Don King Presents: Prizefighter

Developer: Venom Games
Format: Wii, Xbox 360
Genre: Boxing

Are we about to get a new King of the ring?

Let us be clear about this. There is currently one undisputed heavyweight champion of the boxing videogame world and it has been the same undisputed champion for over two years now. We put it to you that Fight Night Round 3 was and is the daddy of the boxing gaming genre.

Now though there's a whole bunch of contenders to the crown - not least Don King Presents: Prizefighter, forthcoming in June on Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS. Unlike other boxing titles the developers (who previously worked on Rocky Legends on the original Xbox) have tried to capture a raw 70s atmosphere - when both boxing and perhaps Don King's notorious reputation was at its foremost.

In fact, ol' Donny Boy pops up frequently throughout the game - either dispensing boxing tips through training or even in in-game interviews along with a few boxing greats such as Larry Holmes and Ken Norton.

But typically we think this game will follow the route of 'fight-train' repeat and rinse. There's nothing wrong with that in essence, it all eventually rests on how the boxing plays out. From what we understand the training consists of five minigames and they're pretty standard fare - jumping rope or walloping a speed bag before lining up some powershots on the heavy bag.

The in-ring action is set to be far from the standard fare though. The developers promise more brawl action than dodge and weave pugilism - which is fine by us, the more blood on the canvas the better!

Online functionality remains a mystery but we have to assume that 2K Games wouldn't dream of putting out an Xbox 360 boxing title without a decent multiplayer aspect. But one thing is for sure, a boxing game with Don King's name on it and the development team behind Rocky twiddling the knobs has to be worth a ringside seat.

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