Loyalty to the films' narratives and characters isn't enough to keep this weak fighter standing
Rage Software's attempt at the Rocky franchise falls flat early on, often displaying environments that show great resemblance to their film counterparts, but are simply unappealing. The character models are mildly detailed, and though they never look out of place with anything (the ring, crowd, lip syncing, etc.), they often look rather ugly, possibly a result of the graphic designers being just plain lazy or they simply might not have had the resources to make the boxers look better.
Granted, this is one of the earlier PS2 games, and as such, they hadn't perfected the visuals yet, but that's a lame excuse for a beloved developer like Rage Software, a company who often displayed impressive graphic engines (for the time).
As a fan of the Rocky movies, I bought this game the first chance I could. Though I had fun playing it, once I completed the story mode, I was left yearning for a more rewarding experience.
There are four modes in the game: Movie, Exhibition, Knockout Tournament and a sparring mode.
The movie mode has you stepping into the boots of Rocky Balboa himself, allowing you to accurately re-create all the main fights in the films, as well as several bouts against competitors that are only briefly mentioned.
Corner segments between your boxer and his trainer between rounds are a nice little touch, and they add a sense of authenticity - even if the voices sound slightly exaggerated.
After every match with the main villain of the movie, an animated cutscene is shown, re-creating the last scene in that film. The system used for these animated sequences
works well enough, and it utilizes the in-game graphics.
These short videos are unlocked as soon as you finish watching them, and can be viewed in the main menu. After that, it's on to the next battle.
Multiple training mini-games can be played throughout Movie Mode. These serve as training sequences to upgrade your stats (Power, Speed, etc.) and are quite fun to play. Rocky can hit the speed bag, skip rope, punch raw meat and more. These are also the real exercises that Rocky did in the movies.
With the in-game graphics, the boxers - put simply - all look like the actors who portrayed them in the films. The crowds look slightly stilted and the animations are generic. Still, this is acceptable since you're not gonna be staring at the crowd the whole time...right?
What about the music? The Rocky theme - Gonna Fly Now by Bill Conti - plays in the menus, but other than that, there basically is no soundtrack. Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, Mr T. and Carl Weathers are some of the actors whose likenesses were used in this game, though none of them recorded voiceovers for their characters; they are instead replaced with sound-a-like actors who can just barely imitate them. It's so bad that some cutscenes use sound clips taken directly from the films. In the ring, aside from grunts, taunts and chants, there's little voice acting during gameplay.
The gameplay itself is quite simple: You move your boxer with either the left analog stick or directional keys, and a wide variety of combos can be executed via the four face buttons - upper body punches are done with square and triangle, while lower body strikes are utilized with X and circle.
The Knockout Tournament mode is self-explanatory; You fight through match after match, until you win the tournament. With changeable difficulty levels and the option of two players, this mode can be very challenging and allows to put your skills in the ring to the ultimate test.
The Exhibition mode is also very self-explanatory; It consists of two boxers in the ring, and a set number of rounds. Whoever is standing after the final bell rings, is the victor. There are several options players can change between matches: Time limit, number of rounds, etc. Also, there are many venues from the films you can choose to fight at. You start off with a small number, but more can be unlocked over the course of the game.
Lastly, we have the Sparring mode, where you choose a fighter and practice moves with either another player or a CPU-controlled partner.
Final verdict: This game isn't good, but it isn't totally awful either. I spent most of my time with the game groaning through the overly drawn-out Movie Mode, waiting for it to be over so I could unlock all the characters. While playing the insanely frustrating difficulty in many of the matches, I often found myself using cheat codes. I didn't want extra punch power or anything like that, I simply wanted the matches to end quicker. To be blunt, if you're not a Rocky fan, then you should only try this game if you find it at a flea market for two dollars.