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Don King Presents: Prizefighter Review (X360)

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Don King Presents: Prizefighter Review (X360)2K
With two years to analyze and improve upon the Fight Night Round 3 formula, you would think that someone out there would be able to come out with a better, or at least equal, boxing game. And, yet, here we are two years later, and the first boxing game to challenge FNR3 is basically dead on arrival. Don King Presents: Prizefighter has a better career mode than Fight Night, but offers terrible gameplay with outdated controls and so-so graphics. Find out what went wrong right here.
Quick Hits

  • Title: Don King Presents: Prizefighter
  • Platform: Xbox 360
  • Publisher: 2K
  • Developer: Venom Games
  • ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
  • Genre: Boxing
  • Pros: Career mode; Don King’s ridiculocity-ness
  • Cons: Outdated controls; unrealistic gameplay; so-so graphics; poor animation

Before we get to the horrors of the gameplay, though, there are a few things Prizefighter does right. The career mode, where you create a fighter and then take him through the ranks, is actually very good. It has an interesting storytelling style where you see video interviews with Don King and others, and you also get to relive classic fights while your trainer tells you about the good ol’ days. The fights are also interesting during career because each fighter will have different strengths and weaknesses, your own fighter will face various trials, and some opponents will even try to cheat. Between fights you have to train to try and improve your stats. It is all surprisingly interesting, and is much better than the bland career in Fight Night.

In addition to career, you can play exhibition fights or play training minigames. There is also both local and online multiplayer as well.

Gameplay

2k
It all comes down to gameplay, though, and Prizefighter is an amazing disappointment. The controls are the first problem. They use button presses rather than the stick like FNR3, which isn’t an issue, but the controls are very complicated and have you holding buttons and pressing multiple buttons at once to throw different punches. It isn’t intuitive at all. There is also a slight lag between pressing a button and seeing the result, which isn’t a good thing. It plays more like a button masher than as a cold, calculated science.

Another issue is that your actions seemingly have no impact on your opponent. No matter how much you jab, they still wind up and throw haymakers anyway. You might stun them and they’ll stumble backwards, but as soon as they straighten up they start throwing bombs again. You can combo them in the face at the same time they combo you in the body. It is completely unrealistic.

My third issue comes from the fact that not only can you not impose your will on your opponent, you can’t effectively play defense either. There are no parries or counters here. You just block until your opponent stops punching and then start throwing your own.

Real boxing is interesting because it is all about control and making your opponent behave how you want them to. Prizefighter doesn’t reflect this at all, however, and plays more like a health meter controlled standard fighting game than a boxing game. If you know anything about real boxing, Prizefighter is a maddening game to play.

Graphics and Sound

Graphics are another area where Prizefighter suffers. The venues you fight in look okay, but the fighters lack detail and just don’t look all that good. The animation is choppy and not all that varied, which also impacts the fighting because it is hard to tell what punches are coming since they all start the same. Another issue is that the punches simply don’t sound or look powerful. The hit detection is terrible and punches regularly pass right through an opponent’s head.

The sound fares a little better than the graphics. The voice work is okay and there are plenty of Don King quips to keep you giggling. The announcers are pretty subdued, though, and the punching sound effects lack any sort of impact. The soundtrack is pretty good all around.

Bottom Line

2k
In a world where Fight Night Round 3 exists, Don King Presents: Prizefighter is a complete and utter disappointment. Even if FNR3 wasn’t lurking out there, Prizefighter would still have overly complicated, unresponsive controls, so-so graphics and sound, and a seemingly total lack of understanding of just what boxing really is about. Prizefighter is a punching game, not a boxing game, which sums up most of its problems. I can’t recommend Prizefighter. Buy Fight Night Round 3 and leave Don King Presents: Prizefighter on the shelf.

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