The Level Cap: Fight Night Round 4 Review
After the success of Fight Night Round 3 another sequel seemed to be a given. The sequel taking this long was unforeseen, however. The main reason for the delay being that the EA Sports office that spawned Round 3 closed down. Well the game is here and so must come the review. Depending on how involved you want to get in the game, it has a “Fight Now” mode and a “Legacy” mode. However, the main new feature of this game is the ability to fight other players online.
Fight Night Round 4
Playstation3/Xbox 360
1-2 Players
Developer: EA Sports
Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc.
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Price: $59.99
Pros:
Roster: “Iron” Mike was obviously the biggest addition to this game, but there are other very notable boxers on this game. Besides Kid Dynamite, George Foreman and Lennox Lewis are very exciting additions to the heavyweight roster. Missing from the heavyweights is, obviously, Rocky Marciano, and I was personally hoping for Earnie Shavers to make his debut. Earnie is the only fighter who gives Mike Tyson a run for the hardest puncher in history. The other weight classes also boast a very impressive cast.
Graphics: The fighters look beautiful. The sweat and blood glistens and their cloth shorts look like you can put them on yourself. Even the stitches of the canvas mat can be seen. However, the fact that EA focused mostly on the fighting and in-ring graphics can also be seen because the crowd looks very bland and generic. The championship belts are also very fake and stiff looking. I found myself thinking “this is what I trained and fought for? A piece of cardboard?”. The fact that there were actually three different belts to win was very nice though. It’s more real to life.
In-Depth Legacy Mode: Some of it can be daunting at times but they try to make it as true to life as possible. In the course of rising to The Greatest of All Time, you must schedule your own training sessions and fights.
Controls: Many people have told me that they hate the total punch control thumbstick system, but it helps by letting the player control the flow of the punches. The system allows much better control of the boxer and a much needed speedy punching system.
Cons:
This game can be retarded hard at times: This game is very realistic, for the better or worse. Getting in the ring and just throwing haymaker after haymaker is not going to work. Mike Tyson will drop your ass in 15 seconds if you do that, even if the game is on easy. Also, training my boxer was practically impossible for me. The training mini-games are actually harder than fighting itself, and that, for lack of a better term, is stupid. Training a boxer should be something that everyone can do. Challenges are supposed to come from the harder fighting modes. I personally gave up on the mini-games and just auto-trained the entire time. I physically could not beat them.
No EA Sports Classic Mode: In Fight Night Round 3, there was a mode that let you reenact famous rivalries from the past. What happened to that?
The commentary is lacking in “Legacy” mode: The announcers really don’t have a lot to say and point out the same thing over and over again. In Fight Now mode, however, they had a little more to say about the individual fighters, which was kind of nice.
Verdict: This game was fun, in spite of its pitfalls. It’s a beautiful representation of a “Sweet Science”. But, the game just didn’t live up to expectations because it will alienate some players with its learning curve. I can’t justify giving it a perfect score, but I recommend any boxing fan to pick it up.
3 Responses to “The Level Cap: Fight Night Round 4 Review”
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Played the demo, didn’t really like due to having to use the joystick to punch. I couldn’t throw the punches and combination’s I wanted to. If there was an option to use the face buttons that could sway me to rent it. Good review though!
I’m not terribly into boxing games, but I saw the display of this at E3 and it drew my attention faster than any other game of this genre. It looks like one of the most realistic fighters out right now. I **may** rent it, but I’m not terribly into these types of games.
[...] entry into Fight Night is the training mini-games. They are impossible to beat. I mean seriously. Read my review of Fight Night Round 4 here. And while you are at it learn some boxing history. People tout nowadays that MMA is the toughest [...]