We did a World Boxing Championship Manager II hands-on preview at this year’s PAX East, as the game focuses on a genre not tackled often anymore in gaming: professional boxing.
Becoming a professional boxer is no easy task; typically it takes years to train and rise through the ranks before becoming a household name. In fact, it is easier to become a college athlete or a professional football player than it is to become a household name in boxing.
This is due to the physicality of the sport and the mental fortitude it takes to rise through the ranks. At PAX East 2022, we met with Mega Cat Studios to preview WrestleQuest and World Championship Boxing Manager II. Do you have what it takes to be a professional boxing manager?
The Draw
Going into World Championship Boxing Manager II, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. My personal experience with boxing games includes Fight Night, Ready 2 Rumble, Wii Sports, and Punch-Out!.
Although there are under 100 boxing games, only a few titles stand out in the last 40+ years. When you look at simulation boxing games there are even fewer. So why did World Boxing Championship Manager II stand out at PAX East 2022?
Well first off, Mega Cat Studios announced that wrestling hall of fame Jeff Jarrett was at the booth promoting WrestleQuest and World Boxing Championship Manager II. As a wrestling fan, it was enticing to meet JJ, but sadly we missed him each time; however, that didn’t stop us from trying the two Mega Cat Studios Games.
Demo Impressions
World Boxing Championship Manager II puts you in the driver’s seat to manage a boxer. For the demo, we were told to select a boxer to manage. Each boxer has its own unique stats that will help dictate the course of each fight. Before each fight, you as the manager can schedule rest days or training days before fight days.
For our demo, we chose a heavy hitter who kept getting his bell rocked. Because of this, we had him train in speed, endurance, blocking, and intelligence.
Once in the match, you can control the speed of the simulation; it ultimately doesn’t matter if you do the round at normal speed or an accelerated one, there is no way to intervene.
In between the rounds, we could treat our boxer with a variety of medical treatments though some can only be used once during the fight. You can also adjust your fighter’s tactics to either be more defensive or aggressive. Being overly aggressive will wear your boxer out and make them more susceptible to big hits.
If you manage to win a tournament, you can get trinkets and money to spend on better staff and equipment. After each scheduled match, you can either reprimand or encourage your boxer. Reprimanding your boxer will increase their stress but increase their stat gains.
During our playthrough of the demo, our boxer got wrecked in all of his fights. We tried encouraging him and yelling at him. Sadly, we did not notice much of a difference between encouraging our boxer or scolding him. Ultimately, it will take time to see what works when trying to manage the best boxer.
Final Thoughts
If you are a fan of simulators or the sport of boxing, then you might want to give World Boxing Championship Manager II a chance. Personally, it was fun to try our hand at being a manager, even though our boxer wasn’t up for the task.
It will be interesting to try our hand at managing another boxer when the game releases. On multiple occasions, we forgot to schedule our boxer for events. Now knowing how to play that mistake shouldn’t happen again.
World Boxing Championship Manager II is launching for Windows PC (via Steam, GOG), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4 sometime this spring.
