuitive and accessible to everyone.

From here to the risk of trespassing in the simplistic the step is short, and in fact we can not say that Prizefighters demonstrate a great depth in combat or a particularly convincing strategic approach: in the early stages it is more profitable to hit blind shots by quickly tapping the screen rather that being attentive to the opponent’s movements and trying to anticipate their intentions,

but from the middle of the classification onwards it becomes necessary to better master the system, which poses difficulties because the “reading” of the meeting is always rather chaotic. In particular, the various bars are not easily visible while checking the opponent and the controls sometimes do not have a perfect answer, which prevents complete control of the confrontation.

Too bad for the lack of characterization of about 30 opponents that we are meeting: we can forget the particularities of every single opponent seen in Punch-Out, in short, because here every fighter is basically the same with some different pattern.

Interesting instead the addition of a certain progression that allows you to increase the score applied to the various characteristics of the fighter as a force, resistance, defense and more, so as to include the elements of deeper management of the protagonist.

because here every fighter is basically the same with some different pattern. Interesting instead the addition of a certain progression that allows you to increase the score applied to the various characteristics of the fighter as a force, resistance, defense and more, so as to include the elements of deeper management of the protagonist. because here every fighter is basically the same with some different pattern.

Interesting instead the addition of a certain progression that allows you to increase the score applied to the various characteristics of the fighter as a force, resistance, defense and more, so as to include the elements of deeper management of the protagonist.