In this Big Rumble Boxing review: Creed Champions I have been through various emotional stages. As a huge fan of the Rocky Balboa saga, I was expecting what was in store for me with this game. The initial reference in the name is that I would come across the story of Adonis Creed. And what I found instead was a tour of all the Rocky movies highlighting many of the most important events of these. This of course filled me with emotion.
As for the game as such, I did not know what kind of Boxing game it would be, if it was a simulator or an arcade, although I was betting more on the second option. In that sense, I think those who wait for a real boxing game are going to have to keep waiting for that simulation experience. Instead, like arcade, at first Big Rumble Boxing seemed to promise. However, this game was not a complete experience in this sense either.
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Big Rumble Boxing Review: Creed Champions
If I could confirm something in my time at Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions, it is that this game falls halfway between offering a traditional boxing experience and an arcade. This means that this game never gives you a complete experience in either of those two senses. On the one hand, looks like a 3D Punch Out inside the Rocky universe. And it seems so in more ways than one: the aesthetic decision to caricature the characters, the fact of having powers, are examples.
But if we are fair to the game, such a comparison is oversimplification. Creed Champions is much more complex as a fighting game experience than a game like Punch Out. And this is precisely what sets it apart from the arcade experience. The game comes with a deep list of moves you can learn, to be able to unleash a range of attacks far beyond just pressing buttons.
A story as an excuse
The first thing you learn from Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is that history is no more than an excuse to propose different fights. However, this is not an unimportant addition for this reason. Rather, it seems that it could have a more important place. As proposed, you go through different screens where they tell us the story of the character you have chosen for the story of the game. In the case of Rocky, you will be part of the most emblematic battles with Apollo or Draco, among others.
But beyond seeing Rocky talking to Adonis Creed to tell him the story of his life with cuts to combat, there is not much else there. And that’s not bad. I really think this part works fine. What perhaps Creed’s story lacks is to make his fights more epic. For me, for example, it was very disappointing to face Draco, because there was nothing special in this fight. It was like everyone else.
And that’s where the game fails as an arcade experience. While trying a traditional combat, the arcade elements very marked in some respects they are not enough to give personality to their fighters in the ring. Apollo is not the lightfoot dancer, and Draco is not the killing machine he should have been. And this means, basically, that you face different skins of boxers with very few differences in their techniques and ways of fighting. This was disappointing.
On the playable side, but also due to the fact that all the personality and depth of the saga it represents is lost, by appealing to a more “realistic” combat. Even appealing to a more realistic combat, the fighters were able to offer much more. It’s not like the characters don’t have anything distinctive. But it took a lot about it.
Boxing in 3D.
In terms of combat, the game becomes solid: jabs, straights and uppercuts. You can duck, grab your opponents to uppercut them, you can even stun an enemy by breaking their defense. Most of these movements are made up of combos that require a sequence that you must learn and memorize. Creed Champions is more of a traditional fighting game, where you have to smash combos to lower your opponent’s health bar and knock him out.
Being a 3D combat game, you stand behind your boxer, almost on top of your boxer’s shoulder, having the entire ring available to move. This generally works well, although it can be a bit of a hassle to get your boxer properly positioned after moving. As for how to counter attacks, Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions features mechanics designed to block or dodge.
If you decide to block, you will have a number of hits you can take before your defense falls. You will also be able to dodge blows, which will give you an advantage if you use it properly. All of this makes for a game with interesting combat. The fact that it also includes a super blow (power), which can be done after filling a bar, transports us from a traditional combat to a much more arcade one, which, however, is totally wasted, without options per fighter or particularities.
About art and music
That they have made the decision to make Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions a game with cartoon / realistic graphics not bad. They do not make anyone stubborn, but it is clear that they are caricatures of real characters. Most likely it was a budget decision. On this side I see it well, although it certainly feels that it could have looked much better, or at least more detailed. It’s like you feel that some things look very generic and don’t represent what they intend to develop.
I believe that where the game fails the most is in the design of scenarios. While some are interesting, most are rather generic or at least miss the opportunity to make the epicity of the fighting felt as it happened in the Rocky and Creed movies. On the same side goes the music that although it recovers some of the essence of the movies, it remains half, with a mixture that does not understand the importance of highlighting those special moments in the game.
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conclusion
Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is limited to offering us a game of combat that is halfway between being fully arcade and offering a more in-depth experience, staying more on the side of the arcade. The narrative in the game is full of references and important moments that are not only in the background, but are wasted in art and music. However, it does not go totally unnoticed. Through completing each of the game’s stories, you will unlock new fighters to use in the future.
Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a fairly simple fighting game that does things right to give you an entertaining experience but not too deep. But those who expect a complete experience within the boxing world or within the Rocky universe, should know that this game will not give you what you expect.