Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2

"Super Punch-Out!!, it ain't...but it's not bad."

I say that because Super Punch-Out!! is the best boxing game EVER. Moving along...

I rented Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 in the early days of the PS2 because I didn't have much money and I wanted to sample the then-small library of released PS2 games. I was familiar with the R2R boxing series (hell, all it takes is a brain and you're already familiar with it) so I decided to give this one a whirl. What did Starscream think? Well first he thinks he should stop talking in the third person. And now he'll move onto the actual review:

Gameplay - The controls in R2R:R2 are very simple, as you may have suspected. You have your dodge/block buttons, your punch buttons, and the analog stick to move around. Nothing too complex, right? Well it should seem that way, but even with such a simple configuration, the gameplay can still be rather frustrating at times. Sometimes you'll slam your thumb down on the punch button, only to realize in horror that your character hasn't moved, and the computer is moving in to wail away on your face. What I'm trying to say is that R2R:R2 can be unresponsive at times, but it's usually not too bad, just sticky most of the time. Like your brother decided it would be fun to spill apple juice all over your controller. Ha ha! You'll get him for that.

Graphics - The graphics are very nice in R2R:R2. As one would expect, they're very comical, exaggerated, and chunky, which is kind of fun to see. They look very smooth, and there's never any real clipping problems when glove meets face. Definitely R2R's strong point is right in this field.

Sound - The sound in R2R:R2 is awesome. The characters have small, occasional speeches before boxing that actually sound good, the music is VERY cool and catchy, and the Michael Buffer introductions are a really good touch. The grunts and groans in the ring are done well too.

Replayability - The controls have a tendency to make boxing annoying sometimes, and after you've played a few rounds with every character, and beaten the arcade mode a few times, R2R:R2's magic goes screaming down the crapper. The game has many hidden characters, and you unlock a new one each time you complete the arcade mode. However, the big gripe I have here is that the hidden fighters will often be your opponents (randomly) during the arcade mode, so the element of surprise upon unlocking one is completely shot. Considering most of the boxing styles are similar (skinny = fast and weak, big = slow and powerful), these hidden characters hold no real reason for unlocking them, especially if you already know who they are.

Rental/purchase? - I would say it's definitely a rental, and that's all. When I rented this game, I had almost every hidden character unlocked, gone through championship mode enough, and just grew tired of it. Why bother buying a game as predictable as this one? Regardless, it's a fun rental, but considering how many better games currently out there, you just might look at the back of Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2's box and keep going...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/21/02, Updated 06/21/02