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The title of the game could well lead you to believe
that you step into the boxing gloves of Barry McGuigan
himself and take to the ring. You don't; the idea behind
the game is to work your way through the many professionals
and semi-professionals of the World, so you can take
on the mighty Irishman himself and try to beat him.
When
you start the game you are asked to assemble your boxer.
This interesting option allows you to add personality
customised individual style to your boxer.
When
you are assembling your boxer you can select the race,
colour of shorts, hair, personality (ranging from 'loud-mouth'
to 'nice guy') and then the actual type of fighter he
is. You have several options: dancer, boxer, mixed,
slugger and bulldog. These all give you a really individual
style and therefore gives a lot of scope to playing
the game; you can work out which is the best sort of
boxer to build, so that he suits your style of gameplay.
Once
you've chosen your boxer you can start the build-up
to the fight. First you can choose the opponent you'd
like to challenge, but at the start you can only challenge
one of two boxers, this is because you're new to the
circuit and the big boys aren't interested in small
fry. It takes quite a while to build up a reputation
and, like anything else in life, you have to fight consistently
well if you want to get anywhere in your career.
Opponent
chosen, it's wise to get in a spot of training. You're
told what sort of fight you'll be having, the boxer's
form and how many weeks preparation there is before
the fight. Training time is allocated for building up
in five separate areas; road work, light bag, heavy
bag, weights and spar time. Naturally certain conditions
can be finely tuned by careful training, and you should
avoid giving yourself massive stamina whilst leaving
yourself light in the strength area.
Once
you've selected your training you can then fight an
opponent. Fighting takes place in a packed arena and
your boxer is viewed panoramically from the side in
semi 3D. The boxers can move backwards and forwards,
and have a total of nine moves that may be used to knock
down your opponent. Control of the punches and defensive
moves is done similarly to Way of the Exploding Fist,
using up/down/left/right and the same in conjunction
with the fire button. If you put the joystick in the
centre your boxer goes into automatic defence mode,
which is useful against body blows from the opposing
fighter.
Punches
under your control include jabs, hooks, cross punches,
uppercuts, body blows and also a 'guard up' so you can
ward off an attacking opponent without getting hurt.
Shown
on screen whilst you're fighting is the time, round
number, points, endurance and count. The count comes
into action when you or your opponent gets knocked down.
While fighting there is a constant update of your condition
and how the crowd is reacting. You then know what to
concentrate on next round, whether to go for a knockout,
defend, tire your opponent, or try to gain points.
If
you manage to win the fight then you are automatically
moved up the elite ranks of boxing and can challenge
stronger opponents (there are nineteen) and ultimately
challenge McGuigan himself.
All
these challengers have their own 'personalities' and
an individual fighting style, and as you progress up
the ranks you are put against tougher and more determined
boxers who are strong, skilful and cunning.
There
is also a two-player option, which allows you to battle
it out with a human opponent and both try to work their
way to the top.
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