NGAMER #35 – Wii Review – Ready 2 Rumble Revolution

(NB. There are no screenshots for this review as Geraint broke the screen grab machine thingy)

READY 2 RUMBLE REVOLUTION – REVIEW
Coming out of retirement for another round…

You may remember the Ready 2 Rumble series on Dreamcast – a ‘comedy’ brawler whose biggest star was Michael Buffer, the foghorn-voiced ringmaster who became a playable character in the sequel and… oh, you want to know about this Ready 2 Rumble? Well, there’s not much to say. The original formula is about a decade old and this update merely includes Wii controls and oddly placed celebrity cameos. A boxing game? On Wii? Ker-ching!

Ready to fumble
Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution is a cartoony scrapper featuring rubber-limbed, plasticine-faced boxers. There are various modes: Arcade for a quick scrap, Minigame for practising training regimes and a deep Career mode where you can create your own boxer and get him to the top of the rankings. There are also multiplayer tournaments if you’re too chicken to chin your mates in real life. Wii Sports Boxing is what every Wii boxing game is judged by and with good reason – it works.  Here, as in Wii Sports,  you hold the remote and nunchuk like you’re protecting your purse, but unlike in Wii Sports, the view is side on, similar to Street Fighter. The analogue stick moves your boxer and thrusting out each hand enables you to jab, while jarring your hands sideways results in a powerful hook.

There are plenty of moves to absorb from the tutorial, but when it comes down to the fighting it all goes out the window as you miserably flail your arms in the hope of a hit. There isn’t any room for tactical fighting because your opponent will charge you from the off leaving you frustrated as you try to land that decisive punch, only to have your Beckham caricature mess about and get floored. Your only real hope is charging up the Rumble meter to maybe land an instant KO, but this over-reliance exposes the game’s lack of finesse.

There’s no logic to any of the celebrity characters apart from having a cheap laugh at people currently in the public eye. Jack Black? Arnold Schwarzenegger? Why not jam Mika or Gail Trimble in there? Original creations such as Afro Thunder were much better and had substance, which pretty much sums up this incarnation. Ready 2 Rumble wasn’t bad in its prime, but should probably think about retiring.

IN DETAIL:

OVERVIEW:
An old Dreamcast boxing game gets a celebrity update and Wii controls, but lacks any fighting spirit.

GRAPHICS: 6
Cowell and Sly Stallone look spot on, but backgrounds are cheap and lazy.
AUDIO: 6 Buffer’s calm, confident voice wins us over, but otherwise it’s stock punch noises and grunts.
GAMEPLAY: 6 It’s an OK party game and you can lose a few hours in Career mode, but it all soon wears thin.
INNOVATION: 3 It’d be great to throw all the Wii boxing games into a pit to see which one survives.

NG SUMMARY – 62%
The hunt for the perfect boxing game on Wii still ‘rumbles’ on (ho ho). We suggest waiting to see how Punch-Out!! fares before splashing the cash.