Hello Vizzed Board. 1gnika here with my first attempt at a game review. Today I am going to review "Punch-Out!!" for the Wii. Released in May of 2009, this was Nintendo's attempt at reviving a classic franchise. But before I get to the review... some legal type stuff.
Disclaimer: This review is based solely on one persons' opinion, and experience with the game in question. Potential spoilers may appear at anytime during the review. This review is wholly owned by 1gnika, any attempts to plagiarize this review will be met with swift justice. You have been warned.
First Impressions: Okay, I have to come clean: I have never played a single Punch-Out game in my life. I heard about it, but I never played any game in the series. When I learned about this game, I heard good things. I figured "eh I'll give it a shot", also because I got the game for Hannukah so no skin off my bones. And when I played it, I was floored by how good it was.
Gameplay Experience: Let us start with what is always neccessary to play any game: the control scheme. You actually get three different playstyles depending on how big a sweat you want to make. You get Wii-mote only for the classic style, the Wii-mote+nunchaku for motion controlled punches, and (if possible) Wii-mote+nunchaku+Wii-Fit pad for more realistic boxing. My preferred method is the classic style bcause you will need the precision for something I will explain later. Your mileage may vary for the other styles.
We now move to the audio/visual aspect of the game. The graphics, well made cosidering what system it's on. Nice and cartoony with good attention to detail, evidenced by the bumps and bruises the boxers take when you wail on them. The sound, excellent background music that really represents the country of origin the boxers are from, enhanced by the voice work for each individual person. You really feel like you are facing someone from another country.
Now for the different modes you can play. I'll get the weak one out of the way first: Multiplayer. It really does suck: you only get to play as Little Mac against another Little Mac with no other character choices. Coupled with a game breaking feature, the fun factor for this only goes so far until you're bored. Career mode, on the other hand, is where this game truly shines. As any aspiring boxer knows, you gotta start at the bottom before you make your way up. You start in contender mode where you work your way through the circuits to become world champion. This is complemented by a really nifty feature in Exhibition mode where you can practice against a hologram of your next opponent. This feature comes in really handy when you reach Title Defense mode where you re-fight every opponent you faced before, only harder, much harder. In fact, there were a number of times when I had no choice but to try to win by decision. This is where the classic controls come into play. You need to focus your energy on your opponent just to know when to dodge and duck. Motion controls might need to take a backseat here, again your mileage may vary. Then after Title Defense, its Mac's Last Stand where you try to get as many wins as you can against a Title Defense opponent before you lose three times. After that, Career mode is locked out to you, but you can continue in Exhibition mode where you can go up against all the fighters you unlocked. The game even gives you a set of challenges to complete, which not only lets you learn the best strategies, but also unlock extra goodies to listen to. Last Stand also has a secret character you can fight aganinst, provided you last long enough to see it.
Conclusion: Overall, this is an excellent game for anyone with a Wii. For fans of the Punch-Out series, this is a must-buy game. For everyone else, I greatly recommend Punch-Out for the Wii. With its great graphics, soundtrack, and overall good gameplay, Punch-Out!! is an awesome addition to your Wii library. The only real gripe I have about it is the mutiplayer, but let's just pretend that doesn't exsist okay.
Final Rating: 4.5 star punches out of 5 Hello Vizzed Board. 1gnika here with my first attempt at a game review. Today I am going to review "Punch-Out!!" for the Wii. Released in May of 2009, this was Nintendo's attempt at reviving a classic franchise. But before I get to the review... some legal type stuff.
Disclaimer: This review is based solely on one persons' opinion, and experience with the game in question. Potential spoilers may appear at anytime during the review. This review is wholly owned by 1gnika, any attempts to plagiarize this review will be met with swift justice. You have been warned.
First Impressions: Okay, I have to come clean: I have never played a single Punch-Out game in my life. I heard about it, but I never played any game in the series. When I learned about this game, I heard good things. I figured "eh I'll give it a shot", also because I got the game for Hannukah so no skin off my bones. And when I played it, I was floored by how good it was.
Gameplay Experience: Let us start with what is always neccessary to play any game: the control scheme. You actually get three different playstyles depending on how big a sweat you want to make. You get Wii-mote only for the classic style, the Wii-mote+nunchaku for motion controlled punches, and (if possible) Wii-mote+nunchaku+Wii-Fit pad for more realistic boxing. My preferred method is the classic style bcause you will need the precision for something I will explain later. Your mileage may vary for the other styles.
We now move to the audio/visual aspect of the game. The graphics, well made cosidering what system it's on. Nice and cartoony with good attention to detail, evidenced by the bumps and bruises the boxers take when you wail on them. The sound, excellent background music that really represents the country of origin the boxers are from, enhanced by the voice work for each individual person. You really feel like you are facing someone from another country.
Now for the different modes you can play. I'll get the weak one out of the way first: Multiplayer. It really does suck: you only get to play as Little Mac against another Little Mac with no other character choices. Coupled with a game breaking feature, the fun factor for this only goes so far until you're bored. Career mode, on the other hand, is where this game truly shines. As any aspiring boxer knows, you gotta start at the bottom before you make your way up. You start in contender mode where you work your way through the circuits to become world champion. This is complemented by a really nifty feature in Exhibition mode where you can practice against a hologram of your next opponent. This feature comes in really handy when you reach Title Defense mode where you re-fight every opponent you faced before, only harder, much harder. In fact, there were a number of times when I had no choice but to try to win by decision. This is where the classic controls come into play. You need to focus your energy on your opponent just to know when to dodge and duck. Motion controls might need to take a backseat here, again your mileage may vary. Then after Title Defense, its Mac's Last Stand where you try to get as many wins as you can against a Title Defense opponent before you lose three times. After that, Career mode is locked out to you, but you can continue in Exhibition mode where you can go up against all the fighters you unlocked. The game even gives you a set of challenges to complete, which not only lets you learn the best strategies, but also unlock extra goodies to listen to. Last Stand also has a secret character you can fight aganinst, provided you last long enough to see it.
Conclusion: Overall, this is an excellent game for anyone with a Wii. For fans of the Punch-Out series, this is a must-buy game. For everyone else, I greatly recommend Punch-Out for the Wii. With its great graphics, soundtrack, and overall good gameplay, Punch-Out!! is an awesome addition to your Wii library. The only real gripe I have about it is the mutiplayer, but let's just pretend that doesn't exsist okay.
Final Rating: 4.5 star punches out of 5 |