Rocky

""You knocked him down, now how 'bout you try knockin' me down!""

First off I have to say that I'm a HUGE fan of the Rocky movies. You'll never see somebody with more heart or determination than Rocky Balboa. I heard that there was supposed to be a new Rocky movie in production, but it got cancelled because Sylvester Stallone wasn't allowed to direct it. On to the review....

Gameplay: 10/10- The gameplay is fantastic in Rocky. You start off as Rocky from Rocky I and progress through to Rocky V. As you can tell from the movies, Rocky becomes a much better fighter over time. Same goes with the game. After you win a fight, you get 2 sessions to train. You have 5 different options to choose from to train. There is strength(punching mitts), speed(speed bag), stamina(jump roping), determination(sit ups), and movement(punching bag). You can train yourself and get the opportunity to add 10 points to your stats or you can auto train and get 5 points. It is vital to get these stats as high as possible, because you will come across some tough fight. Before each fight you can can compare your stats to your opponents. This can be a very good thing, as you can see their weaknesses and strengths and you can improve yourself to be better than them. You will come across each main fight from each of the movies, Apollo Creed two times, Clubber Lang, Ivan Drago, and the infamous Tommy Gunn. There are also three sub fights, before you fight each "boss." So, there are 20 fights in the movie mode portion of the game. There are three different difficulties to choose from; novice, contender, and champ being the hardest. I really like the fact that the game is actually challenging at times. Other fighting modes include; Exhibition(vs mode) and Knockout tournament. Knockout Tournament will be unlocked after you beat contender. After defeating an opponent they will be unlocked to use in exhibition or knockout tournament mode. There are two hidden characters to be unlocked after beating contender and champ mode. But you'll have to figure out who they are for yourself.

Graphics: 8/10- The graphics are pretty good. Characters will bleed, sweat, and spit during fights. Although the proportions of their body may seem a little odd, it's not too big of a deal. You can tell how powerful a punch is by just looking at the body movements of the fighters. The arena, rings, and crowd are very detailed too.

Sound: 5/10- All you hear throughout the whole game is fighters grunting, the crowd cheering, and the famous Rocky theme song. *starts humming... dun dun duhhhh dun dun duh.*

Replay ability: 9/10- The replay ability is very good. Like I said before there are different difficulty levels to complete, hidden fighting mode, and hidden characters. This game is fun to play over and over by yourself or versus mode with a friend.

Final Notes- You should definitely go out and by this game. It's a good experience if you liked the Rocky movies. Heck, it's a good experience even if you don't like the movies. You will have fun playing this game over and over to become the best fighter around. Rocky Balboa lives on....

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/01/04