Just recently started playing this game on Gamecube for the first time, just for fun, and was shocked by how good it actually is. I was expecting an old school arcadey brawler, but I got a surprisingly realistic boxing sim.
Here's a few things I thought were really cool.
-Quad Directional Blocking, and Parrying.
Holy smokes. This is amazing. This is close to the perfect blocking system.
While holding the R1 button, you move your right analog stick, as far as I know, there are four blocking positions. Moving it left lets you block left head punches. Right blocks right head punches. To block the body, move the analog stick either left or right (depending on what hand your enemy is punching you with) and move the stick down.
It feels so cool, and realistic, and very satisfying. If you time the block right, you can quickly Parry a punch out of the way.
Combine this with a shockingly smooth headmovement, especially for a game that I'm playing on Gamecube, and it feels incredibly fluid, dynamic, and very fun.
This blocking system, IMO, just completely blows EA UFC's Block Breaking mechanic out of the water. Feels so fun, and realistic.
-Cutman
This is another system I wasn't expecting but is very cool. In between rounds, you actually have to take care, and consideration of the damage you're taking, by treating cuts, and swelling.
This then plays back into the blocking system, where you have to protect your cuts, and injuries from getting worse as the fight progresses. Got a bad cut above the right eye? Gotta make sure to block that right side so the cut doesn't get worse.
Just crazy dynamic, and engrossing gameplay.
I've only scratched the surface of the career mode, but that seems really awesome too actually. Just started with playing that, but it seems really cool so far.
Yeah though, was really surprised by this game. That blocking, and head movement system feels so cool. The gameplay itself feels slower, and more deliberate, but imo, in a good way. I'm curious what this game was like to play against other people instead of the Ai.