The Rocky series has deservedly cemented itself as one of the most iconic franchises of modern cinema. It naturally spawned a number of games over the years, with developer Survios turning out the latest efforts: the 2018 VR title Creed: Rise to Glory and Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions. The latter is a departure from the studio’s usual VR efforts, billing itself as a straight up arcade beat-em-up featuring 20 characters from the Rocky franchise.
Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions doesn’t feel like a true boxing title. It’s more of a cross between pure beat-em-up games like Street Fighter or Tekken and the more traditional boxing games like Fight Night. That’s no bad thing, either. Big Rumble Boxing fundamentally feels fun to play, despite some obvious limitations to the core gameplay. It’s an accessible game that features several difficulty options, but maintains a fairly bog standard control scheme throughout the game, allowing even boxing newcomers to pick this one up with ease.
What’s immediately noticeable with Big Rumble Boxing is its art direction. It’s perhaps the biggest departure from previous games in the Rocky franchise, featuring heavily stylised character models that have more than a passing resemblance to the fighters seen in Street Fighter 5. This undoubtedly works in the game's favour, as characters like Clubber, Viktor Drago and Rocky Balboa himself are instantly recognisable, but they manage to avoid the ‘uncanny valley’ feeling you’d get had the developers opted for a more realistic approach.
Aside from that, the visuals look serviceable. The environments range from full-size arenas with the added crowd to boot, down to the more intimate settings such as Mighty Mick’s Gym and simple back alleys. The crowds themselves don’t really do a whole lot, and in the larger arenas only the front two rows are fully animated, with the rest of the crowd consisting of static images to fill in the space. On the flip side, the limited visual ‘noise’ during each fight allows for a smooth frame rate, which rarely - if ever - dips during bouts.
The gameplay itself feels pretty accessible, but with a few touches to satisfy those wanting a deeper experience. You simply tap ‘Y’ to unleash a flurry of quick jabs and hooks, slowly but surely chipping away at your opponent's health. ‘X’ is then used for stronger hits, and can be used in conjunction with ‘Y’ for some pretty brutal combos. ‘B’ is for a simple ‘grab’ move, and ‘A’ is used for dodging; straightforward stuff, then. You can knock out your opponent a maximum of 4 times before the match ends by simply emptying their health bar, and sadly there’s no option to TKO your opponent at any point.
The game also implements a mechanic called ‘Slip Counter’, which is a fancy way of saying you can dodge hits at the last moment, giving you an opening to counter. These can be quite tricky to pull off at first, but doing so is incredibly satisfying as you watch your fighter gracefully dance out of the way of an incoming fist, leaving behind a blue haze of their previous stance. Learning how to slip counter isn’t necessarily essential for winning fights, but it certainly makes the game a lot more manageable, particularly on the higher difficulties.
The main gripe we have with the gameplay is the distinct lack of variety with the fighters’ play style. We’re not expecting major deviations from move sets like what you’d see in more traditional fighting games, but you can settle into more or the less the same rhythm for every character with a good deal of success. The only difference between the characters is the general animation along with individual personality quirks.
The other difference with the characters is their ‘Super’ move. Displayed via a meter at the bottom of the screen, you can build this up by landing hits on your opponent and also taking damage yourself. Once you’ve filled it, you can tap ‘ZL’ and unleash a powerful attack that cuts down a good quarter of the health bar. What’s good, however, is that if you’re quick enough you can block or dodge these attacks, which gives you a fantastic opening to unleash a flurry of your own attacks.
Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions contains two main modes to enjoy: Arcade and Versus. Arcade takes you through several matches, with some light story elements added in between each match. There are also a few mini-games sprinkled in for good measure, which mostly consist of hitting specific button combinations while your character lays into a punching bag. Completing Arcade mode unlocks further characters, but these can also be unlocked via Versus mode, which simply lets you arrange your own matches, choosing your opponent and venue at will. Practice mode is also available, so you can hone your skills at your leisure.
Although there’s very little voice work involved (Rocky shouting “YO” whenever he uses his Super move tickles us every time), there’s a good variety of music included with the game. Eye of the Tiger and Gonna Fly Now are both present and accounted for, and we have to admit that hearing these songs made matches feel instantly more epic. The crowd noise is serviceable, but nothing to write home about, and the commentary during bigger matches adds a bit more authenticity to an otherwise very arcade-centric game.
Conclusion
Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a solid take on the Rocky/Creed franchise, celebrating the wide variety of fighters that contributed to the series over the years. The gameplay is rather basic for the most part, with little deviation in style between the characters, but fundamentally the fights all feel fun and it’s incredibly satisfying when you land a knockout blow on your opponent. The graphics benefit well from more stylised art design, but limitations with the arena’s crowds do stand out. If you’re a fan of Rocky, though, then you’ll definitely want to step into the ring and try this one out.
Comments 43
May still get it, I enjoy watching the Rocky movies so this game will cater to me.
@SuperCharr you doing alright pal?
Anyway might be worth checking the game out
It’s crying out for motion controls on Switch, that would make it so much better.
