There comes a time in every boxers life when they have to realize it’s time to hang up the gloves. Unfortunately, it’s never an easy thing to do, despite the apparent fact that they just can’t hang with the new school crowd. Atari and Aki’s resurrection of the Ready 2 Rumble boxing series,once the king of arcade boxers, tries to jump back into the ring on the Wii. Can the game relive it’s past glory? Or will it be K.O.’d in round one? Here, we explore Ready 2 Rumble Revolution.

Gameplay

It’s almost ten years since the last time we’ve seen the series, and while I don’t necessarily expect it to grow up, I did expect the humour to mature with the growing market just a little bit.  Instead, this is the same game you played back in the day, only it lacks the charm and charisma of the original. This is a game that tries too hard to be what you remembered it being, and fails to achieve even the slightest bit of nostalgic bliss. Essentially, all Revolution brings to the table is some lame caricatures of celebrities and the most offensive attempt at motion controls seen on the Wii yet. 

The game tries too hard to be what you remembered it being.

Unresponsive motion controls hamper what could have been a mildly amusing title, and make it almost unplayable. I’m not just talking unresponsive in the mild sense, though. This is a game that doesn’t pick up roughly half of the motions you make. Boxing is a sport that really requires you to stick and move and do it quickly, I might add. Unfortunately, the controls don’t seem to realize this. Defensively, when you tilt the remote back to lean away from a hit, more often than not, you’re character won’t move. In fact, most of the defensive moves here don’t work out the way they should. Players who rely on good defensive skills to win, will almost certainly be defeated right out of the gate, thanks to a serious lack of precision in the defensive controls. Really, blocking, which is done by pressing the Z or B buttons, is pretty much the only way to defend yourself with any kind of consistency. Unfortunately, just blocking makes picking your spots for a counter punch much more difficult than it should be. A decent duck and weave mechanic is almost a necessity, and unfortunately, you just won’t find that here. There are some that will likely brush off the fact that you can’t land a decent counter, but as any fan of boxing can tell you, this is a serious detriment to the game. Counter punches in a boxing match are usually difference makers. They’re as important to boxing as wheels are to automobiles. The inability to hit them with any precision thanks to  poorly implemented controls is like fitting a Ferrari with tricycle wheels. Sure, you can work it, but it’s so ineffective, what’s the point?

As terrible as the defensive aspects are, boxers can’t win without throwing punches, and here, the game once again utterly fails. Hooks, jabs, and uppercuts are all basic maneuvers that should be relatively easy to pull off in a boxing game. Wii Sports proved it. Victorious Boxers mad it workable, despite its other issues, but Revolution just can’t seem to swing it. Jabs are simple enough, as you’re just swinging the Wii remote forward in a straight motion, but adding in even the slightest variation can be problematic to say the least. Hooks are the biggest problem, as the Wii remote just doesn’t seem to pick up the motion of swinging out and in very well. I have to question if this is just a programming problem though, as the other titles I’ve mentioned managed to work with a decent, if not always accurate control method. Uppercuts are easy, but take so long to fire off, that your opponent will get the drop on you before your avatar has even wound his punch back. Yes, I know you have to pick your spots, and that timing is everything, but this game doesn’t understand that simple concept at all. 

You can exploit your boxers power move by 
infinitely taunting your opponents

All this makes it sound like it’s almost impossible to win a fight. Well, thankfully you can exploit your boxers power move by infinitely taunting your opponents. What’s even better, the AI knows this too. In fact, upon starting a match, you’ll notice that the opponent won’t immediately move in for a punch. No, they’ll stand in the corner and mockingly taunt you. Not once, not twice, but nearly 5 or 6 times, if you let them and with controls that are this poor, it’s almost hard not to. It’s almost like you’re being punished for attempting to play fair. That is, until you realize what’s happening and start making with the cheap tactics yourself. It’s that, or avoid the single player altogether and try and slog it out in multiplayer, which is far more balanced because neither you or your friend will be able to suss out the controls enough to gain a clear-cut advantage.

There are quite a few modes to spend your time with in the game. You can play through the Arcade, Tag Team, Training minigames, and Tournament modes. The one area that you’ll likely spend most of your time however, is Championship mode. This is where you can create your own boxer and take him to the top of the boxing world. Unfortunately, it’s just another unpolished mess. Repeatedly confirming that the choice you made is correct make this an asbolute pain to play through. Training your boxer will be infuriating for most as the minigames suffer from the same terrible registering of the controls that the actual fights do. This is where the lack of an alternate control scheme really hurts, as levelling up your boxer when only half the minigames work is extremely tedious and difficult. There is some fun to be had while training, though, as one or two of the minigames do work. Not as well as they’re supposed to, but they’re the least broken aspect of the game.

Graphics & Sound

Visually, Ready 2 Rumble is exactly as you remember it. The character models are essentially overly cartoony, in an over the top kind of way, which suits the arcade feel of the title. It’s not the best looking game on the Wii by a long shot, but it’s a decent looking game, all things considered. The animations are smooth, and punches give the effective impression that you’ve landed a significant blow to your opponent. Boxers also display damage as the fight progresses. It’s not nearly as exaggerated as Facebreaker, but it’s a decent touch that’s appreciated.

Punches give the effective impression that you’ve 
landed a significant blow to your opponent

The sound is a mixed bag. In Championship mode, it’s god-awful. The trainer and your promoter are both absolutely grating. In arcade mode, however, the voice-acting isn’t that bad. Michael Buffer is once again doing the ring announcing, and the celebrity caricatures are decent, though still repetitive. The music is another dull and uninspired mix of generic fighting game fare, which is unfortunately all too common when it comes to Wii titles.

Value

If you’re planning on playing Revolution at all, the best way to do it is in multiplayer. This is the only way to milk any real value out of the title. The frustrating AI, and seriously dreadful controls will make this hard to stomach for anyone going it alone. Championship mode does offer quite a few unlockables, but that means you’ll have to spend some serious time with the game, which I only recommend if you’re really into self-torture.

Conclusion

Ready 2 Rumble Revolution should have been a contender. However, the stale humour that was mildly amusing in 1999, doesn’t fly nearly as well here, and the controls manage to K.O. this title before it even steps through the ropes. Unfortunately for arcade boxing fans, this is one title that’s down for the count by its own inability to move the series an inch forward. Instead, what most will see here is a disastrous attempt to relive past glories, and one that grievously displays how little effort was invested into making a worthwhile comeback.