Remember when Don King's name stood for something?

The news of Don King's first boxing video game generated a wide range of responses. He's known for a lot: Outrageousness, bodaciousness, embezzlement, murder and hair, just to name a few. Lately, though, it's not as if the words 'quality sports management' spring to mind. But at the very least, it seemed reasonable to assume that a boxing title with his name on it would deliver some of the personality, excitement and entertainment he's brought to the sport.

Career mode starts off with character creation and, of course, your new boxer stinks. But after a few fights against other lowlifes, you'll start to get a little better. Training helps and takes the form of heavy bag, speed bag, mitts, running and jump rope work. You can skip these mini games but the boost to your character is a lot better if you do them yourself. All this gets you ready for your first unlocked fight, which serves as sort of an ending chapter to an era before you go through more standard fights before facing another big one.

So far, so good, and pretty typical. But what's different is the story in career mode. It comes at you through video clips with real world celebrities, like King, Larry Holmes and an actor here and there. It's a great idea, but the clips are short and there's no cohesive, compelling context. They're just telling very, very brief stories and you move on. You'll also get messages via recording or text that offer you career choices - do you take supplements, date certain women, go shopping, take acting jobs? Anything that doesn't qualify as working out lowers your attributes but might raise your media profile, but it's not clear what that does for you.

Part of the story mode includes reminiscing about the old days with your trainer, which means a one-shot fight with a boxing legend. They aren't real fights, just challenges. You'll have to last a certain amount of time or score a knockout. But they're a nice distraction in that you're going up against guys like Joe Louis or Rocky Marciano, and the whole thing's done in a sepia tone to give it an old school look. These old fighters get unlocked and added to your stable of current guys like Andrew Golota and Shannon Briggs.

If it seems like we're avoiding mentioning the actual boxing part of the game, that might be the case. The face buttons are used to throw a jab, straight, or left and right hooks. If you're holding the trigger, you'll go to the body. Bumpers being held means you're either going to step into it or use your signature punch. And you can hold two face buttons for an uppercut. Yes, it's complicated. It's also possible to learn with a lot of practice. Once you figure it out and get your brains beat in during the process, you'll realize you weren't getting beat up because you were learning. It was probably because the controls are unresponsive and late. Even once you've gotten good, you'll be waiting around for your punches to be thrown.

So while you're button mashing at your best, you'll get knocked down a lot and you'll knock the other guy down a lot. It's safe to say that most knockdowns are just minor setbacks - the effects don't seem to last very long. There's a lot of falling down in Prizefighter. That might have worked. Drama is good. But it would have felt more realistic if the punches that connect had any weight to them or any sense of power. There are some clipping issues, so some punches that should connect don't. And others that should have been jarring just kind of bounce off or offer no feedback to let you know you clocked the other guy. The whole experience is clumsy to orchestrate and unsatisfying even when you do it right.

It's not necessarily disappointing that Don King's Prizefighter isn't the greatest boxing game of all time. Expecting that would have been a stretch. But it could have been more interesting, had some more personality and been a little less of a headache to play.