What it's all about
Thrill of the Fight is a boxing game excelling at combining workout and having fun. You don't even have to be a boxing fan. Nothing draws you in like a huge boxer charging toward you while having no choice but to send him down with your bare hands.
Your task is to go through the campaign, take on 9 fighters, and beat them all on 4 different levels. In order to get to the next fighter, you must beat the current one on all difficulties. Beware though, the "easy" level will give you a walk in the rose garden. On the other hand the last one, "outclassed", will offer you a walk in hell itself.
You fight the first fighter for 1 round of 90 seconds. With the last fighter named Duke, you fight for 4 rounds of 3 minutes each. You may have just remembered the fact that professional boxers fight up to 12 rounds and thus think 4 rounds are for sissies. If you say that even after you beat Duke on the hardest difficulty, I'll be calling you a boxing god.
Not strong enough for this game
The challenge of the game lies in the fact the damage you give is based on the actual power of your punches. So if you're going to tickle a boxer's face, things won't go that well and you'll soon go down. But don't worry, if your punches aren't as powerful as Rocky Balboa's yet (after completing the game they sure will), the first time you start a fight, a power multiplier is adjusted to your current condition. If you can't land hard punches right away, the multiplier makes you stronger.
If you find yourself throwing devastating punches, you can lower your multiplier at any time to make the game balanced again.
Hard on the training ground, easy on the battlefield
If you're not confident in your strikes and their accuracy, don't hang your head. The game offers a number of training modes. In the case of the training dummy, you get feedback about strike precision and the amount of damage dealt with every punch. You also learn how to properly hit your opponent's vulnerable spots.
If you get bored of the dummy, you have a punching bag, a speed bag to practice your reflexes, and many more.
Workout game, you say?
Thrill of the Fight is not categorized as a workout game. That's because the category is more for games where you do squats and crunches. That is definitely cool and I recommend everyone to check out the App Lab's workout games selection. Don't be fooled though, this game can be so challenging, oftentimes I find myself looking at the clock praying the round's gonna end soon. Just like at high school. Of the VR games I've played for exercise, I have to say this one had me exhausted the most.
VRHealth Institute measured the number of calories burned while playing the game. They measured 584 kcal to 919 kcal burned per hour of play. That's more than you'll burn during a one-hour jog. While I don't suppose anyone can play the game for an hour straight, it shows how strenuous playing this game can be.
Single Player only
That one friend who returned your power bank to you drained can rest easy for now. Thrill of the Fight doesn't support multiplayer yet, so he doesn't have to worry about you taking your revenge in the game. It's a shame though, multiplayer is something this game really needs. Rumor has it we won't see this feature until the next major release. So we can only hope.
Meanwhile, you can browse all multiplayer App Lab games available at the moment.
Being broke?
Although Thrill of the fight is not an expensive game, there is a cheaper alternative game available The Fight. The game is published on the Oculus platform App Lab. It is more or less a twin to Thrill of the fight, with a smaller studio behind it. In addition to the aforementioned mechanics, you can also expect a street fight where you can forget about the presence of a referee to end the fight prematurely and save your butt.
