Don King Presents Prizefighter is the first boxing title to come out that has the potential to really compete with EA's Fight Night series. Up until now, no titles have even come close to knocking down EA's reign on boxing, and there's no other serious sports contenders other then 2K Sports, and they mean business. Venon Games previously developed Rocky Legends, which was a good first attempt at the boxing genre. Now they are coming back with 2K Sports backing them up. We had the chance to be on a call with Don King, Larry Holmes, Matthew Seymour (Executive Producer for 2K).
Don King says this game is all about life. The boxer, the promoter, the struggles, the pain, etc. Getting motivated when someone says you can't do it. It's all about what happens in life, not a script. Be focused, be committed was the attitude that went into making this game. "This game is reality and lessons of life". He even went as far to say this "beats any other game". And Don King even said he "loves the gamers!"
When Larry Holmes was asked how to win a fight he said, "Keep your cool. And the same should be kept when playing this game." 2K is going for realism only in this title. 2K proclaims this game has blood and sweat, and that's part of boxing. However, this game does not have slow-mo blood, because that's not boxing. The gameplay is said to be a little more easier to play then the Rocky series, which is probably a good thing.
There's online play, and a fighters club online. One mode that stands out is the Single Elimination Tournament where 8 players join up at once and duke it out. There's also a separate tournament leaderboard, that's looking to get gamers hooked. The career mode will have temptations that will alter how the next fight goes. More sports games may follow this in the future. This game isn't just boxing. It's more about life. An example would be getting positive media attention will give you more crowd support, etc.
2K picked up Jim Lampley and Emanuel Steward to do the play-by-play and color commentary. Some of the licensed fighters in this title include Larry Holmes, Shannon Briggs, Kelly Pavlik, Joe Louis, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. 2K Sports also keeps it real with Everlast, Grant, and CompuBox licenses.
While making its appearance on the Xbox 360 first, owners of the Wii and DS will have to wait till this Fall for Prizefighter. PS3 owner? Well PS3 owners are completely shut out. Take-Two is giving Xbox 360 gamers yet another reason to taunt die-hard PS3 owners (at least for now). If this game is as good as BioShock was, I'm betting PS3 gamers will see this title soon.
The bottom line is, can Don King and 2K Sports knockout EA? Stay tuned for the full review!
For more information, check out the
official Prizefighter website.
