Kensei is the Playstation version of the Saturn game known as 'King of Boxing' which was released in the States as Center Ring Boxing. That was a year ago and this updated version shows some improvements over the earlier release. Kensei is an average boxing game with mediocre controls and large polygon fighters. The boxer that you use as your on-screen pugilist can be customized by choosing its head, body type, etc. The graphics in the Playstation version are superior to the rough graphics in the Saturn version and many of the animation problems resident in the Saturn game have been fixed. These problems were mostly glitchy polygons and jerky movements in the fighters as you swung and weaved in the ring. The gameplay is strained in terms of the controls and the character animation. Its not as slow as Boxer's Road but its not as fast as a standard fighting game. The argument can be made that this reflects the pace of real boxing but I've seen televised fights and some of those punches land fast and furious. If Victor wanted to make Kensei realistic, they should have added a hugging move where you grab the other boxer so that he can't land any punches. A head butt move (that won't be seen by the referee) would be nice also. On TV, some guys can dance around the ring as they bob and weave to avoid a flurry of upper cuts and body shots. So there is nothing slow about boxing - when Tyson fights, its usually very fast. Perhaps Victor can put in a dive move where you hit the canvas even before the punch lands. With boxing being such a short sport (until recent times) with some bouts lasting only 1:31 minutes, Kensei will give armchair boxers a chance to unleash their pent-up demand for watching two muscular athletes beat each other until they stumble around in a dizzy manner. Kensei plays okay but it is nothing spectacular and while there are improvements over the Saturn version from last year, they are not substantial enough to warrant this game as a 'must-purchase'. Few games are these days.

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