32.1)Punch-Out!! Wii Review Part-1

""Join the Nintendo fun... I mean, join Club Nintendo today, Mac!""

History Lesson

The Punch-Out!! series has a successful history in the arcades and on the Wii consoles. Even though Super Punch-Out!! has been the most recent entry until recently, the household name of the franchise has always been Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! (later "Punch-Out!! featuring Mr. Dream" after Tyson lost the undisputed championship) for the Nintendo Entertainment System. This is the game that 2009's Punch-Out!! for the Nintendo Wii aims to live up to.

Plot: 7

This Wii installment of Punch-Out!! is a retelling of the plot of the NES title. The player takes control of Little Mac, a young upstart boxer new to the World Video Boxing Association. With the training and helpful advice of his trainer, Doc Louis, Little Mac will rise through the ranks of the various circuits and aim for the World Championship. Other than the said bare bones of the plot, there's not much else. Story develops through a few interchangeable cutscenes and still-picture montages featuring the rival boxers. Otherwise, there's no real story other than progression through the WVBA, and the last mode where the story takes a turn.

Where this game shines is the presentation. Far removed from reality, Punch-Out!! resembles a cartoon with its bright and exaggerated representations of the sport of boxing. Most of the game's charm comes from its equally exaggerated roster of fighters. In this day and age of political correctness, these character designs never would have passed. Reinforced with better graphics and a grasp of animation style, these character are unapologetically drenched in stereotype and that's why players loved them then and in new ways now. Take Glass Joe, a French contender who takes time to shout "Viva la France!" right in the middle of a match and sweats croissants when dealt a Technical Knockout. Piston Hondo leaves himself wide open with honorable bows and subscribes to the mannerisms of every Japanese action animation ever created. Even Super Macho Man is assigned a Southern Californian surfer motif, shouting "Bogus!" when he whiffs an uppercut.

Astute players don't concentrate on the offensiveness of these characters as much as how they make Punch-Out!! a unique experience among the other choices in gaming today. The character are endearing in each their own way, and every individual player forges their own story of determination, training, learning, victory and defeat.

Graphics: 9

The Wii will never shake off its critics when it comes to inferior processing power and graphical capabilities, but games like Punch-Out!! will continue to take what is expected of modern games and challenge them. Instead of striving for graphics that attempt to look like something real, Punch-Out!! embraces its cartoon nature with 3D model designs that are as colorful and exaggerated as the characters they represent. You may spot the an incredibly rare polygonal flatness once or twice, but nothing to take you out of the game.

Moreso than most of what the medium of video games has offered so far, Punch-Out!! looks just like what would happen if the characters and environments from western-styled animation were to have a run-in to the third dimension. Even the way the character models move about, fluid in some ways, jerky in others, gives that extra immersive (a word which can adequately sum up this game by itself) emphasis. The little touches even come during the gameplay, as your opponents react to the flow of the match, making faces and watching you as you make your move or only being able to wear a horrified expression as Little Mac ducks down to deliver the Technical Knock Out.

Sound: 10

From the startup music in the Wii menu, Punch-Out!! is pleasing to the ear, both for longtime fans and rookies alike. The game does not dare forsake the legacy that it is reviving, keeping the NES title's soundtrack and then some. In fact, Punch-Out!! is very aware of the star power that its soundtrack has to go off of. Instead of using the fight music at face value for each match, as was done in the NES title, the theme has been remixed for each individual match. Typically when a game does this, it is quite obviously shameless fan service. The case of Punch-Out!! is no different except for the fact that the music is good regardless! It matches the culture of the contender you are facing and makes for some great tunes to play again and again just to hear.

The other standout audio in this title is the voice acting. The previous installments were limited to a minimal amount of voice acting, requiring specific honks of the synthesizer or mere grunts in Super Punch-Out!! With the current generation making much more possible, so is voice acting and I must say, the justice that the performances in this game does to the franchise and its characters is great. It allows the game to elaborate on its international cast by allowing them to speak. Each character speaks their own language in ways that sound authentic, if not delightfully hammy. The actors clearly did their homework on the characters to help deliver something genuine in this game that is otherwise outlandish.

Control: 8

When you think of a game themed around boxing and the Wii, you'll think of using the Wii remote and nunchuk attachment as your fists. That is exactly the control scheme that Nintendo has been pushing and in my experience, it actually works pretty well! Left hand for left hooks and right hand for right hooks. Hold up on the nunchuk's joystick to block and use jabs. Hit left, right, or down on the joystick to dodge and hold either A or C and strike with the respective hand to perform the famed Star Punch. Alternating motions will recover health whenever an opponent is being counted down.

In the case you don't have a nunchuk or want to play it old school, hold your lone Wii remote sideways and play just like in the old days. 1 and 2 handle punches and health recovery, the D-Pad controls all the directional commands, and with the addition of mid-game pausing, the Star Punch is now through the minus button instead of the plus button as longtime players might expect. It is a very simple layout that translates to a limited set of moves, but within the context of the gameplay they will be your tools for knocking out your opponents and each maneuver has its use.

The Wii Remote works best with this game. If you've practiced up on your NES Punch-Out!! titles, you'll be ready to tackle the Minor Circuit right out of the box. The motion controls, though functional, do not offer the edge that the full-button control offers. For instance, the motion-sensing is as sensitive as ever, so make sure only to make wide or sudden movements when you mean to. Also, and this applies the most to health recovery, the swiftness that you apply in pressing buttons will not translate well into motion controls. Waving the remote and nunchuk as fast as you can will not fill up your health meter even at a decent rate. Instead, a more casual pace that will still have you work up a sweat will get you that extra few pixels back. No matter how much I played with the pace, it never matched up to the recovery I racked up with the Wii remote's 1 and 2 buttons.

If you want to go full motion control, get out your Wii Balance Board and synch it up. Leaning on either side dodges and ducking on your board will have Little Mac duck as well. Everything else is as before stated. Just like with the other motion controls, it works. However, maneuvering with your shifting weight may not be as intuitive as clicking the joystick or pressing on the directional pad. If you practice, you may just get good with full motion control. In the meantime, you'll get more out of the game using the other control schemes.

Gameplay: 9

I will say this right now: Punch-Out!! is not an extensive boxing simulation game. If I had to say, I would call it an action puzzler. Surprising for a boxing game, yes? True to the sport, all gameplay takes place in one-on-one boxing matches. The presentation, with a camera angle behind a transparent Little Mac, is similar to Super Punch-Out!! while the gameplay is all from the NES title. In a way, the gameplay is more rigid and formulaic than you'd think. You're rooted to the spot, so there's no running around. Every punch you throw will aim for the opponent with out fail, and so will your opponents' to you. You must utilize your blocks and dodges in order to keep from getting hit and see what effects your jabs and hooks have on your opponents to best knock them out before they get to you first. Be wary, your opponents will also try to read your moves.

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