The king of the ring is back to renew his title of champion with more content and new features but without daring with a sequel years later. It will be enough?
Conformism in the Ring
When we were able to put on Adonis Creed’s gloves for the first time, we knew that boxing games had taken on a new dimension. The immersion that he offered and his elaborate combat system convinced us without much trouble. cataloging it as one of the best titles of the genre in years despite having clear points of improvement. Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition has a responsibility to not only stay on top but also to do so with honor.
And it is here where, after five years, Survios has not been able to measure up. That does not mean that we are not facing a remarkable product, but something disappointing knowing that the inclusion of new content opened the door to solving the reduced offer of the original game. In addition, not having a free update for owners of Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition made the hopes placed on it have a greater reason for being.
But if you’re new to hitting your opponent, you’ll see how Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition will become one of your favorite games on the system and one of those to teach when friends visit home. If you add to this being a Rocky fan, you’ll be in a combat ring full of familiar faces, music, and a setting to be more than satisfied… and sweaty, because it’s undoubtedly of high physical intensity, as it should be.
Generation Leap
But the first thing that catches our attention is the visual leap with some simply excellent modeling of characters. Rotund, with very realistic features and musculature that are imposing enough to make us want to hit them with all our might. All these nuances are enhanced with a much more credible lighting system that knows how to take advantage of the benefits of HDR where we feel the spotlights in the ring, the ambient light of the training room, or the warmth of the desert in broad daylight.
For the occasion, textures and materials have also been updated, something that we immediately notice when we see our own shiny pants, the seams on the presenter’s jacket, or the dirt on the windows. Everything to create a much more realistic atmosphere where each fight is accompanied by a good amount of three-dimensional public in each fight (for some unknown reason with big heads), cheering on each blow and which undoubtedly achieves that after each takedown we raise our victorious arms towards them.
Without a doubt, one of the points that we most expected has ended up being the most disappointing: the use of haptic capabilities. The vibration of the controls is perceived as too subtle with each hit and much more unnoticed is that of the visor itself, which in the meantime is almost anecdotal. This is a clearly improvable point that moves us away from feeling much more realistically a product that seemed to be made to show off in this sense.
Head Blows
Ready for action, Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition is a highly technical fighting game. Here there is no use throwing punches into the air like crazy since this tires the fighter with weaker blows. Therefore, it must be measured very well when we hit or protect ourselves with both arms in the correct position from the rival siege, always looking for its defenseless areas at the correct moment and also for the most damaged ones.
Because if we manage to hit the same area of the body several times, we will see how it will show signs of wear until it allows us to pass into a special state, in slow motion, where we can throw our fists at certain marked weak points to reach the KO. A spectacular sequence to finish off an opponent who will get up, if he still has the strength, to return to action and continue the fight.
Hooks, side blows and dodges will be our allies and require, as we have said, a good dose of physical capacity. Because any action in the title is carried out with the movements of the arms or body: bending down or throwing the body back to avoid a punch (slowing down the action by doing it at the right moment), covering our face with the correct gesture or hitting in the wrong direction hard to do more damage. After a few seconds, we will notice how instinctively our arched pose will be that of a boxer.
And now yes, without the PS Moves, we move freely with the sticks throughout the ring. The locomotion options are still preserved (with the same dubious implementation) and also, if we have enough space, we always have to move physically to place ourselves in the best position for the confrontation. It’s a pity that we don’t have the option to adjust the space of the virtual ring to that of our real room, nor to adjust the height of our wrestler (if we look at our knees, they are somewhat flexed, and a priori we have everything well calibrated).
It is true that some strange things continue to happen with the physics: extravagant poses of the fighters when they are knocked down, the inclination of the wrists, and the occasional blow where our fist gets stuck for a moment between the rival arms. Or some subtitles, now in Spanish, gigantic in the middle of the screen overlapping the characters during combat… these are small details that, despite not being serious, we would like to have seen resolved in this definitive edition of Creed.
In a Blink of An Eye
All the effort put into offering real and satisfying combat largely vanishes with content that is just as limited as in the previous version. In addition to the original campaign (a succession of combat and mini-games with some dialogue) we have a new story based on the events of the movie CREED III. The negative part comes when completing both will take us just over two hours. It is true that we have three levels of difficulty, but they do not help soften the fleeting feeling of finishing the game in the afternoon.
Minigames have not been added to those that already existed, but they certainly offer a good incentive to, between combat and combat, beat online scores and continue sweating. This is something that the developers are aware of and have wanted to take advantage of it with a fitness mode where you can configure the calories that you want to burn in mini-games or combat. Some combats outside the campaign take greater prominence with its online mode.
A modality with cross-play between platforms where you can choose between 22 characters and 13 scenarios (merely cosmetic elements) to face another player face to-face in a quick or private game. Unfortunately, it is an option that we have not been able to enjoy yet since the game had not yet been released at the time of writing these lines. In any case, we always have free play where we can continue fighting in normal combat or due to player resistance (without virtual resistance). In addition, the absence of loading times, as usual in PSVR2, encourages you to participate in one combat after another.
Conclusion
Creed: Rise to Glory – Championship Edition arrives to cement your victory in the ring. The combat system is still as good as it was five years ago and the fresh visuals, with fantastic HDR, make it much more immersive than ever. But in a somewhat conformist way, the additions that demand a paid update seem too ephemeral and are not enough to extend a base formula, which if, on the other hand, it is your first time with it, is essential. And it’s a shame that the disappointing use of the scope’s quirks to feel every punch keeps it from being the ultimate boxing experience it should be.
Of course, be prepared to get tired, sweat, and jump into one of the best rings we have ever tried.
