Showtime Championship Boxing (DS)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 1.0 stars Terrible
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 2.5 (1.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Brian Ekberg
• Reviewed on: 11/12/2007
• Released on: 11/10/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Showtime Championship Boxing (DS) Review

Boxing games typically come in two flavors: the cartoon punchfests à la Ready to Rumble and the more realistic Fight Night-esque simulation games. With the release of Showtime Championship Boxing, you can add a new flavor to that list: an ugly mixture of both approaches that results in a fetid stew, heavy on the clunky animations and shoddy gameplay, and light on longevity and fun.

The list of things Championship Boxing gets wrong is a long one, so let's start with the good news. That would be the game's control scheme, specifically the moves that use the directional pad as well as the face and shoulder buttons. Yes, you can punch and block by drawing on the touch screen with your stylus, but the implementation is so imprecise that, as soon as you figure out that you can punch with the shoulder buttons, you'll set aside the stylus once and for all. With the button controls, you can sway left or right with the Y and A buttons, respectively, and block high and low with the X and B buttons. Your punches are regulated by a stamina bar that drains with each punch.

Okay, so the mechanics aren't that bad. However, once you put those controls to use in the ring, it's clear that Championship Boxing falls far short of the mark. You fight from a third-person over-the-shoulder perspective, and the vast majority of the boxing in this game is just you standing in the center of the ring and slugging it out with your opponent, while occasionally swaying left or right just to mix things up. Only in the final fights of a tournament do you need to really move at all, given that the game's artificial intelligence in the early and middle fights is simply brain-dead. The game's manual boasts of a sort of rock-paper-scissors approach to punches, body positioning, and blocking, but for the vast majority of the game, all you really need to do is punch. And punch. And punch.

Here's a fight sequence from a typical round: You and your opponent trade punches in the center of the ring, until one of you eventually backs off and the AI continues its vigorous punching routine, delivering a sound drubbing to whatever air molecules get in the way of his gloves. While your opponent continues to beat empty space senseless, you rear back with a hook (holding down the punch button will give it more impact). Eventually the AI decides to give up its vicious assault on nothing and ambles within your reach, which gives you the perfect opportunity to let loose with your fully loaded hook shot. If you back up a few steps, you can repeat this over and over until your opponent goes down for good.

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Showtime Championship Boxing (DS): $13.78 - $19.99

store	price	in stock?	rating
	$13.78	No
	$19.99	Yes

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