Last November’s Real Boxing for iOS was well received overall, so it isn’t hard to fathom that the Vita port of the same game should be about as good or better. I actually hadn’t heard of the game before the Vita version was nearing release, so I won’t be able to accurately compare the two releases. That said, the Vita version sports the Unreal3 engine and a few Vita specific controls. Overall, Real Boxing delivers an impressive blow to the Vita software library. I’m pretty sure it’s the only boxing game available, which theoretically makes it the best and the worst. Theory aside, the fact of the matter is that Real Boxing is actually a pretty solid boxing sim. It’s not a licensed game, so if you’re expecting to reproduce Mayweather Jr vs Canelo or play as some of the legends or see Don King’s wild hair, you won’t find that here. You will however find an appreciably deep and customizable fighter that presents a fair challenge and several good portable gaming elements that make it attractive for plenty of short play sessions on the go.
Real Boxing invites players to create their own boxer at first launch. You’ll need to select your fighter’s nationality and name, and then move onto more specific characteristics like facial features, size, clothing, tattoos. Most of these aesthetic customizations come at a price in the form of the virtual currency you’ll earn in the ring in one of three game modes: Quick Fight, Career, or Multiplayer. The action takes place across seven international venues that are said to be created close to the real thing, although the action is zoomed in so much on the fighters you might have a hard time telling the New York arena apart from the Las Vegas one.
In between fights, it’s a good idea to hit the Gym. Here, you can choose one of four modes of practice. You can jump rope, punch the big bag, hit the speed-bag, or go two minutes with a CPU controlled sparring partner. In the jump rope and bag modes, you play a rhythm mini-game that has you matching commands in a very time sensitive manner, like DDR. For jump rope, you just have to match combinations of L, R, and L+R. For the punching bags, you’re tasked with using the right stick to match directions, including diagonals, as those symbols pop-up. These sessions are short, which is appropriate for their mundane nature, and for being a portable title. While practicing, the perk meter in the upper left hand corner fills up. When it’s full, you get a reward, such as an assist in winning the clinch mini-game during a fight. Practices are limited to where you can’t just constantly play these mini-games without going into an event. I should point out that through practice, and optionally through spending the money you earn, players can, and need to, upgrade their Speed, Stamina, and Strength attributes a percentage point or two at a time (you’ll start at about 60% for each).
As with any game, handhelds especially, the controls are always a concern. With Real Boxing, you have enough options to make it work well. By that I mean using the face buttons for right jab, right hook, and right upper works well. But, using the d-pad for the same left hand moves, in addition to the left stick for ‘moving,’ creates a problem because it’s really awkward to move with the stick and press d-pad buttons at the same time consistently (not to mention LT). Fortunately, the right stick can be used to throw any punch with both hands, so I found myself using it for my left hand attacks with good results. LT is assigned as the ‘low hit modifier’ meaning you’ll punch the opponents midsection if you are holding LT and then execute a punch. Pressed together with RT, LT also functions to block and initiate the clinch mini-game, which is new to the Vita version. When your health is really low, you are given the opportunity to clinch the other player, which is just getting tied up with them for several seconds. During this time, a tilt mini-game pops up whereby you have to tilt the Vita to keep an arrow in the green area of a two-toned meter. It’s not that hard to do, and if you can ‘win’ the game by staying in the green for several seconds, you’ll get a significant health boost that should keep your fighter upright for a while longer. Health boosts are also given in between rounds. You can set the number of rounds for fights to three, six, or twelve.
Playing the Quick Fight mode is ideal to get your feet wet during the first hour or so of play, but the heart of the single player experience is in the three tournaments available to you. These have to be played in order, with the difficulty increasing with each victory. Pre-fight challenges offering additional cash or perks for doing feats like not sustaining a hit will pop-up to add some additional intrigue to the fight, too. After the fight, be it in career mode or otherwise, several stats like hits taken, hits avoided, counterattacks, and so forth are shown. Your all time record is maintained too, and is visible in the LiveArea screen before launching the game (along with your Trophy progress).
In limited online play, I found the players I was connected up with to be ranked up much higher than myself, resulting in my health meter draining in about four hits. Obviously going into a match that out-classed (would have taken me probably 35-40 hits with my stats) is discouraging and probably not a lot of fun for either player involved. I didn’t see an option to limit the game search to player ranks that are more in check with your own, though.
In terms of presentation, Real Boxing does well for itself. I was pleased with the simplicity yet complete ease and functionality of the menus. Everything in Real Boxing is very straight-forward and accessible, yet the game is still challenging, especially online. The graphics are crisp and framerates stay smooth. With a variety of customizations and venues, their is just enough visual variety to aid the experience in this respect as well. The blood effects are kind of disagreeable as far as the mists of blood that appear, but I liked the facial detail that included blood and bruises as the match proceeded. I also liked the ability to disable replays and the pre-fight introductions, as well as the commentary which gets about as repetitive as the din of crowd noise.
The experience of Real Boxing didn’t floor me, but it does a lot right and I think for boxing enthusiasts, this is a must-have. I found it somewhat hard to play for more than a half hour or so at a time, but, this is a portable title that was originally developed for mobile gaming. For those short bursts, it’s a good go-to title. And let’s face it, nailing that uppercut never gets old.
To the summary…