Showtime Championship Boxing (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

There aren't many boxing related games on any console let alone the Nintendo DS. Outside of EA's Fight Night series, there are only titles such as Ready 2 Rumble and Nintendo's own Punch Out!! series, with the former of those having gone downhill significantly and the latter only getting the new iteration it deserved. The DS hasn't seen any of these titles so it has had to look to smaller developers to fill that void. In that case, we have here an attempt at bringing the boxing simulation genre to the DS, courtesy of both developer Nikitova and publisher Zoo Games. Unfortunately, this particular attempt isn't going to land the knockout blow on any of the competition.

Gameplay

From the game's main menu, you'll instantly be hit just by how little is on offer in this game. In single player, you'll have the option of having a single fight or taking part in one of the 4 available tournaments, which are progressively unlocked as you beat the one prior to the next. It's a very lacklustre affair because neither the single fight option nor the tournaments invoke any sense of sporting competition to spur you on through the fight. It's also not helped that the AI isn't particularly smart as they'll often spend most of their time dodged to the side or winding up a shot leaving you to merely hammer the buttons until they eventually hit the canvas. As further result of this, you'll easily breeze through all of the title challenges in about an hour or so, with only the champion proving to be anywhere close to a competitive opponent.

The actual fighting itself is as basic as it can get, with you having the option for left or right punches, with the standard punch being a headshot and selected directional movement gives a body shot. The fighting never feels real though even with your opponent slightly recoiling from your punches but never putting them off from lining up their own next one.

Your final mode available for playing is a multiplayer mode for two players. The only problem here is that the game does not support single cart play and as a result, both players will need a copy of the game to make the most of it. But even if you manage to find someone with a copy of the game, the options are limited to a handful of fighters and arenas that all feel very similar, much like in the single player, and you'll probably opt out of much more than a single bout, which you'll only partake in out of curiosity. It's strange that there is so little in the way of content on the cartridge because what is there can't clearly be taking up the entire space and it just seems that the developers have decided against fleshing out the experience in the hope of lowering the development time.

Controls

The game gives you the option of using either the face and shoulder buttons of the DS or the touch screen but you'll always opt for the use of the buttons because it just works better. But even saying that, the overall control scheme and placement seems obscure with the shoulder buttons being used for your left and right punches. It feels awkward and at times unresponsive and why the developers used the 4 face buttons all for blocking and not for punches is beyond me. Movement of your boxer around the squared ring is handled with the d-pad, as you'd expect, but it feels sluggish; as though you were moving a tank around.

Graphics

The developers who had a hand in creating the character models can be pleased with the end result. They look good given the DS' 3D limitations and their animation isn't bad either. They are only let down by the fact that the faces are flat and have little in the way of detail. Everything else in the game, though, is very poor. The arenas all feel and look very similar with the crowd, both down on the touch screen where all the action takes place and on the top screen, being poorly done and just everything outside of the ring looking very ugly. Cutscenes suffer the strange problem of severe slowdown which is strange because it is the only place where you'll see any dip in the frame rate.

Sound

Menus are muted with there being no music at all to tide you over until you get into the game. Once you are in the ring, you'll get the odd cheer from the crowd, the count out from the referee during a cutscene and some punching sounds, but apart from that there is nothing else. The lacklustre presentation of the audio certainly fits in with the overall game.

Dual screen

The game has the entire action take place on the touch screen while the top holds your health and stamina bars along with a crowd animation. The touch screen can be used to control your boxer's moves but it's not a great use of the touch screen, as it feels unnatural, or the top screen, which seems barren and filled with stuff that could be present on the bottom screen.

Final comments

Granted, making a boxing game on the DS was always going to be a difficult task but Showtime Championship Boxing comes nowhere near to recreating the thrill of the sport. It's repetitive, it lacks any substantial content to have you coming back after you've obtained all of the titles and the presentation, outside of the good quality character models, is incredibly poor even by the DS' standards. If you are desperately hoping for a boxing sim on the DS, I'd suggest holding on until something more substantial comes along as you'll get little enjoyment here.

Pro: Character models are well done
Con: Very little content, gets repetitive very quickly, audio and visual presentation is poor
Final score: 3

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