Hands-onBlack & Bruised

Developed by Digital Fiction, the same team behind the handheld game, Black & Bruised is an over-the-top boxing romp, which features colorful, cartoon-shaded characters that are very much inspired by the Disney style of animation. Thanks to this distinctive art style, the cartoon-shaded characters are detailed, fully 3D models that retain a simple visual style while still showing off gradient levels of shading and highlighting. Another unique visual effect in Black & Bruised is the texture morphing, which will place bruises on characters' skin as fights progress, signifying where damage has been dealt. In addition, these textures also show where extra damage can be inflicted. In staying with the game's cartoon feel, puffs of smoke emphasize each punch when it lands.

Each character in Black & Bruised has its own complex facial animations, which relay important tidbits of in-fight information. Boxers will wheeze or gasp when punched in the stomach, shut their eyes and wince, open their jaws wide when nailed with a good hook, and even trash-talk in the middle of a round. Digital Fiction also has plans to let you shut down a loudmouth opponent with a snap punch to the mouth during midsentence.

Fighting in Black & Bruised has been developed with full analog control in mind. Each boxer's hands can be moved fluidly from a high guard to a lower guard and all areas in between. Each arm can also be reared back to put further leverage behind each punch, like a windup. Each boxer has straight punches, super punches, and uppercuts or hooks. The PlayStation 2 version of the game will likely also feature analog button control for varying strengths of punches. Movement around the ring is controlled with the right analog stick, and the game uses a predominantly close-in third-person perspective, although a first-person mode will be available for single players, such as that in Boxing Fever for the GBA.

We were able to go hands-on with a few of the fighters, which included a large loudmouthed individual, a swaggering Irish rapscallion, a belligerent, bald-headed convict, and a feisty blonde best described as a Southern hillbilly. Each character fit an easily recognizable stereotype, and their music and voice work during the prefight introductions were fairly comical. Trash talking and insults appeared to be the order of the day.

When the game is released, there will be 18 different boxers who can participate in each of the gameplay modes, including single fights, training mode, survival mode, championship mode, and two-player fights. Black & Bruised also features a boxer's life mode, which is basically a unique take on the traditional career mode. Boxer's life details the origins and early careers of the characters and how they became contenders. Cutscenes will directly affect the gameplay in a variety of ways. For instance, one of the characters may be indebted to a loan shark, and to pay off his debts he has to win a match in the third round, which forces him to survive the earlier rounds and ensure a victory at the predetermined time. Another character may be in a car accident before a fight and will have to protect his bruised ribs. By changing the play conditions, boxer's life mode offers a new twist on traditional boxing-game career modes.

While the preview version of Black & Bruised we played was still in the early stages of development on the GameCube, the game showed promise. We'll bring you more on Black & Bruised as we approach E3.