Punch and jab your way through the world of Creed and Rocky, thanks to the new arcade-style Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions! Check out our Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions review!

 

Do you have what it takes to be a champion? Train, fight, and win like Adonis Creed and Rocky Balboa in this knockout boxing game!

Are you ready to become a boxing champion? Step into the ring and show off your boxing skills in a knockout arcade experience. Fight as one of 20 iconic characters from the Creed and Rocky movies. Take on world-class opponents across a variety of thrilling locations, or challenge your friends and family in intense, head-to-head matches.

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a new arcade-style boxing title from Survios featuring characters from the Creed series of movies, which is also a continuation of the Rocky universe. While I’m not as familiar with the Creed movies, I am very familiar with all of the Rocky movies and the different fighters that he took on during his journey. If you’re a fan of both movie series, then you’re going to get a kick out of this new game.

For Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions, you can play in two different modes. There’s an Arcade Mode that works as a story mode, for which you’ll get cutscenes with dialogue between each fight, as well as a Versus Mode where you get to fight against each fighter either with an A.I. controlled opponent or against a fellow human. There aren’t many modes to play, but the Arcade Mode makes up for this with a setup for each of the 20 fighters included in the game.

 

Now on to the actual fighting. As I mentioned before, Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is more of an arcade-style experience, so you’re looking at something that feels more like a fighting game than a sim boxing experience. In fact, it reminds me of the PlayStation Ready 2 Rumble Boxing which was developed by Midway way back in 1999, just with less flashy characters since they’re grounded in the Rocky/Creed universes.

Like in other fighting games, you have a health meter at the top, but fighting will take place over several rounds, just like in a boxing match. When the health meter for one of the characters is emptied, he will end up on the ground, and a count to en will start. If they get up, the round continues until the timer ticks down. Essentially you need to knock out an opponent’s four health bars or knock them out until the count reaches ten to win the bout.

Controls are simple for the most part, with a light attack and heavy attack, grapple, dodge, as well as being able to block attacks and build up towards using a super move. Between each attack, you can use directional inputs to change the direction of your attacks. Characters, in general, feel the same, except for how the punches for their heavy attacks are thrown and how their super attack is shown on the screen. You will be using a similar strategy as you fight against each opponent, leading to a final boss fight of sorts.

 

Make sure you use your super moves properly. You need to build up the super meter to activate them by landing punches and combos. You do need to be careful because your opponent can block your super attack, dodge it, or counter with his own super attack if timed just right. The good news is that you can also do this to your opponents, which is something I added to my strategy. Whenever we both had our super bars charged up, I’d wait for them to try and hit me with their super so that I could use mine to deal considerable damage.

There is definitely some strategy since you can get opponents off-balance, worn out, and on the ropes or in the corner, allowing you to land some good combos or to use your super attack to destroy your enemy. You need to work on dodging your opponent’s attacks, as well as learning how to time your blocks so that you can use the slip counterattack, which works like a parry on a fighting game, which is immediately followed by an instant counter punch. Oh, and don’t walk into punches! Learn how each punch is about to land, and move accordingly.

For whatever reason, in the Arcade Mode, there are some training montage moments that feature some quick-time events during which you’ll run on a treadmill, punch a punching bag or a large piece of meat, or hit one or the other by pressing one of the face buttons by following the numbered circles. They are there to give you the montage experience you would expect from a Rocky/Creed film but just feel like filler to extend how long it takes you to complete the Arcade Mode.

 

Each run through the Arcade Mode with the ten characters that are unlocked from the start will allow you to unlock bonus alternate costumes as well as the other ten characters that complete the roster, including some of the characters you’ll certainly remember from the Rocky universe, such as the mighty Ivan Drago and Clubber Lang.

The visuals use a much more cartoony look, but it works for this arcade-style experience, and everything looks great when combining the characters from the Rocky/Creed franchises and the arenas and locations where you’ll fight. The crowds don’t look that great, but this is to be expected since crowds never look good in any video game.

I liked Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions since it’s a fun arcade-style experience that pays homage to the Rocky and Creed franchises. It’s not going to be for everyone since it has only two modes and a practice option, but if you’re a Rocky or Creed fan, you’re going to get a kick out of the different fighters you can play as, as well as the soundtrack for this experience – who doesn’t like to hear Eye of the Tiger? Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is available on Nintendo Switch for $39.99.

Disclaimer
This Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions review is based on a Nintendo Switch copy provided by Survios.