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Dom Robinson reviews
EA Sports
- Price: £39.99
- Players: 1-2
Knockout Kings 2001: Wanna make something of it?
Ever wanted a boxing game that’s as much fun to play against another person as Bart clearly enjoys against Homer in an early episode of The Simpsons? Then this one’s for you.
Boxing games have gone from early top-down efforts in the arcade, where each player had no name and was a single colour, to these days where motion-capture is the name of the game and fighter’s moves can be accurately translated into the game.
Here, you initially start with a close-up side-on view, although while playing you can view from several angles, be it from the side, top-down, TV camera and Ringside to name but four.
It’s fun to watch the females fight and is usually an easier game. Is that because they’re the weaker sex, or does that make me a sexist pig? 🙂
There are basic controls to incite a jab, uppercut, perform a cross or a hook, as well as combinations and clinches, but I particularly like the illegal moves such as a head-butt or an elbow to the face.
The game has a fully-controllable replay function, allowing you to watch from any angle and go forwards and backwards in time.
One tip I’d give is that if you get knocked out, keeping pressing X to get back up again, but this gets progressively harder to do as the rounds continue as the ‘revive meter’ (my words, not theirs) falls back faster and faster.
You can even play out fantasy fights including Evander Holyfield vs. David Tua, “Sugar” Ray Leonard vs. “Sugar” Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali vs. Rocky Marciano and you can even check out the dialogue – in text form – from the would-be press conference.
Completists can enjoy creating a boxer, training him/her and charting their career.
The graphics don’t appear to push the boundaries of the PS2, despite looking rather nice indeed. There are obvious ‘jaggies’ (jagged edges) around the fighters – who appear to keep looking down at the ground rather than each other – and you don’t get to spill any blood, but it’s a lot of fun when you get the chance to beat the crap out of someone.
There are some nice little touches such as seeing a TV in the background of the crowd, showing exactly the same moves occuring in front of you.
In terms of sound, in addition to standard ‘punch’ noises, there’s commentary from Harry Carpenter, Ian Darke and Barry McGuigan, who had his own boxing computer back on the ZX Spectrum back in the 80s.
The vibration kicks in when you get punched by your opponent, as you’d expect.
I didn’t expect to really like this game as boxing isn’t my bag, especially after the lacklustre Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2. I’m not a fan of sports and I consider this genre to be more like a legalised street brawl.
Occasionally, professional boxers end up completely loopy, like Muhammad Ali and, in my opinion, they deserve everything they get.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed Knockout Kings 2001. It may be violent, but then I don’t also advocate shooting each other a la Unreal Tournament, nor driving about like the missus in Carmageddon TDR 2000.
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.