I've had my eye on this for a while. It seems to match up to what I was expecting from it. I knew it would be decent as their previous VR Rocky game reviewed well. No online is a shame, it would have added so much more value but never mind. It's worth buying just to recreate Rocky v Creed, Lang and Drago. That could never get old.
Appolo is just a man, so I'm going to be MORE man than him. Clubber? Meh, I pity the fool. I'm gonna torture him,he's dead meat. As for Drago, if he dies, he dies.
ADRIAAAAANNN!
Is there a minigame where you have to catch a chicken?
Might pick this up. We really need a new Punch-Out!
Punching people in the face! Lovely. 😎
Thanks for the review of this Boxing game. 😀
I have been waiting for 11 years for a decent Boxing game with fighting style like Street Fighter / Tekken.
Well... If only there is a character creation and some mini games.
Definetely will pick this game both PS4 & Switch version.
@SuperCharr I like you 😄
Rocky IV is the best movie of all time.
Ok, this seems “good enough”. I can see having some fun with this. Added to my wishlist.
Sounds like it’s not worth the current price, I may buy it if it gets discounted
Bought it earlier today, it’s got an arcade feel to it, and when you thump someone it really does a good job with the impact, but the enemy AI will infuriate you with the way they dodge around like crazy. That said, beating fools senseless with Clubber Lang is very rewarding.
I think this is the game with the most mixed opinions I’ve ever seen! IGN gave it a 4, Push Square gave it a 6 and now we have a seven!
I loved Rocky on the Xbox. How does it compare to that one?
This reminds me of Ready 2 Rumble Boxing I had on the Dreamcast
Is Thunderlips an unlockable character?
Well, I mean, I like the Rocky/Creed movies, and this seems decent enough. Maybe during Target’s next B2G1 sale or something.
Is this boxing game comparable to WWE allstars game from years back? just some light hearted arcade fun for people who enjoy the franchise but are not looking for a simulation.
No Thinderlips I'm guessing?
The pushsquare review was a little harsher with the score I think but the ps4 version actually sounded decent from the review content. This reads similarly good for the Switch as well. I'll probably pick this one up on the Switch so thanks for the review.
Does Creed really have a bigger name recognition than Rocky!? Nothing has made me felt older hahaha (unless it’s a licensing thing).
Looks like a fun game night with friends game, for one or two times anyways.
It’s not full priced so I didn’t expect it to be AAA quality. Will still be a fun boxing game, we haven’t had any real good fun fighting games for quite awhile. Everything is to serious and gotta build your characters etc. Just play and have fun.
Tempted, even though I’ve never watched a Rocky franchise film (nor do I intend to), but the lack of motion controls is a pretty big sore point, especially for a game that already had Wii-like motion controls in the VR instalment from which these new console games are based.
This game needs a demo.
@Spiders maybe it's cuz there's 2 recent movies as opposed to Rocky, which is ancient? Or maybe there was another rocky out since the original trio, but i missed it, if so. The creed movies didn't appeal to me at all.
@twztid13 6 Rocky movies, with the most recent one coming out in 2006. Also, Rocky is a huge part of the Creed films, with Creed 2 being closely tied to Rocky 4. And like, who doesn’t know Rocky?
@Silly_G Why no interest in the films? They’re great. And the original is a classic!
@Kevember
You can't win!!
@Ganner And then he went on to singlehandedly put an end to the Cold War.
Anyone else find it weird the reviewer calls it a "beat em up" when it's a fighting game?
Is that not a standard term?
@gojiguy That is weird. It's like calling Call Of Duty a shmup/shoot-em-up. Maybe that's from the PR?
I'll take a closer look at this tomorrow.
Adrian: "There is no tomorrow!"
Shut-up Adrian.
@AG_Awesome
That's my big question as well. I own that game on GameCube and XBOX. It was such a fun boxing game.
Hmm glad the game turned out well. I’ve no interest in creed/rocky so I would have gotten this if it were generic ala punch out. Congrats to those that like it though.
@Silly_G What? With that attitude, you are severely missing out on an excellent film series. This game would be even more appealing to a fan of the films.
@twztid13 Original trio? There's 6 Rocky films (I-VI/Balboa) not 3, plus Creed I & II.
@pblive that’s literally what I was looking for when I clicked on the review. Mario golf is so much fun with motion controls !!! Fun without it to, but if you’ve never played it before it’s great to just hop in
@Spiders the only person on the roster not in a Creed film is Clubber. Shame really, Tommy Gunn, Union Cain, Thinderlips and more could have been added in.
Good to hear that the dialed-back visuals have paid dividends to provide solid performance on the Switch. Too many recent games muddy the graphics and still struggle to provide a smooth experience. Sounds like they made some good calls.
Awesome, love the Rocky series so this is a win for me. I'll pick it up when it hits a sale.
@Thaswizz agree. From the Wii having so much (maybe too much) motion support to the switch having too little. Glad they bought motion back but we really need a new Wii sports now or even a port of the first 2.
@pblive Yeah, I don’t understand logic of making such good motion controls just not to use them. As long as they are not mindlessly tacked on.
I always thought they would do another wii sports type of thing , I mean that game was played by everyone.
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