Don King's Prizefighter is made by 2K Sports. So you know that the game is at least made by a group that knows sports games. And playing the game, you would be right assuming that. The game packs a pretty big punch in terms of packaging, but the actual gameplay is what's wrong with this game. It's no Fight Night, which has become the standard in boxing games.

The reason it's not Fight Night is because the controls are very difficult and require you to press alot of buttons for combos, kinda like a beatemup on the PSX. Prize Fighter also has very slow moving fighters. You would think that in real fights, they move this slowly from fatique. But boxers always have high energy even after getting beat for most of the fight. The game also suffers from bad hit detection, which is inexcusable in a boxing game.

Now what does Prize Fighter offer? We've got a very good AI that makes this game the hardest boxing game since Tyson's Punchout, which is ironic if you know Don King. The game has every weight division and some very good fighters with around 40 fighters total. The fighting system is very complex and requires strategy to beat each match. There's also plenty of training minigames that try to help you learn the controls and a trainer for the techniques.

The graphics are good enough for the 360 standard with plenty of character detail, although the characters do suffer from jerky motion. However, the characters look real poor when in clothing during the training sequences. The arenas are what you would expect from a fighting game. You start out in ugly gyms and have to fight your way to the big arenas like Madison and Atlantic City for the big paydays. The soundtrack is large and features music from rock to rap, with rap emphasized.

The game features the standard career mode, practice mode, and can be played online one-on-one or in competition called "Figher Club". We give it high points for technical boxing if you're willing to learn the controls, but the poor controls and awful hit detection are not acceptable in a boxing game. Perhaps you should wait for the sequel. But if you like technical boxing and don't mind a very steep learning curve, this is the game for you, especially in you play online or like a really smart AI.