Greatest Heavyweights

"Like Real Deal, only better!"

Greatest Heavyweights was a sega sports game released in 1993 for the good ol' Genesis.The game is sort of a sequel to Evander Holyfield's ''Real Deal'' Boxing which was released before it.Suprisingly, it is a very solid game and it is somewhat of an under rated title that was unfortunately not as well known as Real Deal.The game had MANY improvements over Real Deal.Lets get on with the review, shall we?

GRAPHICS:9/10
The games graphics are very impressive for a genesis title.The game uses a side view perspective and gives a detailed, close-up
view of the action.The characters are very nicely drawn with great detail, Even the people in the crowd have good detail aswell.Animation of the fighters is also nice and smooth, at least for its time anyway.I think the graphics have improved slightly oven real deal by adding more detail to the sprites.All in all, I think they did a nice job with the graphics which is why I give it a nine.

SOUND:8.5/10
For the Genesis, especially for back then, the sound is absolutely outstanding!The digitalized voices are very clear and understandable unlike some OTHER genesis games which shall remain nameless *cough*alteredbeast*cough*cough*.Anyway, the game uses many authentic punching and grunting sounds aswell as the voices, they even have the voice of Michael Buffer, The guy who always announces at real boxing matches.There are also the voices of the fighters who say a variety of insults such as ''Panzy!'' and ''Mama's Boy!''.The Heavyweight Champs each have their own set of insults to use to humiliate their opponents.This could get annoying after awhile for some people, but it didnt seem to bother me any.I give the sound a thumbs up.

GAMEPLAY:8/10
If you have played Evander Holyfield's ''Real Deal'' boxing, then you will surely be no stranger to the gamplay engine itself.The big difference here is that Greatest Heavyweights supports the six-button controller unlike real deal and gives you a wider arsenal of punches.The A button is the left jab, the B button is to block and the C button throws a right hook.Then there is the X button which
is a powerful left uppercut and the Z button which launches the right uppercut.No problems with control here, Everything is quite responsive and not to hard to learn.The directional pad moves you
forward and back and lets you go for the body or pound the guy's face, If you hit the guy in the face enough, he will get a bloody cut or the occasional black eye.The game has three energy bars,
one for torso energy, one for head energy and your stamina bar which shows how close you or your opponent is to being knocked out.The game has some different modes for you to play,
there is a single fight exibition mode, a tournament mode which has you fight such greats as: Rocky Marciano,Mohammed Ali,Joe Frasier,Floyd Patterson,Jack Dempsey,Evander Holyfield,Joe Louis and Larry Holmes against each other and then there is a career mode in which you design your own character and raise his stats after each fight by performing exercises and different types of training.The career mode is my personal favorite and its alot of fun to see your characters progress.This career feature is a big improvement over real deal.
I almost forgot to mention that this game is 2 player so you and a friend can beat the living crap out of each other which is always a good time.The gameplay of greatest heavyweights is solid and is more refined then real deal.It is quite enjoyable.

Fun Factor:8/10
Its a blast, especially with two player action!You will have a good time in carrer mode making your own character, you can make some pretty funny lookin' guys with green skin and yellow mohawks if you want which is always entertaining.

REPLAY VALUE:7.5/10
The game has pretty good replay value in my opinon, you'll almost always want to break out the two player mode when you have a friend come over, and its a game that you'll have to play for awhile to beat in career mode.The game is one of those games that even after you beat it, you will always come back for a few short play sessions now and again.The game has a battery back up feature so you can always keep your progress and come back to it whenever you want.

BUY OR RENT?
I really think youll have a hard time finding this one for rent but even if you could id say buy it anyway.You can get this game rather cheaply on ebay for a couple of bucks so why not add it to your collection?

CONCLUSION:
Its a solid game with solid gameplay.Its fun to play and if you have a choice between getting Evander Holyfields ''Real Deal'' boxing or this, Without a doubt get Greatest Heavyweights! It is much better and is superior in almost every way.

FINAL SCORE:8/10
I enjoyed it and I think you will to.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/26/01, Updated 10/26/01