Showtime Championship Boxing

As a fan of professional boxing, I saw the potential the Nintendo Wii had on the sport thanks to the boxing game packaged with Wii Sports. Sure, the game was an arcade-like parody but thanks to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk action, the fighting mechanics made for a fun little game. DSI games, in association with Showtime, bring gamers a boxing title that makes use of the Wii console’s controls. Showtime Championship Boxing has you lacing up and jumping into the ring but trust me when I say that the real workout will come from trying to get the controls to work.

Boxing fans familiar with the Showtime franchise will find no real connection to the Showtime Championship Boxing events that the channel is so good at bringing fans. The game’s main mode of playing the game is a single-player experience that allows you to start an amateur career and work your way up the ladder as you participate in a number of competitive fights in the heavyweight or welterweight divisions. That sounds good, doesn’t it? It would have been if the road to the top actually felt like you were really working your way to the top. Showtime Championship Boxing simply feels like you’re just jumping from fight to fight without feeling like you’re gaining any experience.

Here’s another aspect of the game that doesn’t coincide with the Showtime brand … your first dozen or so opponents are laughable nobodies with hilarious names like Punchbag Pat and Lazy Lorenzo. Oh, and your boxer has no real personality so even if you pick a fighter like Terrible Ivan you won’t really warm up to your pugilist. Taking your fighter through Showtime Belt bouts in your division feels like you’re simply jumping into the ring for no real reason at all. In the end, your career starts feeling like the extra game mode King of the Ring where you take on a number of different fighters in a long and continuous round.

“Well, Ok,” you might say to yourself. “So maybe the single-player game modes aren’t so good. What about the boxing?” Sadly, the boxing game in Wii Sports has more personality and style than this game. In fact, so does the NES original Punch-Out!! that’s available as an online download for the Wii. Using the Wii Remote and the Nunchuk attachment, your fighter moves like a tank and will most likely bring to mind the early Resident Evil games. You move your fighter with the Nunchuk’s control stick and moving both controllers to bob and weave as well as simulate punches or blocks. You can even hold back the B or Z button to unleash a powered punch.

The problem is that oftentimes the controls don’t respond right away and you miss out connecting the punch or deflecting a blow. Even fiddling with the controls in the Options menu doesn’t help so you’re left with a lot of frustrating moments where you get punched … a lot. If you’re looking to insert your own style, you’re out of luck because the game simply only allows a few different punches, jabs, hooks and body shots. There are no bolo punches or rope-a-dope moves you can pull off so you are left with a boring punch-dodge-punch formula. Really, just about the only exciting thing that happens during a round is when you attempt to get up after getting knocked down. Knock downs copy Fight Night Round 3’s knock down event that has you attempting to align icons before the referee counts you out of the fight.

On top of the game’s control flaws, the opponent AI is inconsistent. At times your opponent will block and move and in the same round will forget how to block to the point that you can knock them down quickly. In a title bout for a welterweight title, my opponent didn’t even seem to get tired at all as he punched away. This, of course, is remedied by the game’s two-player multiplayer option. If you can convince a friend to be patient enough to bear with the weak controls you’ll be able to have a decent match.

Visually, Showtime Championship Boxing doesn’t even look good at all. The fighters look appalling and don’t move naturally either so you get stiff animations that make them look comical. The game’s backgrounds are also quite dull to look at and this is something of a disappointment since there are four major venues that somehow all look the same. Worst yet the fans look like they’re having seizures rather than enjoying the fight and don’t get me started on the ring girls.

The game also has a soundtrack and it’s just as bad as the game’s graphics. It’s bad enough that you’ll be turning the volume down all the way. Really, it’s not like you’re going to miss anything since there are no ring announcers, a commentary team and you certainly won’t hear anything from your opponents either. The sound effect’s are just about the only thing handled well enough.

Showtime Championship Boxing for the Nintendo Wii doesn’t deliver the right punch to make this a boxing game worthy of Nintendo’s innovative hardware. Riddled with way too many problems - including unresponsive controls and poor opponent AI - the game also lacks enough depth to make you think you’re a boxer working his way to the top. Sorry, DSI Games, but this is a game fans of the sport should really avoid like an uppercut.

Gameplay: 4.5
Unfortunately, your boxer has very limited moves thanks to the awful controls that just take the joy out of bringing your own style to a bout. The game modes don’t really drive home the feeling that you’re an amateur working his way to the championship belt. In short, the only thing you’ll look forward to is the multiplayer … if only for a little while.

Graphics: 5.0
Visually, the game looks like an awful early GameCube game. The flat textures, poor character models and weak backgrounds make this a game that just doesn’t offer anything worthy looking at for a game that sports the Showtime label.

Sound: 4.0
Showtime Championship Boxing has a hokey and forgettable soundtrack that repeats itself often and the sound effects are simply so-so without adding anything else. There aren’t even commentators or a cool Michael Buffer fighter intro.

Difficulty: Hard
The game is challenging and considerably tough to master but this is not done on purpose. Rather, the game is challenging and tough thanks to the really unresponsive controls and erratic opponent AI. Your opponents also seem to throw the same combos so don’t expect very much.

Concept: 4.5
Showtime is a recognizable and respected franchise and one that handles its boxing title matches right but this game doesn’t seem to capture the cable channel’s presentation. Aside from a lack of style, the Wii controls are broken and the boxing just doesn’t feel right. Plus, the challengers are more Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out than realistic pugilists.

Multiplayer: 5.0
The game improves slightly as a multiplayer game since a friend won’t be repeating the same punches and combos like the computer-controlled opponents is prone to doing often in this game. Then again, thanks to the controls, I can’t imagine a friend wanting to play this game for more than four rounds.

Overall: 4.5
Showtime Championship Boxing, sadly enough, doesn’t have what it takes to earn the right to be in the same ring as EA Sports’ boxing franchise. Even on the Nintendo Wii the game just doesn’t possess the true essence of what makes a good boxing game work on the Wii. Do yourself a favor, boxing fans, and stay away from this one.