Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2

"Ready to rumble or Ready to grumble?"

The Basics

Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 Is a boxing game for the Playstation 2, a nice sequel to the original. The style of boxing is very arcadey and a decent change from the normal (Knockout Kings etc.)

Gameplay

If anyone is familiar with the original (Round 1), it plays like the 1st. Along with the regular high/low left/rights, each character has special moves and short combos. When a player hits a good blow on the opponent, they earn a RUMBLE letter (sometimes more than 1). When you have completed the word, you can activate it and launch a combo of fast powerful punches on the opponent. This time round, the player has 3 levels of RUMBLE meter, each one doing a different combo. The first time you spell it, its a simple fast, powerful combo. The second time, its a faster, more powerful combo. The third time, you hit a punch so hard, it sends the opponent (literally) somersaulting over the top rope and into the stands for a automatic K.O.

Another good thing is the line-up of fighters, complete with their different fighting styles. Favorites from the first game remain, including Afro Thunder, Lulu Valentine, Jet ''iron'' Chin, Boris ''The bear'' Knockimov and many more. This coupled with the new faces in the tournament (Freak E. Deke, Robox RESE-4 etc) would be good enough, but Midway have really went all-out on this and included celebrity boxers, giving you the chance to pummel Michael Jackson, Shaquille O'Neal, The Clintons, etc. bring the total line up to 23.

Sound

Another thing that stands out about this game is it's excellent sound. From a amazing sound track, to the fighter's hilarious taunts, as well as the usual punch and knock-out sounds as well. Before each fight, Michael ''Lets Get Ready to Rumble!'' Buffer screams his catchphrase and introduces the fighters, who follow up by doing some funny smack talk to each other.

Graphics

The first game looked amazing, this looks even better. The fighter's gloves glow when in a RUMBLE, the crowd watch on from many different arena's, from ancient ruins to skyscrapers, to run-down gyms and massive arena's, this game looks brilliant. The FMV's are brilliantly put together and the menus are decent.

Controls

Basic, but effective. Triangle and Square are you left/right high punches, when circle and x are your lows. Each fighter moves around differently, with their advantages and disadvantages. For example, the skinny Freak E. Deke moves quickly around the ring, but his punches aren't too powerful and he has a short reach. The massive Butcher Brown, however, stomps around the ring at a slower pace, but he can reach further and his punches are more powerful

Lastabillity / Replay Value

Once you've beat arcade mode a few times, you've pretty much got sick of it. The only reason you'll play arcade mode is to unlock more hidden characters. Championship mode, is a bit more lasting. You start off as a no-name boxer in a run down gym, you end up as World champ in a whole new building. To do this you must train your boxer to increase his speed, strength, endurance, stamina etc. , by playing different fun mini games which range from skipping to aerobics, with loads more like speed bag, weight lifting etc. You win prize fights for money to buy (the surely illegal) Rumble mass and vitamin program, which increase your boxer even more. You'll play it to unlock new costumes, new boxers etc in single player, but when you've unlocked everything you'll rarely do single player again. Multiplayer, however is a different matter. With modes ranging from the simple 1 on 1 arcade mode, to the up-to-8-players tournament mode, and a whole host more, there's more than enough to give you're mates a good beating for a long time

Overall

I like this game, but the one thing that lets it down is its single player replay value. Still a good buy for the multiplayer modes etc though.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/01, Updated 07/05/01