Mike Tyson Boxing: Where?s Little Mac? Company: Codemasters Mr. Tyson hasn?t looked this good since his days in Punch-Out on the NES. (I guess that going to jail makes you more of a man, ya think?) Anyway, the graphics in Mike Tyson Boxing are pretty good in this beta release. Mike?s digital duplicate has an uncanny likeness of the ?Iron One.? The sound effects are average, but the announcer does a great job of... um... announcing. In fact, he?s so good, he speaks three languages! Pretty impressive for a Michael Buffer wannabe, eh!?!?!? In this beta preview build of Mike Tyson Boxing, the game is made up of four basic modes of play: Practice (sparring), Vs. (2-player), Showcase (a tournament of sorts where you unlock new playable characters), and World (career mode). The World mode is one of the coolest features of the game. With ?Iron Mike? in your corner, you build up your own boxer in a quest for the title. Tyson will give training pointers and the like, and you will have to challenge/defend using a somewhat lifelike calendar schedule. Mike Tyson Boxing is a pretty straightforward boxing title. Using different punches, you touch gloves and get it on. It does seem as though MT Boxing is a bit of a slugfest (which many people enjoy), not focusing on strategy as much as some other titles. But this brawling does seem to make the game a bit too easy (in this preview, mind you). Depending on which mode you are playing, Mike Tyson Boxing sometimes seemed a bit easy. I don?t think the A.I. (artificial intelligence) is perfected yet, because the computer guys in Showcase Mode just didn?t want to throw any punches. The difficulty noticeably increased when entering the World (career) Mode though. Depending on which direction the final product goes, MT Boxing will most likely be fairly easy for anyone to pick up and play, but difficult to master. The buttons used in Mike Tyson Boxing are basic, therefore nice! It is easy to throw in a few jabs, followed by an uppercut, and a body blow... without having to know a ton of commands. World Mode offers quite a bit of depth, making the replay value pretty high. Hopefully the people over at Codemasters will have the insight to allow for a great video game comeback for one of the greatest boxers of all time (minus the ear-biting, please). -Woody, GameVortex Communications AKA Shane Wodele