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Anco
1 player
1 joystick
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I'm not a great boxing fan. I rate it as one of the
most boring sports on earth (next to cricket) and the only people I
considered worth watching were Ali in his heyday and the brilliant
Sugar Ray Leonard who had more talent in his big toe than every
other boxer in history put together. Obviously I don't expect anyone
to agree with me and so now that I've upset fight fanatics
everywhere (my good deed for 1987) it's on with the job of reviewing
KNOCKOUT, a boxing simulation from Anco.
It's a slugging match this one and gives you, the challenger, the
chance to take on the top 8 Heavyweights in the world in order of
merit and, hopefully, work your way up through the ranks to get a
shot at that all-important title against the World's No.1, Smart
'Hey, don't push me' Stallone.
It looks decent enough at first - a view from behind
your boxer, looking directly across the ring, with the crowd in the
background and a couple of realistic 'mug shots' of the competitors
in the top corners of the screen - but all this is subsequently
cancelled out by the poor graphics of the boxers themselves. Your
opponent is a crudely drawn outline and your own boxer is done in
unusual wireframe graphics, making him look like a half-finished
version of the bionic man. There is virtually no animation at all -
the boxers don't move around the ring but stand on the spot slugging
it out in true heavyweight style (yawn!).
The fighters are super-imposed on top of each other but, in spite of
your wire-frame body, it's still difficult to make out your opponent
and totally impossible to tell who's hitting who. Tactics aren't
this game's strong point. Jabs? Hooks? what's the difference when
you can't see them anyway?
Sound effects are limited to the dull thud of the punches and also
the cheering crowd, which actually sounds like waves breaking on a
Cornish beach. This could have been the first computer surfing game
if it weren't for the graphics!!
Opponents have to be loaded from tape after a couple of bouts on the
cassette version, which makes me wonder where all the memory's gone.
It's not as if large chunks of Ram are wasting away on fancy
animation!
Unfortunately, there aren't many other alternatives on the market
for fans of this type of game, particularly if you have a
cassette-based system. Disk owners are advised to check out FIGHT
NIGHT from US Gold as it's a much better prospect. Know what I mean
Harry?
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