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Boxing - it's a useful thing to be proficient at. Why, we all make use of it most weekends. In dark alleys. Late at night (Ho ho ho, only joshing!) Anyway, now you can do some serious head-punching on your Speccy with The Champ.

You become a young hopeful who desperately wants to make it to the top and become WBC champion. The only trouble is that the current cham is a right hard nut.

You start off the game street boxing with no referee and have to fight a couple of matches before you're spotted by a manager, who gives you a shot at the big time and takes you off to be trained.

The training section involves three routines: skipping, sand bag and the punchbag. You have to try your hardest at these three, as how well you do affects your start strength for the first of four increasingly difficult professional bouts.

The boxing moves are pretty much the same as all other beat-'em-ups. A selection of punches and guards to stop opponent's punches doing much damage are available. A match can be won by doing some nifty footwork and bopping to gain points, or going for a knockout.

From start to end, The Champ is excellently programmed. The presentation is great with a recognisable tune from the Rocky films and there are large, colourful graphics throughout the game. Each of the backgrounds you box in front of (street, training and stadium) are monochrome but detailed and boxer animation is great.

The game doesn't hold much of a challenge, though. By repeating a combination of moves you can quickly knock out your opponent and win the game. It was also strange that, after winning four games in a row, I was taken straight back to the intro screen and not given any champion-like treatment at all.

If you fancy a basic boxing simulation with tarty bits around the edges then that's exactly what The Champ is. If you want something with more involvement, look elsewhere.

As this is a boxing game, I'll get the old cliches out of the way first: "I could have been a contender" ... "Know what I mean, 'Arry" ... And that famous quote from Sly Stallone: "Huh, nuh wuh Rocky duh yuhh" [What is he on about? - Ed]. Anyway, as a boxing game, The Champ is pretty good. The two contenders are well-drawn and animated.

There are about half-a-dozen punches you can throw, and each one that lands knocks a small amount of energy off your opponent's meter. Or that's the way it's supposed to work. More times than I care to remember I hit the other guy and made little impression on his energy. He hit me a couple of times and I was chewing canvas, hardly fair. Despite that whinge, The Champ is a fun game for all you pugilistic types.

Overall 74%
A well-presented game with everything you would expect from a boxing simulation.