Gameplay
With Ready to Rumble on three consoles, gamers will have more choice than usual when making a purchasing decision. And with a few minor distinctions in gameplay separating them -- e.g. different bonus characters for each system -- RTR plays essentially the same on the Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64. Now, if I had a preference for a specific system? I'd honestly pick them in this order -- Dreamcast, PlayStation, and Nintendo 64. Yep. The best-looking and smoothest moving of them all is the Sega version. The second best is PlayStation, which has longer load times and a slower framerate, and then the N64 version, which has even worse framerates, but less load time. In my mind, slow framerates in a fast-paced game are a bad thing, creating a minor control problem, particularly in the delay of a punch or a block. But play the N64 and PS versions side-by-side and you'll see the PS version is better.
Having said that, RTR on the PlayStation is a solid boxing game, one that's worth purchasing. Providing 16 well-textured, fluid-moving boxers, each with their own special moves, combos, and unique look, Midway has developed a creative alternative to EA's uber-licensed Knockout Kings. Players start with only three characters, Boris Knokimov, Butcher Brown, and Afro Thunder, and work through Arcade or Championship mode to take the championship belt. Having achieved the belt, a new character appears, and the game follows suit, until all 16 have appeared with each championship win. From one polar extreme to the other next, Jet "Iron" Chin, of Taiwan, to Angel "Raging" Rivera of Mexico, to Nat Daddy of Las Vegas and Kemo Claw of New Mexico, RTR democratically represents all races and kinds of boxers. Of course, each is a pure caricature, and some may look uncannily similar to the real thing (Butcher Brown IS Mike Tyson), but that's part of the fun of Ready to Rumble.
The fighting system is easy to pick up and takes only a short time to master. Players use high and low punches, jabs, hooks, uppercuts, and overhead attacks, and can dodge or block using the L and R buttons. You'll also be rewarded with landing dead-on punches, earning a letter in the word "RUMBLE." Having spelled out the whole word, players can activate Rumble mode, which highlights the boxers' gloves in glowing white and enables a special move as well as more damaging punches. Rumble is awesome. Players can just go head to head in a furious all-out affront (for about 10 seconds) and pummel the opposition into oblivion. And whether you fight against the computer or another player, make note the opposition can use Rumble, too.
The game also stars Michael Buffer, the golden voiced announcer who you'll hear throughout the game. His voice is perfect for this style game, and he sounds best announcing the details of each boxer, such as listing their background, the trim on their shorts, and so on. You'll tire of hearing to "Reeeaddddy to Rumble," which seems to appear every 1/2 second in this silly game.
Essentially, RTR is a pure arcade boxing game. It's easy to play, it's mostly an offense-based game, and very forgiving. I learned to block, but I also quickly learned to simply move around to avoid the opposition, too. I then realized that I'd never use block again. Having mastered my favorite player's moves (I chose Afro Thunder because he's quick and lithe), I built him up in Training, earned far too much easy cash in the Prize Fight mode, and then went 40-0 in only a few hours in Championship mode, earning first ranking in the Bronze, Silver and Gold classes. I simply danced around the opposition and timed my punches well.
For all of its great looks and hilarious characters, RTR is not for the hard-core gamer. It may take some time to open up all of the characters, but you may never want to get that far. Midway made this game too easy, and by doing so, it created a shallow game that never goes to the next level of competition. You can easily build up your character by clocking opponents in Prize Fights (I often whipped characters in less than one round), and earn tons of money by betting the top dollar. I never lost. You can even toggle between training functions, enabling players to choose automatic over manual. Yeah, you get a rating of "lazy" but it doesn't really affect the game, it's fast as bullets, and you essentially skip over learning how to box. Fancy that, skipping training in training.
Adding to the game's lack of depth is unbalanced gameplay. Against the computer, the last three fighters before the final fight were the most difficult to fight, but the last was a piece of cake. I faced Butcher Brown before finally opposing the king Damien Black, and with Butcher I couldn't earn a single letter, despite landing solid punches. I still beat him in less than two rounds by knockouts, but at least he put up some resistance. Damien Black, whose background is "unknown," has a 40-inch reach, and looks like a hellspawn of some kind (he's the devil folks), was an utter wimp. I wiped the floor with him in less than two rounds and earned all sorts of Rumble letters in the process. His final fall down dance was excellent, but it was also a letdown.
Graphics
The PlayStation version's graphics look surprisingly good. Characters are excellently textured, each with a texture-mapped skin that hides seams in joints, and their facial animations and falldown routines are exactly like those in the Dreamcast's. But like I said before, the framerates aren't as good, so the control is affected minimally, and if you've played the Dreamcast version you'd see and feel the difference. But it's solid stuff.
All of the character detail is there, too, but they are clouded by the PlayStation's RAM shortage and low resolution, creating slightly murky players and backgrounds. This is a subtle difference, but noticeable after about 10 minutes play.
Lastly, the load times. Every PlayStation game has a load time and these aren't the worst, but the certainly aren't the best either. When you play RTR you'll have to wait, but only between rounds. Everything else is relatively quick.
Sound
With Michael Buffer hollering "Ready to Rumble" more often than a barker outside a strip joint asks "Come see the nice ladies," you will soon grow tired of the man's golden voice. We get the point, guys. Midway did work on the voices though, and they come through in the celebration dances and intro scenes of the characters, all of who are worth listening to. I guess my only wish is that there were more verbal taunts. Once you've heard the players intro taunt, it's simply repeats every time. There are about two animations per player after a win, and Afro Thunder's is one of the best, "Somebody better call the doctorrrrrrrr!" but more is better. A selection of five or so per player would encourage players to simply play to hear the taints and watch the different dances.
Musically, the game is tight. A clap-beat drum accompanies the dance-style groove and it's "punchy" (forgive me) up tempo songs keep the game light and fun.
The only real problem in the sound is the difference in quality. Some voices are much louder and resonant than others, causing me to believe that something went slightly askew in the PS version's sound department. The crowd is often too loud while the characters aren't loud enough, or vice versa. It's weird and very noticeable.