Don King Boxing is a boxing simulator unlike any other boxing game. You will quite literally be punching, ducking and dodging your way to become boxing's greatest champion. I use that terminology "quite literally" because DKB for the Wii uses the motion capabilities of the Wii remote and Nunchuck along with the Wii Balance Board to put you into the game like never before. With controls that put you in the heart of the battle, a decent story line, local multiplayer and an exercise mode guaranteed to get your heart pumping, DKB will please any hard core boxing fan. However, for the rest of us the visuals, sound and slow controls will have us searching elsewhere for our next game.
Being a boxing simulator that uses motion based controls; I think it is best to cover this, most important, aspect of the game first. The fact is that Don King Boxing got the controls closer to putting you in the ring than ever before. You punch forward, to the side (left or right depending on the hand) and up to jab, hook and uppercut respectively. If you press the z button on the nunchuck or the b button on the Wii Remote then you will perform each of these as body blows. Pressing the a button on the Wii Remote puts you into blocking mode. When in this mode you tilt the Wii Remote and Nunchuck in the direction you want to dodge. You can also dodge left, right and down using the Wii Balance Board. Just lean in the appropriate direction and your character will dodge in that direction. The Balance Board gives you a little advantage, in that you can still punch when dodging which you can not do while pressing the a button to dodge.
I do have a beef and I want to take a second to talk about it. When did motion based controllers become desirable, if not required? Why are the three major console manufacturers sinking so much money into new ways to control the games we play? I was sick while reviewing this game and really didn't feel like blinking to moisten my eyeballs; let alone flailing my arms all over the place. Some might say that motion based controllers are a more natural way to control a game, so newbies can figure out how to play the game. That is great, the more the merrier, but at least put in regular control mode for those of us that don't think motion based controllers are the future or we who are tired or are not capable of swinging our arms around for six hours straight during an all night game session. I know this is a review for a specific game but I am hoping that some developer may read this and possibly think to put normal controls in with the motion based controls for their game. Now, on with the review.
For the most part the Wii Balance Board aspect of the controls works great. Lean left and the character dodges left. Lean right and the character leans right. The same cannot be said about the Wii Remote and Nunchuck controls. The problem is that the controllers themselves are not able to pick up on very quick movements or they misread movements. There were countless times during my gaming sessions when I punched three or four times and it only registered one or two punches. In the heat of battle I go crazy swinging around with tons of punches and only about a third to half of them are recognized. This might be because the game is trying to keep game play realistic by only allowing so much input per second or it could be any other of a number of reasons; I just don't know. What I do know is that it is frustrating to be millimeters away from losing and have half of my punches not get sensed; which causes me to loose.
The story follows the rise of "The Kid" (i.e. you) as you rise up through the ranks to become the Heavy Weight champion of the world. The game's story is laid out like a documentary and was done fairly well. In between each fight you see video footage describing each stage of your career from all different points of view and it is actually very interesting. For the fights, you progress through more and more difficult opponents. Every so often your coach will describe a fighting technique that was used to win a championship fight from the past. After the technique is explained, you get to play through the fight as the prize fighter from the past. This helps vary the game and is an interesting way to introduce new techniques. As you play through the game you unlock different things, such as different venues, that can be used in the multiplayer and single player exhibition games.
Besides the story line fights you are also able to play exhibition fights that allow you to practice your moves on a particularly tough opponent or to play against a live opponent locally. That's right, since motion based controls allow even non gamers to play you can give grandma the Remote and Nunchuck and proceed to knock her virtual teeth out. Given the right human opponent, this aspect of the game can be the most enjoyable.
In addition to the normal story mode, DKB also has a training mode. The training mode allows you to exercise by doing things like jumping rope, hitting the heavy bag or hitting the speed bag. The game keeps track of your exercise by giving you fitness points, both for doing the fitness exercise and for the actual boxing events. These fitness points are recorded in a calendar for later viewing. Beyond the calendar, I didn't see any place they were used, so they are pretty much useless beyond giving you an indication of how hard the game thought you worked out. One cool thing about the training mode is that by doing the training, it actually levels up your character from the story part of the game. While this is a unique way for a game to make you level up, not to mention it can make for a great reason to exercise, the weaknesses of the motion based controls previously mentioned make the training modes pretty much a frustrating chore. It is unfortunate because it is a pretty novel idea.
Beyond the occasionally funky controls, there were a couple of other parts of the game that I didn't care for. The worst for me was the game's visuals. Besides the movies played in between fights, the game's visuals are pretty lack luster and outdated. The venues, the character models, and the cut scenes seemed as if they were created for last generation's consoles or worse.
Another thing that detracted from the game was the music. The music, for the most part, was terrible. If I was on Jeopardy and the answer was the list of songs from this game I would respond "What are songs that would never be on my mp3 player?". I tried to turn the music down but the audio for the videos shown in between fights is considered music too, so I wasn't able to hear what they were saying. Luckily my ears tuned the music out eventually.
To date there is no way to come closer to real boxing, without getting a bloody nose that is, than Don King Boxing. So, if you are a hardcore boxing fan or a fan of the genre I would suggest that you pick this title up. For everyone else, the controls, visuals and music make me suggest that you keep on looking.
