Knockout Kings 2002

by Playstation

Product Features

• Choose from a long list of champions to play as -- old masters like Ali, Frazier, Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard, along with new greats like Felix Trinidad, Oscar De la Hoya and Lennox Lewis
• Hit the world's greatest boxing arenas - Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas, England's Wembley Arena and eight others
• Create your own boxer from scratch and bring him up through the ranks in Career Mode
• Test yourself with Multiplayer Tournament Mode -- head-to-head with 8 other players for the championship belt
• Responsive, fluid gameplay as the game mimics real-life boxers more accurately than ever

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005V3F0
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 5, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,602 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #26 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Action > Fighting
  • #100 in Video Games > PlayStation 2 > Sports

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Fans of past installments in the Knockout Kings series will be surprised by several changes to the 2002 version. Previously, you had to fight your way up a list of 20 challengers and fine-tune your skills by training between bouts before getting your shot at the champ. But Knockout Kings 2002 scraps all this in favor of a four-tiered pyramid system in which you need to beat just 11 out of 14 challengers before fighting for the title. While it doesn't feel as hard-earned, it's still satisfying to advance your boxer out of dingy gyms and into major venues such as Caesar's Palace. Career mode still offers the opportunity to create your own boxer or choose from the 45 available (21 past and present, 24 fictional). Inexplicably absent, however, are such greats as Rocky Marciano, Jake LaMotta, Larry Holmes, and Marvin Hagler, all of whom appeared on past versions of the game.

Also surprisingly absent this time around is the ability to throw body punches. While some boxers have this punch in their repertoires as a body combination, the best you can do with others is slug away at your opponent's head with a multitude of hooks, jabs, straight punches, low blows, or illegal backhands. And slug away you must if you expect to hold your own against stiffer competition, as finesse options are limited.

Where Knockout Kings 2002 truly shines is in its graphics, thanks to the combination of boxers' well-sculpted physiques and EA Sports's face-mapping technology. The eye-catching detail of the various arenas and rings further enhances the realism, right down to the excitable fans in the seats and the blood flying from fighters' mouths. Satisfying smacks of gloves to the face and thuds of bodies hitting the deck can also be heard in abundance. --Larry White

Pros:

• Best graphics yet in the series
• Lots of boxers and venues from which to choose

Cons:

• New career mode eliminates past enhancements
• Few opportunities to throw body punches
• Fewer real boxers to select
• Frenetic pace turns most bouts into slugfests

Product Description

Get in the ring as one of the top fighters in the world when you play Knockout Kings 2002!

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better overall game than KK 2001, April 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Knockout Kings 2002 (Video Game)

This game is definitely an improvement over 2001 in overall gameplay. 2001 was all about standing, blocking, and punching. 2002 is all about sticking and moving, bobbing and weaving, then jabbing and hooks and crosses. With 2002 you actually get an increased level of control by varying the analog stick in different directions. It takes a little time to get used to it, but it's a much more effective control scheme in the end. Combinations are essential here and a nice hook to the ribs can rattle your opponent just as much as cross to the face.

2001 was too much simulation and not enough gameplay, and that detracted from the realism in my opinion, even if it did include more real-life boxers. 2002 adds a splash of Ready2Rumble to make the bouts more intense and not so pre-programmed. Training in 2001, to me, was a bit of a nuisance. Games should not force a player to go through monotonous training exercises to "improve" the character. It would be nice to have as an option, but not a requirement.

If you want a bit of a challenge, try the Pro mode, which increases the computer's AI to react to your fighting style. And if you're looking for even more realism, there's always the first-person view (very cool!). Also try a fight without the health/stamina bars on. Then you'll have to judge your health based on the rumble effect of your controller, and your opponent's health based on how he's looking and reacting.

The only negative comment I can make is that it is possible to win a bout without blocking a single punch. It's easier to bob and weave, or just jump away from your opponent. EA should figure out a way to decrease your energy if you're constantly moving around the ring.

And for those reviewers who claim the game lacks a 10 point scoring system, body punches, or body blocking, they're flat out wrong. And those who say the graphics have gotten worse, should get their eyes checked. Also, this game is not button mashing (unless maybe you're playing the easiest mode). There is a lot of strategy and skill involved. And the camera does indeed pan around the corner between rounds occasionally.

One suggestion I do agree with is when the ref gives a warning, the fight should be paused to allow the fighters to catch their breath.

As for hints: Don't bother increasing your ratings for heart and cuts. Go with Power and Stamina, then Speed and Chin. Also, land combos. A single hit won't do much damage, but the third and fourth consecutive hit will detract a lot of health from your opponent.

Just a quick note about my PS2 gaming experience, my favorite sim games are: NFL2k2, NHL2001, High Heat 2003, Tiger Woods 2002, and Gran Turismo 3.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A horrifying Dissapointment, March 6, 2002

By 

Naz (New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knockout Kings 2002 (Video Game)

Let me start off by saying that I bought the PS2 only because I was waiting to buy this game (thankfully NHL 2002, GTA 3, KO Kings 2001 & Victorious Boxers have made the purchase well worthwhile anyway)and have just ran out and bought it on it's first day of release.

