Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is easy to pick up and play but it simply doesn't have the content or the atmosphere to truly go the distance.

Between the comic book character models and various backdrops, there’s an agreeable cartoon aesthetic here that does justice to the license on a meagre budget. Unfortunately, it’s a bit too barebones to fully justify its price point: the inclusion of licensed songs, like Eye of the Tiger, give it some panache – but the story mode is simplistic, with text-based cut-scenes tying events together, and there’s no online option or alternative modes to speak of. Even though what’s here is of a high quality, it feels like it could have done with an additional training montage or two, just to add a little more beef to its bones.

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a solid take on the Rocky/Creed franchise, celebrating the wide variety of fighters that contributed to the series over the years. The gameplay is rather basic for the most part, with little deviation in style between the characters, but fundamentally the fights all feel fun and it's incredibly satisfying when you land a knockout blow on your opponent. The graphics benefit well from more stylised art design, but limitations with the arena's crowds do stand out. If you're a fan of Rocky, though, then you'll definitely want to step into the ring and try this one out.

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a fantastic arcade-style boxing game that showcases a lot of fast action while still paying tribute to the long-running Rocky franchise.

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is quite a good boxing game. The graphics are nicely done, although it is copied from its predecessor. There is a wide variety of boxers and environments. The story is told only in text form, lacking spoken dialogue or story telling using cutscenes. I also miss the online mode very much. The difficulty is sometimes too high, even frustrating. The overall price is slightly high, but the concept of a boxing game will certainly keep you entertained for a few hours.

While doing this Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions review I do look back on fondness for the game. While it does have its flaws. It’s a nice refreshing change to go back to a boxing game. You don’t have to be a fan of the Rocky franchise to play it although that certainly does help. It can appeal to any gamer with its easy-to-pick-up and play attitude. So that’s why I’m going to give Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions the Thumb Culture Silver Award.

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a full-on arcade boxing game; the opposite of the boxing simulator Knockout Kings, which later became the critically acclaimed Fight Night series. You can select Arcade mode, where akin to fighting games, you select a character and fight your way to the boss while experiencing a paper-thin story. Or you can also jump in Versus mode against an A.I. or a buddy.

You have to be clear about what you want when you enter to play Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions. Nor is it a sports game with high levels of realism, much less is it the next Street Fighter. The bottom line is that it will not become one of the best games of its kind. But who cares. As the quintessential boxing franchise game, it's the best experience fans can get into.

‎Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a fairly simple fighting game that does things right to give you an entertaining but not too deep experience. The combat is halfway between being arcade and more traditional, staying more on the side of the arcade. The narrative in the game is full of references and important moments of Rocky but that are only in the background. It was missed that the decision had been made to make this title more arcade and take advantage of the advantages that this gave it to make it more epic.‎

Boxing is one of the least served sports in video games – even Handball has an annual franchise – so any competent adaptation will get some attention. Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions isn’t a champion of the genre, but its lean, focused design makes it a strong contender.