Brainbox

Boxing is not the safest sport there, but that much is obvious from the first few seconds of watching a match. On the other hand, the real dangers are more long-term than the bruises that appear during the fight, because most successful fighters still have to struggle with brain damage later in life. Hence, it’s worth considering whether the rewards are worth the risks.

Brainbox is a simple arcade game in which you get to practice your boxing moves against challenging opponents that try to cause you brain damage. You only need to make use of a few buttons in order to win the matches, but the mechanics are actually fairly challenging and enjoyable. The game still needs more work and more content, but it’s a very good starting point.

In short, your goal is to keep punching until your opponent’s brain shuts off, which requires you to keep hitting at the right time. You can use three types of hits, namely a jab, a straight or an uppercut, in ascending order of the amount of damage they deal. However, they also consume different amounts of stamina, so it’s wise to consider that before throwing too many uppercuts.

As you might suspect, the opponent strikes back as well, so keeping your guard up is essential to block the blows. However, this also consumes your stamina, so sometimes it’s better to let the guard down in order to get enough energy for a blow. All of this makes for quite intense fights, especially when you manage to land a few successful hits.

There are only a handful of fights included, on the other hand, so the whole experience is done in a matter of minutes, depending on your skill. The opponents don’t get very strong later on either, which is a bit of a bummer, but this can be fixed in the future. Lastly, the retro graphics are not bad at all, although multiple backgrounds would be a nice addition.

In the end, Brainbox could actually be a great hit if only it had more content, some kind of leveling system, or more tournaments to take part in. It would also be great to see better AI behavior and tougher fights toward the end.