$20 Game of the Week: Fight Night Round 4 (Xbox 360, PS3)

Last console generation, Fight Night and its sequel set new standards for Boxing video games. When the series debuted on Xbox 360 back in 2006 (and on PS3 later that year), the bar was set even further. However, the series was in jeopardy after series creator Kudo Tsunoda was booted from EA after the dismal performance of 2007’s Def Jam Icon (a move which makes about as much sense as the Browns having QB Josh Cribbs play Linebacker then shelving him after one game because he isn’t making as many sacks and tackles as he did passes and completions). Thankfully FN Round 4 manages to retain the high standard of boxing that the series is known for, even if EA Canada made a few unwelcome changes.

Fight Night has you lacing on the gloves as one of over 40 of boxing’s greatest fighters, including Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson (making this the first good boxing game that the latter has been in since Punch-Out on the SNES), with even more available for download over Xbox Live and PSN, including Sonny Liston and Evander Holyfield. Of course, if those guys aren’t enough, you can create your own, although its a bit different this time around. Sadly, there are no sliders this time around. You can either select from a preset template and edit it, or you can make use of the Playstation Eye Toy and Xbox Live vision camera to upload your own mugshot to the game. You can make use of EA’s gameface feature to upload your mugshot online, set points for facial features, and download it into the game. It sounds better in theory, as I had to constantly fiddle with lighting, and the system (which is also used in FIFA 10, Facebreaker, and the upcoming EA Mixed Martial Arts game) is far from perfect. I spent nearly an hour creating a guy who looks nothing like me. On the bright side, you can upload your created boxers for other viewers to download.

When I saw status bars on the top of the screen, I got a bit worried. The best thing about Fight Night Round 3 was that the graphical detail was so realistic that I could tell my fighter’s status simply by looking at the visual cues. Thankfully, I can go into the options, change the camera angle, turn off the HUD, and it’s 1996 all over again. The controls have been reworked, and the game opens with a tutorial that introduces you to them. The defensive has been altered as well, and rather than FN round 3’s parrying, you can now just block either high or low. For Fight Night veterans, they take a bit of time to get used to (for me it feels a bit strange not having to hold down the trigger to throw body shots and I ended up throwing a lot of haymakers when I first started out), but they are just as intuitive as ever. The haymaker has also been reworked, so you don’t have to do the full motion to pull off a power punch. The corner-man game has been altered. You assign points to each category. I personally liked FN3’s system better, as it was much more hands on. The game launched without button controls (which were added in a downloadable update) which upset many players, but button punching is for chumps anyway. Real men master the total punch control. Oh yeah, the commentary has been improved, and Joe Tessitore has been joined by Tony Atlas.

Legacy mode is an update to career mode. While there are several new cosmetic changes to the mode (being able to schedule fights, ranking systems, end-of-year awards, emails from your trainer, etc), its just as linear as last year’s game. Fight opponents, compete for belts, train, etc. The training games are even harder than Round 3, and I end up auto-training most of the time. For online players however, a world championship mode allow players to compete in an live online boxing league. It’s Fight Night’s answer to Madden’s Online Franchise and NCAA’s online legacy modes. ESPN classic fights have been added to the game via a downloadable update. However, the first person boxing mode from Round 3 is nowhere to be found.

Even with the unwelcome changes, FN Round 4 remains the undisputed king of the ring. It’s jam packed with so many boxing legends, the online modes are awesome, and the punching control remains ahead of its time. It’s just as fun as ever to beat the shit out of somebody, and hopefully next year’s Fight Night Champion will improve the formula even further.