Rocky Balboa is a game to last only for strong Rocky fans.
The Bad: Horrible Loading times, commentary during fights,
Rocky Balboa is quite a fun game to play, but if you are a serious gamer, check well before buying it. I am quite a strong Rocky fan, but when I bought this game I felt a sense of 'I should have bought something else', the game gets boring when you don't know what you are doing but when you learn what button is assigned to what punch, the game gets interesting.
The Power moods are quite fun to get into. For example, If Rocky was being pounded in the corner by Clubber Lang, a button combination (e.g. Left, X + Square) will appear, and when pressed Rocky will throw a power punch. If it hits Clubber, Rocky will go into power mode where the screen brightens and makes you feel like Rocky is rushing with Adrenaline, his punch power and speed significantly increase and it is easier to take out Clubber...Its especially fun when you are pounding your opponent and get into a power mode while your opponents health is on low.
If you stay in power mode long enough and give your opponent a power punch to finish him, it hits him HARD (If the psp could rumble it would feel great).
If you have watched the movies then you will recognize the sequences which start before a 'Historical Fight'. for example when you Start a match (Street fight) between Rocky and Tommy Gunn, the bit from the movie will play where Tommy Challenges Rocky and provokes him by hitting Paulie (Rocky's Brother in law and best friend). There is also quite alot of fighters and Fight Venues (areas in which the fight is set).
Overall the Gameplay is good, but lets see the bad side.
Loading times are horrible, last time I counted the number of seconds passing and it was 42 seconds (not accurate) before the fight would start, to me, that is like forever when you are waiting to knock someone out in 1 minute (Fast Lane menu). If you are gonna play this game, make sure you have something quick to do (like take a bite out of your chilli cheeseburger) because waiting for the fight to load is very boring and I despise every second of it (10 - 20 seconds is fine, but over 40?).
Now for the commenting. Ok, the commentary is not so bad, but it can be annoying when the commentator says for example "A good shot from ... Rocky". Its like the character names are loading, other than that the commentary is not so bad. There is another factor which can make you feel regret for getting this game and that is getting knocked down, beginners will find it really hard to get back up when knocked down because you have to use the analogue stick to balance yourself and you have to time it right, but with practice it gets easier.
At first I regretted getting this game for awhile, but after learning how to play in 'Mickeys Corner menu', the game has grown on me and I like playing it from time to time. So i give this game a 7.5 out of 10.
Remember, think before you buy, if you have something better in mind, get that instead.