Developer: EA Canada
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-2, 2 (online)
Console: Xbox 360, PS3
ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Hours Played: 30
Progress: Contender (ranking of 15-0-0)
It’s been over three years since the release of the last Fight Night, which impressed, especially graphically, as an evolution of the king of boxing games. Although three years seems like a long enough time to dramatically improve the series, Fight Night Round 4, like so many EA sports games before it, mainly focuses on subtle game play tweaks; new controls, counter system and AI, so are these enough to make it worth your while? Read on……
Easily one of the best qualities of Fight Night Round 3, the graphics looked amazing when it came out in early 2006: the textures were absolutely lifelike, as were the physics, truly displaying the impact of the punches. Well, Round 4 does not disappoint, it features some of the most realistic character models you’ll ever see. Skin textures and facial detail are phenomenal and the physics further improved. Punches cause the body to ripple in the appropriate areas, facial animation displays pain and damage according to the hits inflicted. The fighting arenas and lighting therein, along with the crowd aren’t as impressive, but this is easily forgivable considering the focus is on the fighters. It’s unfortunate that the camera is usually zoomed out, to adequately display both boxers, as the game’s graphical splendour is best observed up close, like when you knock down/out your opponent and the finishing blow is displayed in slow motion. I’d wish the game could be played from that perspective all the time, but of course that would be impractical, as the gamer’s view would constantly obstructed. Round 4’s visuals are truly the most immersive element of the game, sweat will sparkle on the fighters’ bodies in the colosseum light, and swelling and bruising will gradually appear as the boxers progress through the rounds. Saving a 10 second clip of the fight and uploading it to EA’s server is incredibly rewarding as you’re able to zoom in and slow down the action, which so aptly displays the game’s fantastic graphics.
We all know that the main sound elements of a sports game consists of the audio commentary, delivered here by the excitable Joe Tessitore and the anecdotal Teddy Atlas. The former focuses mainly on the match’ play-by-play, while the latter provides the color commentary through background information on the sport. Unfortunately Fight Night Round 4 falls into the common pitfall of sports games: repetition. Yes, after only a few fights you’ll have heard all of Teddy’s “interesting” little quips and Joe’s hysteric cheers. Having said that, the stitching is top notch and if you following boxing, you’ll be forced to concede that these individuals are true icons of the sport. Crowd noises, as well as the punch, crunch and grunt sounds are all fairly standard stuff and nothing special. The soundtrack isn’t bad and mainly consists of hip-hop tracks, some specifically written for the game.
A significant change to the game comes in the form of the controls. As with the previous game the right thumb stick is used to swing your dukes and, although that sounds intuitive, it really requires quite a bit of practice to get used to. At the start of Legacy Mode (the game’s equivalent of a “career mode”) you are given a tutorial, which guides you through the punching controls. I had to replay this tutorial probably half a dozen times before I felt somewhat comfortable with the controls. The biggest control changes are found in the dodge and haymaker mechanics, which we’ll cover more in the “gameplay section”. Jabs to the head are done by pressing the right thumb stick diagonally up, to the left for a left-handed jab, and… you guessed it, to the right for a right-handed jab. The potent hook to the head is done by pressing the right thumb stick in a quarter circle to the left or right and then up. Uppercuts to the head are performed by pressing the right thumb stick diagonally down and then half a circle up. Jabs, hooks and uppercuts to the body are performed by making the same right thumb stick motions however the left trigger button has to be pressed at the same time. Haymakers (or power punches) have undergone a transformation and are made by making the hook or uppercut motion and pressing the right bumper at the same time. Pressing the right trigger and the right thumb stick up or down causes your fighter to block, while the left trigger and thumb stick allow you to duck out of the way, by pressing the left thumb stick your fighter will weave, a successful weave will present you with a counter punch opportunity. Some moves, like the uppercut and especially the hook, can be hard to pull off. The right thumb stick isn’t always that responsive, and it’s easy enough as it is to get caught up in a thumb stick mashing contest without having to worry about pulling a perfectly executed half-circle press. There is no option to map the punches to the controller’s buttons so you’ll just have to live with it, over time the controls will grow on you, and ultimately make sense considering the motions you’re attempting to execute with your fighter.
