Hands on with Super KO Boxing

There aren't many decent mobile boxing games. Come to think of it, there aren't many mobile boxing games full stop, (we can only think of Mike Tyson Boxing). But that's all about to change as Glu Mobile's colourful cartoon punch'em'up Super KO Boxing prepares to enter the ring.

"We wanted to capture the sensibility of the classic arcade boxing games," says Robert Nashak, chief creative officer at Glu. "The game's got bright, saturated colours, large richly-animated characters and easy controls. We wanted to make a light-hearted game that was extremely addictive, while also making you laugh."

If you're a grizzled veteran gamer, Super KO Boxing may remind you of the old Nintendo game Super Punch-Out, with its first-person view and ducking'n'diving focus. However, the best thing about this game is the frankly barmy line-up of boxers. We fought against Pierre Powderfist, a French mime artist who does the whole 'stuck in a glass box' routine in between punching your lights out.

Others include steroid-crazed goon Ivan Roiden, head butting monster Crusher Crenshaw, invisibility man Sake Bomb, and a haymaker-throwing chap called 15 Cent. No relation.

"We had a blast coming up with unique wacky boxer characters, and you should see the ones we rejected!" says Nashak. Stand by for the science bit. "We knew we had to deliver a lot of expressive and over-the-top animations, so we developed a unique sprite animation tool that allowed us to fit something like 2000 frames of animation into the game, which is an unheard amount on mobile."

The easy controls are another reason why Super KO Boxing looks set to be a great mobile game, even if you don't know your right hook from your elbow. There are four basic moves – high punch, low punch, dodge and block – triggered using your phone's directional pad - plus a Super Punch that can be triggered when your 'Super Meter' reaches an appropriate level.

Not that you need to let your fists do all the talking here as you can also taunt your opponent using the '1' key, although be warned, this might earn you a volley of abuse in return, or even a frenzied attack.

Don't let the simple controls kid you into complacency though. You'll need to keep your wits about you to progress through the various opponents.

"You can't button mash your way to victory beyond the first circuit, since each character has its own unique set of moves that you have to take into account," says Nashak. "The moves act like puzzles that you have to solve in order to beat them."

Super KO Boxing will come out fighting this summer. Click on the Track It button above to ensure it doesn't slip past your guard.