Thrill of the Fight 2 with Career Mode is now available on the Quest headset, so it’s time to put on your boxing gloves and throw some punches.
As a fan of the original The Thrill of the Fight, I had high hopes for the sequel and purchased The Thrill of the Fight 2 in early access to try out the multiplayer mode. I encountered an arm-twirling multiplayer match where Spam Fighter racked up damage, so I decided to forego it and wait for the more fleshed-out, complete release that arrived a few weeks ago.
What is it?: A boxing simulator with training, career and multiplayer modes.
Platform: Quest (reviewed on Quest 3)
Release date: Now on sale
Developer/Publisher: Halfbrick Studios
Price: $19.99
Compete in career mode
In Thrill of the Fight 2, the main menu appears on a small tablet held in your gloved hand. After adjusting your height and arm length, grab the stylus and select Multiplayer, Career, or Training mode. In training mode, you can practice with dummies or spar with bot fighters. There are also settings to customize your fighter to make it look reasonably unique.
The Thrill of the Fight 2 is intended as a physical standing game. That said, there aren’t many comfortable options. If you don’t have a lot of physical space to play, there’s an optional standing mode. Turning with the analog stick can be assigned to either the left or right hand. Health warnings will be displayed at the start of the game and the user must accept these warnings before continuing to play.
I first selected career mode and found myself inside the ring in my first match. Coming from the first “Thrill of the Fight”, the updated difficulty is instantly shocking. Continuing from the previous game, I didn’t expect the AI to be this intense.
He throws a jab that I see coming and then deftly dodges it, infuriating me. He leans over and is called for a foul. Sometimes the bot will clip directly to me while throwing a punch and a foul will be called instead. Many times the game fails to detect how much space there is around me to fight in “room scale” mode, forcing me to fight in close quarters in standing mode during combat. This was contributing to the issue of AI fighters getting out of bounds while still sending punches. As the fight gets more intense, you’ll see fists flying and room borders flashing.
During the game, the coach yells out instructions and you can hear the jeers from the crowd. Outside the ring, they move realistically in their seats, craning their necks for a better view. There were solid performances throughout each stage, and a strong sense of immersion throughout.
I returned to training mode and tried sparring. Sparring mode provided a better onboarding experience by practicing proper fighting form. Training with dummies will teach you how to punch with drill exercises to perfect different movements through tutorial videos. Still, the punches didn’t land as expected because of the score.
Test the dummy in training mode
The numbers next to the training dummy indicate how much force is applied to each movement, including how much “physical effort” is involved. Body effort is how The Thrill of the Fight 2 evaluates punches with the goal of deterring players from cheating during a match. The problem is that most of the time, the force of the punch is not recorded properly.
You can see how the camera moves when I swing. I’m not sitting there flapping my arms. I didn’t get enough recognition for my efforts, and my enjoyment decreased. Difficulty isn’t an issue for me, but the system needs some fixes. Are head movements calculated as part of attacks? How does this affect the sensitivity of motion detection? Currently, the combat system feels like a pillow is being placed on your hand rather than a glove.
At the end of each training session, attack and defense points are added to my profile. These numbers didn’t mean much. Varies depending on the type of training session selected.
Career mode requires you to win a certain number of battles to qualify for tournaments. If you miss, you can skip to the next year and continue training and fighting. I was happy because I practiced a lot and won, but eventually my desire to continue competing in career mode disappeared. I decided to switch to multiplayer mode to experience playing against other players instead.
good multiplayer battles
The full release of The Thrill of the Fight 2 brings major improvements to multiplayer. You can battle players for a spot on the global list, or choose a round of casual sparring. The players I played against in the casual rounds would stop and assess where I was throwing punches before making a move. Within a few swings, I was knocked out.
Even though I lost so quickly, I still had fun and laughed. The opposing player was a sportsman and always touched his glove as a sign of respect. While I can’t guarantee that everyone you play against in multiplayer will be equally polite, I was impressed with the improvements to the game mode. I hope we don’t see any more toddlers flopping around in the ring.
Thrill of Battle 2 – Final Verdict
The Thrill of the Fight 2 is a bit of a departure from the first game, which may come as a surprise to those expecting the same thing. Instead, look forward to improving your boxing form and working harder to overcome this challenge. The damage system needs more work to detect when you punch the body, and make sure the bot doesn’t get pinned to the body during combat.
What works in this title is the beautiful graphics and great choices in how you want to play the game. Spend your time solely on multiplayer, conquer career mode, or enjoy both. My muscles may be sore from playing this sequel, but I have no complaints there. This game, like the first one, could end up being the best one with some improvements.
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