Temple Fist

Blimey, it looks unbelievable! I definately stopped and stared a bit before touching anything. Simple boxing match underneath, and short, but I wasn't bothered.

Most of the photoreal work going round is a trailer wearing a game's clothes, so building something you can actually press buttons in counts for a lot. It looks extraordinary. It's also plainly constrained by the method, with limited states and a shallow fight under a gorgeous surface. I'd still say go and see it.

When your render pipeline is video, the frames were decided before you touched a button, and you feel it the whole way through. Punches land on video time instead of input time, so the read and react loop that makes boxing games good isn't really on offer. Hugely impressive as a technical stunt. It doesn't sit right under the hands.

I've not clicked on anything this technically interesting in months and I still don't think it's a game. It looks extraordinary, no argument there. But boxing is a read-and-react exchange, and video playback can't give you that. You pick from a menu and you watch the result. See it once. Don't go back for a second round.