''Rocky'' is a

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

published by

Rage Software Rage Games (formerly Rage Software) was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its video games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay. Rage's first title '' Striker'' sold more than one mil ...

and released in 2002. The game is based on the ''Rocky'' franchise. In the game the player controls

Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name The Italian Stallion), is a fictional title character and the protagonist of the ''Rocky'' film series. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in all eigh ...

on his journey from a club fighter, facing opponents like Spider Rico, until his championship bout against

Apollo Creed Apollo Creed is a fictional character from the ''Rocky'' films, played by Carl Weathers. He serves as the main antagonist in ''Rocky'' and '' Rocky II'' and also appears in ''Rocky III'' and ''Rocky IV''. He is a tough but agile boxer w ...

and beyond. The game sticks closely to the movies, with all included characters being at least mentioned in the movies. In at least the PAL markets the PS2 and Xbox versions of the game were packaged alongside the original ''Rocky'' DVD release. A sequel was also made, called ''

Rocky Legends ''Rocky Legends'' is a fighting video game, it is the sequel to the 2002 video game ''Rocky''. It was released in 2004, by Venom Games. The game is based on the ''Rocky'' franchise. The events of the game take place before the films and in betw ...

''.

Gameplay

The gameplay mirrors that of other boxing games of its generation. In Story Mode, the player takes control of Rocky Balboa fighting many opponents, either new or already existent within the film series. Regular boxing match rules apply to any fight: winning depends on how many punches the player has landed or if the opponent has been knocked down and not gotten up within a ten-second time limit. The maximum number of rounds in a match is 15, and a round may last for a maximum of 180 seconds. Story Mode also includes training minigames, where the player can increase Rocky's stats. Each individual minigame increases a specific stat: *Punching Mitts: Strength *Speed Bag: Speed *Skipping: Stamina *Sit ups: Determination *Heavy Bag: Movement Besides Story Mode, other modes include Exhibition Match, Sparring, and Knockout Tournament.

Audio and video content used from the film series

The game's intro movie features film footage edited from the five movies showing the main boxers and ends with an advert for the ''Rocky'' DVD. The remaining five cutscenes feature CGI footage using the in-game character models and original film audio recreating segments from the films. The song "

Gonna Fly Now "Gonna Fly Now", also known as "Theme from ''Rocky''", is the theme song from the movie ''Rocky'', composed by Bill Conti with lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, and performed by DeEtta West and Nelson Pigford. Released in 1976 with ''Rocky ...

" is the only one from the movie series featured in the game, the rest of the score being created in-house.

Development

The game was developed for

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

at the

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

studio of

. A derivative

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

conversion was developed by Steel Monkeys in Scotland, and a

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

version with different gameplay by Virtucraft. It was published by Rage Software, and in the US additionally by Ubisoft.

Reception

The game was met with positive to mixed reception.

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

gave it a score of 78.75% for the Xbox version, 76.61% for the PlayStation 2 version, 72.30% for the GameCube version, and 58.63% for the Game Boy Advance version.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the game a score of 74 out of 100 for all console versions except the Game Boy Advance version, which was given a score of 63 out of 100. Owing to positive critical reception and sales, after the closure of Rage Software the developers of the lead version formed

Venom Games Venom Games Limited was a British video game developer based in Gateshead, England. The studio was established by Peter Johnson in 2003 and succeeded Rage Newcastle. Take-Two Interactive acquired the company in 2004, where it became part of t ...

to create a sequel, ''

'', this time published directly by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

Sequel

A sequel to the game, titled ''

'', was released for the

and

on September 28, 2004. It was developed by

and published by

References

External links

* * {{rocky 2002 video games Game Boy Advance games GameCube games PlayStation 2 games Rocky (film series) video games Ubisoft games MGM Interactive games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Xbox games Rage Games games Multiplayer and single-player video games