Climax Entertainment's Title Defense is on track to become the most realistic boxing simulation ever.
Climax Entertainment became one of the first developers to officially announce a game for Microsoft's Xbox in Title Defense. Set to appear on Xbox in 2001, UK-based Climax has been hard at work on Title Defense in hopes of making it the most realistic and detailed boxing game ever.
From what we can tell, it appears that Climax is in a good position to do just that. With each character in the game boasting 5,000 polygons (give or take), the visual detail of Title Defense is certainly impressive. In fact, essentially every aspect of the game's characters appearance, down to blood and sweat, is rendered in real-time.
Adding to its brilliant visuals is the game's advanced physics engine. "We've got a very detailed physics model in Title Defense and it allows us to model where the muscles work, and stuff like that. When the characters move, the muscles bulge and deform realistically," said Climax Entertainment President, Karl Jeffrey. The game will also put to use a handful of camera angles, including a first-person perspective that promises to leave gamers "wincing for sure."
Title Defense will feature five modes of play, namely, Training, Exhibition, Shadow, Tournament, and Manager modes. Of particular interest is the game's Shadow mode, which allows the player to save a multiplayer fight, and then play it as a single-player bout, sans the second player. Hopefully, Climax will be able to pull this off in a convincing manner.
While some may fault Title Defense's lack of an official license, Jeffrey feels that such an inclusion isn't a necessary component for a successful boxing game. "As we've seen with Ready 2 Rumble and other games, a license isn't necessary for boxing as it is for like football, yeah? Licenses are essentially about having pre-generated reputations that you're up against. But if you start thinking about a boxing universe then reputations get generated by players, which I think is far more interesting."
Climax in instead focused on making Title Defense a superbly playing boxing simulation. The team is intent on recreating the entire boxing experience in the most realistic way possible. Climax is working hard to ensure that the game's AI behaves convincingly, with the player's opposition acting both defensively and offensively. The crowd and referee will also act pragmatically, with the former breaking up sluggish contenders and the latter reacting convincingly to the in-ring action.
As is evident by the included screens of the PS2 version of the game, Climax Entertainment is putting forth a great deal of effort into assuring that Title Defense is the most realistic boxing simulation ever produced. With stunning visuals, innovative gameplay and an unprecedented amount of depth, Title Defense looks set to deliver everything that its developers have promised, and then some.
Josh White
Has no title to defend.