As mentioned before, the counter system and haymaker mechanics have changed, as has the AI. Round 3’s difficulty left something to be desired and boy, has that been addressed in Round 4. Computer AI is very taxing, relatively early on in Legacy mode you’ll run into trouble (and a considerable number of punches) as the competition gets very skilled. Counter-punches are pulled off with ease, and your weaknesses will be more easily exploited. It’s also quite difficult to predict your opponent’s moves, making blocking and weaving more difficult. A bigger emphasis is placed on counter-punching; by pulling off a successful block or weave the camera will zoom in for a brief moment indicating you have an opportunity to perform a counter-punch. The fuller your stamina gauge, and the more powerful your punch (like an uppercut or haymaker), the more destructive your counter punch will be. Without mastering this system it’ll become virtually impossible to knock out later opponents, and let’s face it… who wants to win on points when performing a knock out punch, in glorious slow motion, is so much more satisfying? There’s a smaller emphasis on power punches this time around, not only are they now performed by combining the right bumper button and right thumb stick instead of pulling back the right thumb stick, they are less powerful and just as slow. The screen displays the stamina, health and damage bars (whereas they were hidden in the previous game). As your face steadily progresses to a hamburger-like state your damage gauge will fill, if it reaches a certain point, the referee is more liable to end the match. The more full your stamina gauge, the more damage your punches will do, and lastly the more your health bar depletes the more likely you’ll be to end up knocked out. In between rounds you can spend the points you earned, based on your fighting prowess, to refill the aforementioned bars.
Multiplayer is probably even more enjoyable than the single player experience as the behaviour and and skill sets of human opponents will be more realistic can the computer AI. This will allow you to better respond to your opponent’s punches and have more enjoyable bouts. Online options are pretty standard, quick and custom matches are joined by one massive ranked league called “world championship” where you fight your way to the top by earning points based on your fight performance. Once you select “World Championship” from the game’s Xbox Live menu, pressing the A button has the game search for a match with an opponent whose fighter and experience match yours. These searches are incredibly fast and match you up and put you in the game in the blink of an eye. Online performance was solid with few frame rate or lag issues.
For a boxing game Fight Night Round 4 is incredibly deep. It’s one of those games where you are constantly responding to what your opponent is doing and every move has a counter option. There’s a plethora of different punches and ways to avoid getting hit, not only that but the excellent visuals and physics really give you a sense of being there. Having said that, when compared to all genres of games, a boxing game doesn’t offer as much variety as other games do and that’s why you might tire of Fight Night Round 4 more quickly then let’s say Fallout 3… is that a fair comparison? Well let me put it this way, they both compete for your hard-earned dollars, so we’re going to look at all games and judge, at least partly, based on value and longevity, here Fight Night Round 4 might lose some appeal, but admittedly less so then other boxing games. For graphics-whores like me, the visuals alone are a good reason to own the game, but the solid boxing mechanics certainly do the franchise justice.
Fight Night Round 4 is the best boxing game on the market today, there you have it, that’s the bottom line for boxing game fans. It’s not a meteoric leap in terms of innovation over Round 3, but it improved enough to warrant an update after three years. For everyone else, it’s a solid boxing game that packs a challenge, looks stunning and is a lot of fun online. The experience will become a bit more repetitive over time but at the end of the day you know what to expect from a title like this.
Graphics:
+ Stunning, life-like textures
+ Fantastic animation, with great facial detail
+ Physics are very accurate with punches that really seem to connect
– Game looks at its best up-close, a perspective we only get during the replays
Sound:
+ Authentic commentators…
– ….who use repetitive lines
Gameplay:
+ Deep boxing game with many punches and counter options
– It is still boxing, other then throwing punches and changing the color of your shorts, there isn’t much else
Multiplayer:
+ Great fun online, easy to jump into a match with lag-free performance
+ Uploading your custom replays is fun, you get robust edit options
– Pretty basic online modes
Usagi Factor:
+ This is one sweet looking game!
+ It’s hard to imagine a more polished boxing experience on consoles at the moment
– Boxing can grow old a bit quicker than some other game genres
