Gaming Target - Game Boy: Boxing Fever

Written by Kyle Williams on November 06, 2001

Review: ... is a lot better than Saturday Night Fever.

Every once in a while someone comes along with a new perspective on an old idea. Majesco and Digital fiction have done just that with their fantastic boxing simulation: Boxing Fever. Boxing Fever successfully blends a cartoon look and feel with innovative gameplay into a truly revolutionary gaming experience.

First and foremost, Boxing Fever successfully does with graphics that which few Game Boy Advance games have. Most GBA games fall prey to the fact that the screen on the handheld is so small. The graphics of these games often become obscured and/or look dark on the non-illuminated screen. Boxing Fever, with its first-person perspective, fills the screen with humorously animated characters wherein no detail is lost.

The graphical style works great for the game and is reminiscent of the classic Punch-Out boxing games on the NES and SNES. The characters each have their own distinct look (actually, it should be "looks," as each boxer has three different ones that you will find). To accompany the great graphics are stunningly appropriate sound effects. Everything is there, from the ringside announcer to the sound of air leaving your gloves on contact with your opponent's head. Aesthetically, this game is near flawless.

The general gameplay experience is also well above par. The controls are both simple and intuitive and make it easy to just sit down and play. At the same time, you need to practice to be able to take full advantage of what your fighter can do. The controls give this game an appeal to gamers of any level and the difficulty level of your bouts can be adjusted to fit your level of expertise. The best feature of this game is arguably the two-player link mode. This head-to-head battle is where all of your replay value can be found.

The only real drawback of this title is that the single player experience is just too short. There are only a total of 10 boxers available in the game, which is respectable, but the championship mode just isn't enough gameplay. What this title could have used was a career mode in which you had to build up your ranking and be offered a chance at various titles.

If you have a friend (or friends) to play against then it compensates for the minimalist single player mode, otherwise you just need to work on your fighting technique and fight your way through the championship mode at the championship difficulty level.