Title: Punch Out

Publisher: Nintendo of America

Platform: Nintendo Wii

Rating: 9 out of 10

Punch Out!!!!

Even with DS level graphics and glitch filled motion controls, Punch Out!!! is yet another winner for Nintendo.Punch Out is gimmicky because you’re supposed to use the Wii Balance board to dodge your opponent’s punches and actually punch back moving your hands but there is just too much to do with those controls. It’s bad enough you have to memorize which direction to dodge or completely duck out of the way of your opponent’s attack. Not to mention, you have to hold the Z button to throw that super uppercut or jerk your body left or right. Little kids may love doing this, but us competitive gamers just wanna whip some ass. Personally, I’d stick with the old skool NES controls with simple two button controls. Regardless it’s still Punch Out!!! and all old skool gamers are coping this for the fun factor alone.

Much like gamers did 20 years ago, you play as Little Mac whose coached by an uncanny looking Fat Albert doppelganger. Instead of giving helpful advice in the corner, dude is busy telling you his favorite candy bar. You pretty much fight through all 12 fighters in the minor, major, and world circuit before going one-on-one with Mr. Sandman. They really couldn’t get Mike Tyson to sign off on his likeness. Pretty sure they could’ve got it for cheap (editors note: I think EA pretty much squashed that fam). Once you dethrone the champ (surprisingly an easy task with well timed punches to counter his attacks) you then go back though the same characters again in title defense mode. This time everyone has new techniques that make the fights much harder –it took 10 fights to beat Glass Joe. If you’re skilled enough to make through this there’s yet another tour to go through with some of Nintendo’s famed characters. Once beaten the game’s replay value is low, as the two player mode is nearly as fun when you’re just playing as Little Mac. Why can’t we play with boss characters? And if Mario Kart was any indication, online play would have been great.

Nintendo’s motion sensing machine seems to always deliver a fun title. Maybe it’s because it’s made by, arguably, the greatest game publisher ever. Either way, the adjectiveless Punch Out!!! is another hit for the House of Mario.–A.K.

Tags: review, video games, Wii

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 11:26 am by The Notorious BJP and is filed under Games, Wii. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.