Fight Night Round 4 Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 2nd July 2009

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I get in the ring with EA Sports!

Fight Night Round 4 Details:

	Sports
	PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	EA Canada
	EA Sports

16+

Out Now

1-2

As a sport boxing seems to have fallen out of the spot light in recent years. No longer is it able to command the headlines it did in the 80's and 90's. Despite this, there does seem to be a boxing resurgence in the world of video games. We've had numerous boxing themed titles on Nintendo's Wii, then came Don King's Prize Fighter. However, no game has done more to aid this resurgence then EA Sports Fight Night franchise which returns this year for Round 4!

Unlike most boxing games instead of featuring a roster of make believe fighters or a crop of current fighters. Fight Night Round 4 features some of the greatest fighters from the sports history. These include the likes of Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Sugar Ray Leonard and Lennox Lewis. These all time greats have also been combined with some current fighters allowing you to create fantasy bouts between some of the greatest names in boxing.

Fight Night Round 4 comes with all the regular game modes you’d expect from an EA Sports title. Create A boxer, Quick Fights, Career or “Legacy Mode” as its called in the game. The Legacy mode allows you to play as one of the many known fighters in the game or use a created boxer and guide them on their way to becoming an all time great, building up their stats and popularity as you go. To compliment its single player options Fight Night Round 4 also includes several online modes including ranked fights and online Championships. This brings a new challenge to the table, as fighting against human players can often lead to unexpected results and adds a level of tension that helps get the adrenaline pumping during online match ups.

The gameplay mechanics of Fight Night Round 4 have been somewhat refined over previous versions. The right thumb stick is used to throw a range of punches, such a jabs, straights and body blows depending on which direction you press it. You can also perform powerful haymakers by moving the thumb stick in a Street Fighter style fashion to try and stun an opponent so you can attempt to knock them down. This system is very fluid and feels much more natural then the button mashing methods used in other boxing games. However, as good as this system is, it isn’t perfect! Firstly it can be quite difficult to get to grips with as your thumb often edges towards the buttons during play. Also the system can be quite sloppy at times often resulting in you performing a punch you didn’t mean to, thus leaving yourself open to counter attacks. This problem does seem more evident on the PlayStation 3 version of the game rather then the Xbox 360. Although to be fair to EA, I think this maybe more to do with the design of each systems controller more then game design.

The thing that most impressed me about Fight Night Round 4 is the way the AI controlled fighters react to you in a the ring. They will look for openings and weaknesses and try and match your approach to a fight. Take it steady and so will they. Try and slug it out with them and they’ll do the same. This combined with the brilliant pace that the game runs at, makes for some very exciting fights. Especially knowing that with one good hit you could find yourself sprawled out on the canvas.

When the inevitable does happen and you find yourself lying on your face, Fight Night takes a different approach to most fighting games. Once again the video game does away with the antiquated button mashing system employed by other fighting games. Instead at the bottom of the screen there’s a colour coded bar in which you have to centre you boxer’s vision using the left thumb stick, then press up on the right thumb stick once you have done so. Move too fast and the marker will shoot across to the other side of the bar and result in your boxer falling down again. It sounds simple but it can be quite challenging and really adds overall depth and an interesting factor into the games recovery system, requiring precision and accurate timing.

Visually the game is very appealing. Boxers feature an impressive amount of detail and are animated brilliantly! Sweat can be seen dripping of them, whilst cuts, bruising and swelling become more pronounced as fights progress. Boxers also fight in their signature gloves and shorts, with nice features visible such as signatures and individual designs. The game offers varied number of arenas to fight in, ranging from a dirty back street gym to world famous arenas such the MGM Grand and Staples Center. The games audio also follows in the same suit, with a good hip hop soundtrack and great sound effects throughout, such as huff sand grunts from the fighters as they swing punches. Commentary in the game is excellent, with accurate match analysis and background information on each fighter given during the course of a fight!

So there we have it, Fight Night returns with a more refined playing experience then we’ve seen in previous versions! Ensuring it retains its title as king of the ring. A game of note in any boxing or sports fans video game collection, highly recommended.