My first inkling of something possibly being wrong occurred when I read the directions and saw that the career mode if you can call it that, no longer has training, and is limited to a pyramid shaped grid in which you have to defeat 4 boxers on the lower level, 3 on the next level, 2 on the next and wallah you fight for the title. There is no longer a list of 20 contenders with records who you must train and fight, and no real sense of a true career.

My next inking of something amiss was when i saw the controls and found out there is no actual button for an uppercut. instead of having an uppercut button, you have a right hook button, which any boxing person knows does not exist for a right handed boxer in real boxing. The uppercut is thrown by holding the R1 button and pressing another button....did I mention there's no options to configure the controls to make them more intuitive? So you have a straight right button and a right hook button that pretty much do the same thing...real realistic 'aint it?

Anyway, I was still looking forward to playing the game and just popped it in. The first thing I noticed was that the graphics are MUCH more primative then last year (a great game by the way) and the fighters all looked emaciated and stooped like they had a bad back. The punch animations were stiff and actually reminded me of the crummy first version of KO Kings...now for the really awful part..as if this failure of a game really needs more.....BODY PUNCHES...they do not exist!!!!! Actually they do exist but you have no control over them! You throw a right to the head and if the computer deems it better to go to the body then it simply becomes a body blow. There is no button to actually choose a body blow, just the computer deciding for you. Needless to say this gives the game a feeling of complete lack of control...what's more, you cannot even choose to block body punches...there is only a block button and if you opponent throws a punch the computer decides should go to the body, then you block it by pressing the same button you would to block a head shot. Even more ridiculous, the L2 button (which in previous versions allowed you to go to the body) now is the low punch button. So by hitting it you can always throw a low blow..the only problem being that you get disqualified after around 5 of them and just by accident your going to throw a few since instincively you hit L2 thinking you will be throwing a body blow...why Black Ops decided to give such an important button over to something that has so little use should just stand as an example of the ineptness of the bozos who designed this game. Pretty much this is a button mashing mess with no redeeming qualities that becomes repetitive after a few minutes...yes not much of a lasting value, unless you're on your deathbed, which is probably preferrable to playing yhis game.

From my review, I guess you can tell I was severely dissapointed with this game. I so wanted to like it, and based on last year's game, am in utter shock as to how this could have happened. I appreciate that they wanted to incorporate a new engine like Victorious Boxers, but that game based its system on realism, where you have to learn to counter, go to the body, and just plain box! This game is simply a watered down version of Teken, with subpar graphics and no kicking. I am returning mine tommorow (at a 15% penalty) so I never have to polute my PS2 with this garbage. I implore anyone looking for a boxing simulation to stay away from this, or the designers will not get the message that they cannot peddle [garbage]. Even if you are not looking for a boxing simulation, and are interested in a fighting game, you can do way better then this. Shame on Black Ops and EA Sports for releasing this disgrace.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 1/2..., March 10, 2002

By 

Carlos R. Pastrana (Taneytown) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Knockout Kings 2002 (Video Game)

I understand what my fellow reviewers had to say about this game, and do agree with most of their complaints... For example, the Career mode is WAY inferior to that of even the original KO Kings... There is no way to block a body punch, and throwing one is very difficult (although not random, as another reviewer suggested) The graphics are a tad inferior to last year's game, although still pretty impressive... However the games is much more fluid than last year's game, and the fighters move better around the ring (I, for example, using De La Hoya, out-pointed Fernando Vargas over 12 rounds, with no knockdowns, by sticking and moving... last year's model would not have allowec me that luxury)... My main beef with this game, however, is the fact that there are ONLY TWENTY-ONE FIGHTERS!!! The manual says there are 45 fighters, but, in reality, 24 of those are FAKE FIGHTERS!! Why?!?!?! And if you're going to have as few fighters, at least include Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Julio César Chávez, Marvin Hagler, Sugar Shane Mosley, etc... And why the heck are Oba Carr and Butterbean here?!?!? On the plus side, pound-for-pounders Bernard Hopkins and Tito Trinidad are here, along with the Klitschko's, Johnny Tapia, and Pittsburgh Kid Paul Spadafora... The play-by-play is a little repetitive, but it does feature Max Kellerman, and the TV-style presentation is a big plus, as is the inclusion of real-life venues such as Caesar's (oudoor arena), Wembley Arena, and Dortmund in Germany.

All in all, for die-hard boxing fans like me, who complaint that mainstream media doesn't give a hoot about our sport, at least I'm thankful to EA Sports for the attention... I'll also buy the Mike Tyson Boxing game when it comes out, as it features Mike, and Larry Holmes, and David Tua, etc...