Whenever things look bleak and I feel like I can't go on, I think of those immortal words of Rocky Balboa's trainer, Mickey: "Get up you son of a bitch, cos Mickey loves ya!" A small 1980's 'fixing-stuff up' style montage later and I'm ready to take on even the tallest of Russian boxers. So when Don King Presents: Prizefighter landed on my doorstep this week, I put on my grey sweats, grabbed me a pint of raw eggs and began working the body of a large frozen chicken (I know Rocky uses beef but that stuff is expensive!!)

Classic Eighties movies aside, the boxing genre of the next-gen gaming world has been relatively monopolised by the Fight Night series, so when Prizefighter was first announced, most of the gaming community shuffled to the edge of their collective seat at the prospect of a genuine contender to Fight Night's undefeated reign. Where Fight Night rolls into the ring with the impeccable image and long-term development of a Floyd Mayweather, Prizefighter provides more of a Ricky Hatton grit and determination, not so concerned with looking pretty but instead aiming to entertain. Prizefighter takes more of a videogame approach, with a cartoony visual style preferred over the incredible realism we've come to gasp at in awe of with every Fight Night iteration. However, the graphics work well within the realms of what it seems this title is trying to do; while intense detail may slow the fight down, the slightly rustic style of Prizefighter allows pace and power to come at you from every angle.

Despite good intentions however, this is a first round knockdown for Prizefighter - and one that most would struggle to get up from. The graphics aren't bad, but the high standard set by EA's bestseller is not something that would easily be dethroned. While we all love the pace that many of the most loved boxing bouts in history have provided, it's no substitute for attention to detail, from the feel you get as your boxer strolls into a superbly detailed Madison Square Garden (rather than a very two-dimensional arena with the odd flashing light), to the way your opponent reels back after you land the perfect right hook (as opposed to a B.A. Barracus style snap of the neck).

Let's not throw in the towel this early though (and this is just the tip of the iceberg for my boxing puns), because there's still the possibility that Prizefighter will be able to rise back up like Rocky and outreach Fight Night's intuitive control system. Unfortunately, however, the second round involves Fight Night holding Prizefighter firmly at bay, its arms flailing vainly in the air until it swings itself into a daze and collapses on the canvas. The mistake here is that every button on the controller has a fighting function, which makes the movement of your fighter extremely cumbersome, often leading to mashing the entire pad in frustration whilst you are repeatedly punched in the eye. Boxing is an extremely tactical sport and you never get that feeling from Prizefighter; when playing against your friends it always feels like a battle of speed rather than wit, so those with non-regulation controllers featuring a turbo button definitely have the advantage here.

With that said, there's still life in this old dog yet, and in the career mode round Prizefighter comes out swinging with a newfound confidence. The endless options when customising your fighter mean that you can tune and tweak the facial features to a near perfect replication of real life, then send him into the ring to have it pounded into push as you slowly press the individual punch buttons like a Pac-Man addict. In between taking beatings, Don King comes to build you up as the next big thing, spouting that with the right application and training you could be up there with the best. Like in real life, as your fame rises, more temptations present themselves to distract you from training. Girlfriends and TV appearances are amongst those dark clouds lurking to send you down the Mike Tyson road.

Now that the judges have awarded round 3 to Prizefighter, with morale boosted, round 4 sees the Don King endorsed title storming out of the corner. The training section actually throws up some enjoyable mini-games, allowing your fighter to hone his skills, increasing his health capacity (which annoyingly rejuvenates fully after every knockdown!) and the speed at which his special move regenerates. Yes, you read that right - there are special moves in Prizefighter, which in my opinion simply have no place in a boxing game; to reiterate my earlier point, it's a very tactical sport and while power and speed are a factor, we've all seen those "one punch wonders" taken to pieces by a tactically honed fighter. The special moves aren't any more elaborate than uppercuts or power-hooks but they still don't belong in a game of this genre, unless it's going for a full on comedy arcade approach such as the likes of Black & Bruised.

Round 4 was a mixed bag then, but round 5 sees the music put some real points on the board for Prizefighter, with classics such as Survivor's Eye of the Tiger and Run DMC's It's Tricky available to enter the ring to. Niggling in the back of your fighter's mind, however, are the sound effects; the crowd sound like they're watching a completely different fight, cheering randomly throughout and only bursting into jeers and applause when someone is knocked down - and while real life boxing often doesn't contain audible punches like the hurting bombs in the Sylvester Stallone movies, Prizefighter seems to drift between this and attempts at realism, resulting in a mangled mash of deafening punches and weedy slaps. Finally, at the end of the round, Prizefighter receives a rocking body blow from its poor commentary, which at times could be talking about snooker as much as it is talking about the onscreen action.

As the fight draws to a close, Prizefighter's poor early rounds have taken the wind out of its sails and the end result is inevitable. Don King Presents: Prizefighter has some nice features and an entertaining feel to the career mode, as well as a host of boxing stars, past and present, from Calzaghe to Foreman - but 2K Games' boxing exploits end the fight with a poor online performance, the stuttering lag and lack of presence in the lobby sending it crashing to the canvas for the final time. It's a contender with a new, unique style, but up against seasoned veteran champ Fight Night its poor controls and lower performance graphics send it into the fight with a guard like Rocky's, and in reality he would be unlikely to get through one round, even before everyone realised that someone who is 5ft 4 could never be a heavyweight.

Reviewed by Rob Byron for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).