From The Vault: Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 Review

Subject: Ready 2 Rumble Boxing Round 2   Wed Jan 30, 2013 4:40 pm
Hey you guys? Remember Ready 2 Rumble boxing? Wuzzat? No? well thats actually a shame, because frankly for a game that came out so early in the lifespan of the PS2, it has to be one of the best boxing games I have played on the console. It has a wide variety of characters, and enough modes and ummm interesting choices on unlockable characters to keep you playing and entertained for quite awhile. Now from those sentences, you guessed right in this being a positive review, but I'd just like to go over some of the minor flaws I noticed with the game. Now, if you don't have a buddy to play with, or are playing through the arcade mode, you'll notice something once you start getting better at the game. THE A.I. IS HORRIBLE! Ok, calm down, look at the release date, its an older title and it takes some time to notice this fact. Some of the horrible things about the AI are just how cheap you can get as a few tricks can get you through the arcade mode time and time again, and frankly, most of the attack patterns are fairly predictable after you've played for awhile. Now, not to say this drags the game down too far really to me, frankly it really doesn't ruin anything, and I can't rate the bad A.I as more than a minor problem. Now, another flaw is of course, the absence in a story to the overall game, but I mean really, its a trippy boxing game, if you want a good narrative go play Mass Effect or something XD But nah really, I know I dragged Street Fighter 4 down for a lackluster and a mostly absent story but come on! This game came out in 2000 and is really just a parody of sorts anyways, not too big of a flaw really, and it doesn't cut into the experience of the game at all. The last complaint I have is the bad writing, which, I mean yeah its pretty bad, but thats one of the reasons why this game is so hilarious. Some of the stuff these guys say is absolutely hilarious, and again, doesn't really do anything harmful to the player playing the game other than occasionally annoy them or get like an eye roll reaction of some sort. The biggest flaw is obviously the bad A.I, and of course I'm going to mark it down for that and the fact it makes the single player experience boring after you unlock everything or maybe even before. Single player is the only really standout flaw here  And its a fighting game from the turn of the millennium so really, what did you expect? The pros of this title are easy to talk about as there really was a lot right they did here, take it from me, an avid PlayStation 2 collector, that this is probably my favorite boxing game on the entire console. Simply because it works, rarely any glitches, punches feel nice and smooth, and the combos with each fighter come off as fresh, unique, and fun to pull off to me. Each character is pretty damn funny and peculiar, as even the cover gives you some hippie black guy named Afro Thunder (yes that's his name) punching the crap outta the fat italian Joey T who is pretty angry that some girl named Lulu Valentine beat him in a boxing match XD. Yeah, pretty entertaining, and I learned that just from reading the game manual itself. Some other characters include some cocky Hollywood guy named J.R Flurry, A Brazilian hottie named Selene Strike (I know girls boxing guys right? odd), Mama Tua, another girl but she's like an obese Hawaiian lady. Then there's a robot punching bag, Shaquille O'Neal (yes the basketball player), Michael freaking Jackson (im not joking), and some Russian guy that kinda reminds me of that guy from Rocky 4, and Im pretty sure he says "I must break you" a few times. Every character just seriously makes me crack up, and the sheer concept from half of these appear to have come from a cocaine addict or something because no one with a clear mind would put Michael Jackson in a video game . Naw but they all work well, I mean, yeah you have your uninteresting and cheap characters like in any fighting game, but its pretty subtle here, even for an over the top boxing game. Besides the characters, theres a few modes you can enter, like the arcade mode which is basically self explanatory and only a one player thing. There are some two player modes, and even a tournament mode if you wanna get a bunch of people together and play an 11 year old game. There's a sort of career mode as well where you basically level up your boxer's stats using like workouts and earning money by fighting in bouts, and that to me is probably the best single player feature. The characters, the modes, and the sheer fun of the gameplay comes together to make a simply enjoyable experience, and overall, if you by some rare chance encounter this game, BUY IT! You probably won't be disappointed having this very entertaining boxing game in your collection. LADYS AND GENTLEMAN, BOYS AND GIRLS.....LLLLLETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!