If your idea of mobile boxing fun involves “real players” as in real, human-controlled opponents, and not necessarily “real-life fighters” as in Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao, and others, you may want to check out Tapinator’s new iOS game, Rocky. While casual enough not to offer an intensive mobile boxing experience, it’s not too casual to the point where there’s no per-character customization whatsoever. As the game’s title suggests, the boxers in this game include characters from the Rocky film franchise, including Rocky Balboa, Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, and Ivan Drago. There are also more than 30 others across four tiers for you to unlock.
But more importantly, the game’s main selling point is the ability to take on players from all over the world – the description plainly says that all fights in the game will be against real players. No uber-predictable AI to deal with here – this is a game of skill, first and foremost, and a game best played against human opponents. What’s there to do, and what’s there to learn in a game where your skill will be the main differentiating factor, with the right training regimen also required for success? We hope to touch all bases and answer every question you have about this game in our Rocky tips and tricks.
1. Don’t Ignore Mick’s Advice
Mickey, or Mick as he’s called in the game, is Rocky’s elderly trainer, as fans of the franchise may know. And he’ll be the first person giving you advice in the in-game world, sort-of your tutorial as you learn the ropes and figure out how things work. Listen to the tips that he gives you, as they may help you turn things around if you haven’t had a lot of luck in your first few fights. (Remember, however, that other players are also taking tips from him – there are no AI opponents in here to pad your record!)
2. How To Go About Your First Few Fights
At first, it may seem as if everything, and we mean everything, all boils down to your skill, due to the balanced nature of the fights. But you can gain an edge over most, if not all of your opponents, by training hard so that you can improve your stats. Also, budget your currency wisely, and save It for the things that are really important; you don’t want to waste this in-game money on items that won’t do your character any good in terms of their skills in the ring. And when it comes to your first few fights, it’s best to use an offensive-oriented strategy. You won’t have to fight too defensively in these encounters, so keep on button-mashing so you can get an early knockout.
As a bonus tip, keep your eye out for the boosts, which come with the punches you launch. Some boosts may heal you, while others may add to the Super bar. Collect these boosts if you want to get a good advantage over your opponents.
3. Play Defensively Once You’ve Fought A Few Fights
The offense-oriented strategy works well in your first few fights, but once you’ve gained a fair bit of boxing experience in the game, that’s when you’ll need to turn on the defense. We’ve said it so many times before – the best offense is a good defense – and you will, in fact, need to use a defensive-oriented gameplan going forward once you’ve reached a certain point in the game. Once you get matched up against tougher opponents, it will just take a few punches for you to get knocked out, so you want to focus on blocking and dancing around to avoid getting hit.
4. Intermediate Fighting Tips
If you’re in the training screen, pay attention to the bar at the bottom of the screen. Some of the colored parts of this areas will benefit you through buffs, while others will de-buff you and cause you some problems. But what about the actual fight game? What else is there to do aside from focus on offense early on and focus on defense the rest of the way?
We would suggest using your special moves as often as possible. You may not notice them getting launched due to the sheer pace of the action, but you’ll need to play disciplined enough so that you can throw those specials in a fight. Throw punches and blocks with one hand, and use the other one whenever you’ve got a special to throw, so that way you’re prepared for anything at any time.
5. Enter The Tournaments
In Rocky, you can build up a stable of fighters, and while you may want to keep things simple and focus on one fighter above others, you’ll still need those multiple fighters so you can enter the tournaments and make the most out of them. Use the money earned by your main fighter to upgrade your secondary fighters, or vice versa; the important thing is to have a generally strong lineup and not let any one fighter stand out too much from the rest.
There’s a cool down period after using any given fighter in a tournament, so you want to have a strong overall lineup instead of one unusually powerful fighter surrounded by scrubs. Finishing well in the tournaments will allow you to earn some tempting rewards, so do your best!