Picture,
if you will, a cozy house in Little 5 Points, a funky, grungy community
in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a lively party with more people than
the maximum capacity of the house so there’s some overflow to
the front and back yards. Not a problem for me; I like parties. After
mingling and participating in party activities, suddenly the music
stops. The party’s host,
who invited me to the fateful fete, then turns on the TV.
“What’s happening?” I asked him.
“Didn’t I tell you we’re watching THE match? It’s
Pay TV!”
“You mean a sport?” I asked, as I’m fairly clueless.
“The Fight! Holyfield vs. Tyson!”
“Boxing??? UH NO you didn’t tell me. I thought it was
just going to be a party. Eiuw. I think I might have to leave now.”
Fighting against my instincts, however, I didn’t leave like
I should have. Happily, this fight ended quickly as most people know,
but sadly, left a bad taste in the mouth.
Yes, it was a pathetic moment in history when Mike took a chunk out
of Evander’s ear, a true Dog Bites Man moment. I was there.
I witnessed this hellacious act against humanity live on Pay-Per-View
and was traumatized more than anyone will ever know.
I went in with naive eyes to a party I’d hope would simply be
a fun gathering. And came out as damaged goods after having received
an ear d’oeuvre instead of an hors d’oeuvre…
††††††††
Needless to say, I wanted even less to do with boxing, fights, sports
and anything of the like. I vowed to never watch boxing again, talk
about that fight, or even think about anything boxing related. But
silly, silly me forgot the wise maxim: Never say, "Never."
Several years later, the barely one year-old, prolific Italy-based
game maker, Winterwolves – kindly sends me their shiny new game.
I thought, “Yay! A new game to play and review!” Then
I saw the title of the game, “Universal BOXING
Manager.” Even today, many thousands of miles away from Little
5 Points, I still flinch at the word.
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Gathering
all my courage and sanity, I decided to at least check it out, thinking
that I’d hate it with a passion greater than the strength of
a thousand suns.
But I didn't, not even the slightest annoyance did I have for this
new Sim game. Stunned and pleasantly surprised, I, in fact, was hooked.
I played Universal Boxing Manager longer than nearly any other game
I’ve ever played. (Of course it's one of those games that takes
a while to play too.)
Boldly can I say that UBM is the best boxing management simulation
game for the Mac, and I say that not only because it healed my aversion
to all things boxing, a feat in itself, but also it appears to be
the only game of its kind for the Mac. Bravo, Winterwolves, for jumping
on an untapped niche opportunity in the world of seemingly infinite
numbers of shareware games.
Playing
UBM, you are a Don King wannabe, in control of up to 6 boxers at a
time, spanning 17 categories, and you have big shoes to fill. Not
only must you exercise your charisma and persuasive powers to scout
and recruit potential Rocky Balboas and raging bulls but you also
have to take charge of their training, keep up their precarious levels
of morale and manage all finances to keep you, your boxers and your
career in the black. It’s a veritable juggling act on steroids
– and very engaging.
Multitudes of factors play into your results over time and at times
it can all seem overwhelming and tricky. You definitely want a long
and successful career and to do so you have to work out the best combination
of variables and implement them with impeccable timing, using your
shrewd insight and boxing world wisdom.
To begin as a new manager, you select your own personal characteristics:
name, age, nationality and your manager skills. What you choose here
may greatly influence several outcomes later on, for example, if you
have more brownie points in negotiating and charisma, it could assist
you in recruiting new boxers. (You can choose from a database of 1000
boxers.)
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If you’re scouting a boxer who shares the same nationality as
you, it may be easier for you to have him sign on with you.
Also, a young manager will start with less cash and boxers but can have
a long career. On the other hand, an older, more experienced manager
will receive more cash, and starting boxers but have a shorter career.
The parameters have only just begun! Now you have to think about the
boxers. In my game, I’m a 29 year-old Swedish Boxing Manager so
I was given 2 boxers to launch my career. One boxer is “crazy”
(lucky me) and the other is “reflexive” which will influence
their behavior inside and outside of the boxing ring.
As in real life, you, the manager, have to “baby sit” those
for whom you’re responsible. Some of your guys need to improve
their morale and it’s up to you to give it to them in addition
to training them and constantly monitoring their health, fitness, and
boxing skills.
You'll soon realize that certain choices will have direct causal impact
to the boxers, which can work to your disadvantage as well as to your
advantage. Weight training will increase strength; running improves
stamina. However, injuries can occur during sparring training or during
a fight and that may necessitate a cancellation or postponement of forthcoming
matches.
Sometimes, you’re forced to make decisions based on your boxers’
personal lives. If your boxer’s girlfriend just left him, you
know he’s going to need some TLC in order for him to give out
that TKO.
Once
you feel your boxers are ready, you can schedule some fights, and watch
the matches round by round using the interactive mode, or skip the whole
event and just obtain the results instantly.
I
prefer to participate so I choose to watch, and if I do that, I can
see my boxer’s body condition for injuries, fitness and morale
levels. From there I can then advise appropriate boxing strategy, fighting
style and offer moral support per round.
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As
a manager, I can have more control over the outcome of the fight if
I've chosen the interactive mode vs. instant results.
In the interactive fight mode, you can fast forward the fights if
necessary. This is very handy for time conscious players of UBM. But
I wouldn't mind a "skip round option" much like skipping
tracks on a CD.
Another important element in the game is to be on the ball in the
world of finances whether it’s choosing the correct advertising
opportunities given to your boxers or selecting a health care system
according to your budget and boxers’ needs. All this, as well
as making the most educated purchasing decisions due a manager, rests
on your shoulders – and it ain’t easy! It is, nevertheless,
rewarding.
Upon launching UBM, I thought the interface was complicated and impossible,
but as a matter of fact, it is extremely well designed, thought out
and executed because I quickly and easily could get into the game,
read the helpful tips and naturally and effortlessly move forward.
UBM ran solidly and smoothly on my Mac with no problems whatsoever,
which is likely (I'm told) due to the game
engine PTK,
which Winterwolves has used to develop all of their games.
Admittedly, I’ve never been drawn to sim games of this sort,
but I must thank Winterwolves for this eye-opening event. Not only
did I enjoy this game immensely but also I doubly benefited from the
fact that UBM knocked out my loathing for boxing and all things related.
Highly
Recommended.
Universal Boxing Manager
Boxing Manager Simulation
Shareware Game
by Winterwolves
Rating: 5 out of 5
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