Like a shoot em ups dazzling array of weapons, or a puzzlers selection of devious brain-ticklers, the one thing a boxing sim should deliver above all else is a convincing sense of pain. Sadly, with action that feels weedy and clumsy beside EA's glorious Fight Night series, this cocky pretender to the throne simply can't last the distance.
Unlike Fight Night's brutal action - where every punch feels powerful and painful - the strikes in Prizefighter rarely feel as if they're connecting, robbing the game of the visceral thrills needed to bring the sport to life on the small screen. Even worse, dodgy 'collision detection' (a nerdy term for how virtual characters collide with each other) is also broken, punches often going right through your rival and only connecting as they travel back through their ghostly body. And while Fight Night Round 3's intuitive use of the game controller found players flicking the sticks to rain pain on their opponents, pressing awkward combinations of buttons to land killer blows makes Prizefighter feel less engaging than EA's heavyweight rival.
A boring, poorly executed story mode, skittish close-quarters combat and outdated graphics also do little to help Prizefighter's cause, making it feel older and less polished than Fight Night Round 3, even though EA's game is well over two years old.