Background Info

Screens (8)

Mike Tyson's career is on the downswing, but don't tell Codemasters that. Mike Tyson Boxing is the latest boxing title to hit the PlayStation. The game offers up arcade style boxing in the squared circle. It features a single known boxer, Mike Tyson, and plenty of fictitious boxers in a variety of weight classes. Simple control schemes let gamers get right into the action, which features four game modes. But does Mike Tyson Boxing have what it takes to be crowned champion in the PlayStation boxing ranks?

Presentation/Graphics : 80
The graphics in Mike Tyson Boxing are perplexing. On one hand, some of the boxers look fantastic. Muscles are well defined and the skin glistens in the lights to simulate a sweaty body. Yet at other times the models are so crude they appear like an early PlayStation title. Where the boxer graphics may skip a beat, the venues don't. The rings have ropes that deflect when a boxer is up against them. Equally appealing is the canvas, which has plenty of extra logos and such. The crowd tends to be a little crude, but the rest of the environment looks good. When an overhead shot is used, you'll notice press tables filled with items.

There are only a handful of camera views available. The default view is an overhead view. For a 32-bit platform, it seems odd that Codemasters would utilize an overhead camera. It had me reminiscing about Activision's boxing title on the Atari 2600. The problem with this view is obvious. You don't get a sense of the action. While it is useful in predicting whether a punch will land or not, it is plain boring. Switching to a side view, another problem becomes obvious - punches are more difficult to successfully land. You'll swear you've made contact when punches sail by your opponent.

Animations are weak. First, the boxers appear to float across the ring. The boxers don't really walk or pace towards each other but rather take baby steps no matter how hard you push the stick. Once a punch is thrown, the animations occur at breakneck speeds. Headshots produce a shower of blood in an otherwise boring presentation.

Presentation/Audio : 20
What audio? This has got to be one of the weakest sound packages I have ever encountered. The only spoken word occurs at the beginning of a fight. The ring announcer introduces the fight and leaves. That's it. No blow-by-blow commentary, no between round analysis, no corner advice. Nothing. All you hear is the crowd and the sounds of boxing. Those sounds are OK, but you'll soon realize they can't carry the game. I ended up tossing an old Pixies CD in and completely gave up on the audio.

Interface/Options : 70
What audio? This has got to be one of the weakest sound packages I have ever encountered. The only spoken word occurs at the beginning of a fight. The ring announcer introduces the fight and leaves. That's it. No blow-by-blow commentary, no between round analysis, no corner advice. Nothing. All you hear is the crowd and the sounds of boxing. Those sounds are OK, but you'll soon realize they can't carry the game. I ended up tossing an old Pixies CD in and completely gave up on the audio.

Gameplay : 30
So does Mike Tyson have what it takes to be the champ? Unfortunately, no. The problems with the game far outweigh any possibility to enjoy it. Compared to the very good Knockout Kings 2001 from EA and the nice, upcoming HBO Boxing from Acclaim, Mike Tyson Boxing is crude. First, there are only 6 punches and 2 blocking moves available. Of the 6 punches, only 3 are even useful. The two body punches are virtually useless. You can't get close enough to your opponent to connect. An uppercut is equally difficult to connect. This leaves 3 head blows, such as jabs and hooks. The reason you can't connect with the body punches is because you can't close in on your opponent. Both boxers move at the same speed, and if you punch effectively, your AI opponent will duck and run. The game turns into a cat and mouse contest. I was always predicting where my opponent was headed and would try to cut him off at the pass.

Next, the modes are unbalanced. The Showcase mode is the 16-boxer tournament. The first bout is a three-round match with one-minute rounds. The next bout has two-minute rounds, and the final bouts have three-minute rounds. With two- and three-minute rounds, I could win with time remaining in the first round. I can think of only one time when the fight went the distance (that whole, whopping 3 minutes). With the exception of Tyson, the boxers fail to throw punches. I have had numerous contests where my AI opponent threw fewer than a dozen punches. In fact, I had one match where my opponent threw 2 punches and landed none. Also, the only boxer worth his salt in this mode is Tyson himself.

The main mode is the World mode, which is a career mode. You control one of the fictitious boxers in an attempt to become champ. This mode actually has some redeeming qualities to it. An options-based training program is included to improve your boxer's characteristics. The amount of training in a variety of areas (skipping, sparring, etc.) affects how tired your boxer is. You have to balance training with a healthy food diet to converge on an optimal state. Too much exercise tires your boxer, and too little makes him unfit. As you train week to week, you are either challenged or can challenge another boxer to a fight. Once in the ring, the World mode breaks down. The boxing difficulty takes a substantial jump up from the Showcase mode. Now I don't know if I just suck too much (my ranking never cracked the top 20), but each fight was limited to a three-round bout with one-minute rounds. The short fights amplify mistakes in the early rounds. If you lose the first round, you only have two rounds to play catch up. And the one-minute rounds further complicate it.

You can tell how well you are doing in a fight with the on-screen status bar. At the beginning of a round, a status bar is equidistant from the left and right of the screen and a score of 10 to 10 is displayed. As you connect with punches, the bar moves towards your opponent. Once it reaches a certain point, a point is deducted. Thus, you always know in advance what the score will be. If your opponent comes back, the bar moves towards your side and he regains his lost point. While great in principal, this has one flaw. The game screws you. If you outbox your opponent and push the bar far into his side, you have to keep the pressure on. If you let up, the bar creeps back to the middle. The same doesn't occur when you are down, however.

Also, as mentioned the game was sent to us without instructions. One thing I'm particularly interested in is some sort of super punch. It appears that as I failed to connect a punch, a small power meter would fill up for my opponent. Once filled, he was able to rattle off a couple of power-packed punches. This would happen even when I completely dominated the fight. That is, he could go the entire time without throwing a punch, yet if I missed enough his meter would fill. Then he'd unleash a big punch. What the heck? Not once did my meter break the quarter point. It was at this point I figured it was time to throw in the towel.

Replay Value : 20
Honestly, I won't be playing this game again. I'll never get back the three or four hours I devoted to it, but my warning to you makes me feel better about those lost moments in my life. I haven't been this disappointed with a game since Virtua Striker on the Dreamcast. I honestly thought this game had to be one of those new $10 budget titles. I was amazed that this thing actually retails for forty bones. There are simply better boxing titles out there. You work hard for your money. Don't waste it here.

Overall : 39
Mike Tyson Boxing aggravates more than it entertains. The boxing is uninspiring and downright boring. Mike Tyson should have put his talents to work here: he should have bitten off the fingers of the programmers. Don't get sucker punched with this one.