Rocky 

Platform: GameCube 

US Release Date: November 17, 2002 

Publisher: Ubisoft 

Genre: Boxing 

Rocky is a boxing game that follows the events of the Rocky films from Rocky through Rocky V. There are four game modes: Movie Mode, Exhibition, Sparring, and Knockout Tournament. In the game’s story mode (Movie Mode), you play as Rocky Balboa and begin with Rocky’s fight with Spider Rico at the opening of the first film. From there you loosely continue through Rocky’s journey in the films. All the characters you face are at the very least mentioned in passing in one of the first five films. As you defeat boxers through Movie Mode you will unlock them for use in Exhibition Mode.

Exhibition Mode is where this game really shines as it allows for matches that Rocky fans could only dream of, such as Apollo Creed vs Clubber Lang, Rocky IV vs Apollo I, Drago vs Tommy Gunn, a rematch between Apollo and Drago, and even giving Mick his revenge in “Mighty” Mick Goldmill vs Clubber Lang.

The graphics are slightly dated, but they still hold up pretty well. The musical tracks are all fitting and the game even features the song “Gonna Fly Now.” The gameplay fairly straightforward, with several jabs, hooks, and uppercuts available. You do have a power bar that slowly decrease with the more punches you throw, thus encouraging some strategy and not just wild punching. Each fighter has their own strengths and weaknesses taken directly from the movie (Apollo is very fast, Clubber very strong, Rocky very resilient, etc). During the course of the matches fighters receive real time damage to their faces and leave blood in the ring.

There are some negative points to the game. First off, ⅔ of the characters you unlock are nobodies that you will likely never use. Second the training in Story mode is flawed. You must choose which of Rocky’s skills to train, but you can fail at the training resulting in almost no skill gain. You are not allowed to redo the training, so sooner or later you will get to an opponent you cannot beat and you will need to restart story mode and (hopefully) do better at the training sessions.

The Good:

• Fun, straightforward gameplay mechanics
  
• Movie Mode lets you play through the movies
  
• Opportunity to choose any of the movies’ boxers (including multiple versions of Rocky and Apollo)
  
• Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses (taken directly from the movies)
  
• Each boxer has two outfits
  
• Real time damage
  
• 12 Arenas
  
• The referee might be Willem Dafoe
  

The Bad:

• ⅔ of the characters are a waste
  
• Training in Movie mode
  
• Various oddities that are not a huge deal, just strange choices by the developers
  
• Instead of just being named “Rocky”, each character is Rocky I, II, etc, so the game will say “Rocky II” wins - this is a little distracting
• Apollo accompanies Rocky IV to the ring
• When it is announced that someone loses by knockout, the loser acts surprised

Conclusion: Buy it! As a huge fan of the Rocky series, I cannot recommend this game enough. If you are not a fan of the series, this game is still a good boxing game, but something like Fight Night: Round 2 might be a better option.