Reach

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Pros

Boxing games on the PC - they've been around since the 80's. Early 2D games, subsequent 3D games from companies such as EA Sports, they've all followed the same pattern. Pick your fledgeling boxer, give him starting attributes, then work your way up the latter. No personality, no deviation from formula. Matches involve out-punching your opponent without running out of energy, making the token block from time to time.

MDickie has done something with the boxing genre that is no surprise to fans of his wrestling games - you don't just control the fighter - you ARE the fighter.

Your career begins in the office - handling your own career management, looking for matches, trying to train while leaving yourself healthy and energetic enough to compete. If you're lucky, you'll win a few matches, find a manager who will sign your to matches, and you'll be able to advance your career.

Success is promised to no fighter, though - the dreaded injury bug can put you on the shelf for weeks. Commisioners can add to your stress by demanding you meet THEIR goals (and may send you packing if you fail).

But don't worry - you'll have friends with you along the way - but more likely, enemies who want nothing more than to leave you bleeding in the back-stage areas.

Even the in-ring action demands a strategic approach - your opponents will study you throughout the fight - your attacks must remain creative if you're hoping to win. You need to protect yourself against the "hurtin' bombs" while pressing the advantage against weaker foes. And the feeling of knocking your opponent clear out of the ring - priceless!

For my money (and at $15 I have NO qualms about putting my money into MDickie games) you simply can't go wrong playing a game like this.

Cons

If there's a negative to be expressed in regards to Reach, it's the graphics. Although much improved from previous MDickie games (which in turn are much improved from THEIR predecessors), no one-man shop can easily compete with the big-money producers. However, I personally don't care how breath-taking the graphics are - I pay for a better game experience. Reach gives me that.

Minor quibbles include a ref who occasionally wanders into the line of fire (although I tend to turn this into a positive by knocking him out, to the palpable delight of the crowd) and the ease with which your opponent clinches with you (this can be avoided somewhat by properly guaging your distance when hitting combinations). Neither of these has detracted from my gaming experience.

There's no such thing as a perfect game - but the thought and creativity that has clearly gone into Reach makes it an easy choice. MDickie has a permanent customer in me.

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Pros

The career mode is deep, with a lot of activities such as selecting a manager, negotiating fight deals, and training. It feels like a boxing career, unlike EA's Fight Night Round X. The in-ring action, while not realistic, is incredibly fun, with back and forth momentum and even the ability to knock your opponent out of the ring.

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Pros

The boxing action is pretty good. You can spar, train, hire or at least try to hire a manager. As you train or spar your attributes improve a little. You can challenge or accept AI challenges. As you win matches you win money, and a better rep for hiring a manager.

Cons

Typical MDickie graphics. If another Software company like UBISOFT or EA took this premise on, they would have a great game, but MDickie graphics don't cut it in today's market.

What's worse than the graphics is the music!! It's terrible, and the only way to turn it off is by turning down your speaker volume.

You can train to improve your different attributes like Power, Dexterity, Stamina, etc., by hitting the punching back, jogging in place, or the speedbag, BUT! you have to tap two keys fast to increase your training level...after two tries, I gave up and just got experience by sparring.

Bottom line: The game is ok if it's free, but I would never buy a MDickie game.

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Pros

Mdickie put together a pretty nice boxing game. The character models are still in the normal "Mdickie" fashion, which isn't a bad thing. Over the years of playing many Mdickie games, there is a certain familiarity to the models. They have been improved and look better then they did in Hardtime.

The animations are also better. Just the cut scene animations alone really add a little more depth that wasn't there in previous games.

As for the game play, it is pretty easy to get the hang of and the learning curve is pretty low, which I have always found to be the case.

Overall, it has been pretty fun and hasn't really gotten to repetative so far.

Cons

My problems with the game start with the horrible training. It is a true button masher that loses it's fun and novelty by the 3rd of 4th time you do it. The other problem I have is that is seems to not matter if you get the bar into level 1, 2 or 3, which is the highest. The result is just random, in that it will either slight imrove your stats or not improve them at all. After smashing the buttons and getting the level up to 3 just to find out you get NOTHING for your trouble is really annoying.

Another issue is the overuse of the "Grapple". In boxing one would get severely penalized if they actually held onto the opponent like they do. I understand that this isn't a true boxing sim, but it just gets annoying.

Also the ref is just a complete idiot who does a terrible job at staying out of the way of the crossfire. I can't even count how many times me or my opponent have knocked the ref down and out.

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