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| | Title:
Fight Night Round 3
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System:
Xbox 360
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Genre:
Sports
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Publisher:
Electronic Arts
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Developer:
Electronic Arts
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Release:
2/22/2006
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Online:
Yes
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ESRB:
Teen (T)
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Boxing games always suffered from lack-lusting bouts and anti-manual combos that ruined all the momentum during a match. That was, until EA’s Fight Night appeared with top notch graphics, fluid control schemes, amazing visuals, and match immersion. Added to that, an amazing Create-a-Fighter, within the career mode, that allowed you to create just about any kind of fighter that you could think of. The original Fight Night 2004 broke out of the gates with a flurry of influential elements coming from real life boxing, to make the game more like real life boxing. The counters, combos, and whole dynamic that EA brought to the sports table with Fight Night was nothing short of groundbreaking for the video game boxing genre. From the close-to-knockout silence that envelops the boxer when they’re in the knee-buckling zone, to the counters, amazing graphics and the Total Punch Control...Fight Night drowned gamers in a territory of realism that other games seemed to have forsaken.
The new installment of the series, Fight Night Round 3, features top notch graphics, new game modes, fighting styles, and punching tactics and strategies. Among the great features included in the game, are the even greater boxers from recent and past times. Such fighters as M. Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, and Joe Frazier all make the cut, and that’s just to name a few. The career mode has also undergone some upgrades with out-of-the-ring confrontations, and even ESPN classic footage that you can access and view. That’s not to mention the new no-HUD damage feature exclusive to the next-generation consoles, and an even more advanced fighting system than ever before.
Busted faces never looked so good
I don’t have to prattle on about how good the graphics are, in this game, for the next generation consoles. A screenshot or two will reveal just how much detail and realism they added to this game. Each boxer is, according to the developers, composed of about 3 million polygons each...let that number sink in before you continue. Better yet, let me repeat that in comparison to the current consoles: it would take three Playstation 2 consoles to process just one of the characters on-screen. It’s some amazing stuff to look at. Yet, it still doesn’t look quite like real life, but it does come extremely close. As a matter of fact, this is about as close to real-life as a boxing game is going to look. That is, until the next installment of the game, where they will probably look exactly like the real thing, no questions asked.
The fighters, though, aren’t the only thing in the game that looks amazing. The arenas are modeled and programmed into the game with a cool feature that allows for any of the crowd members individually to stand up and shout, cheer, chant, or get up and walk out if they see fit to do so. The EA Sports team really seemed to go out of their way to make the game as immersive and visually stunning as they possibly could.
Skill, counters, and fancy footwork
The Dead or Alive series has received a lot of praise for its counter-attack system (amongst other things). As the series evolved so did the complexity of the counter system and the skill involved for using the counter-attacks. The only problem is that many fighting games never truly embraced what other wrestling, and now boxing, games are making a marketable standard: the option to manually counter, reverse, and infuse stylized, individual, fighting techniques into the fight. Don’t get me wrong, fighting games have come a long way, and feature amazing counters and reversals. However, Fight Night Round 3 is the sort of game that takes things several steps further. Allowing for players to manually dodge, weave, and counter with a very advanced and easy to use controller scheme.
Fight like a unicorn and bite like a bison
You know how in the Kung-fu classics there were different styles used to counter various other fighting styles or attacks within that style? Well, think about taking that very same concept, and applying it to a boxing game; where players are in charge of the emotionally fueled fights based on styles that they can alter and develop. Such styles are also nourished through extensive in-game training that players will take part in when training and developing the skills of their created boxer. This also enables gamers to finally be able to prance around and throw punches from a stance they can switch to, and from, at any time. Allowing for a style that players can develop, which ranges from powerhouse flurries to speedy hook punches. Coinciding with this feature is an AI platform that actually learns and adapts to the player’s fighting techniques and the use of their overall style. Also new to the Fight Night series is the option to compare fighting styles with some of the greats of the boxing world. Each boxer has also been assigned their authentic boxing style that made them so unique in the sport. This gives gamers an enriched experience of challenging foes and unique matches for each boxer they play.
Drama, blood and the ten count
One of the most important parts about this game–and exclusive to the next-gen versions of the game– would have to be the lack of the HUD that most other sport games feature. Meters, gauges, timers and such are nowhere to be seen in Fight Night Round 3 on the Xbox 360 or PS3. This is mainly because it’s not necessary to gauge health in a game where YOUR character is their health. That’s right, face expressions, heavy breathing, low guarding, sluggish movements and torrents of sweat are all indicators of how well your fighter is holding up during the fight. The body-language of the boxer is now a key component to the overall factor of the boxer’s endurance. When you launch a barrage of fists into the face of your opponent...his bruised skin, sagging jaw and wide-eyed shock before going down for the ten count are all the indications you need in this game. You’ll no longer measure the fight based on the health bars and stamina meters. Because, like in real life boxing, you don’t have life bars that determine whether or not you’re fit to stand on weak-knees.
Nevertheless, because of this realistic and emotionally engaging feature, boxing fans of Fight Night must rely heavily on their foot work and dodging skills. Thankfully you can still bob and weave, stick-and-move, as necessary. However, EA wanted to give gamers the total experience; hence the Impact Punches (also known as the EA Super Punch) provides for an excellent way to turn the tides of a match. One well-placed Impact Punch can make or break a career...while it is high impact; it is also high risk (a little like when wrestlers attempt turnbuckle aerial maneuvers). If you manage to land this devastating punch, a small mini-game is started, where a punch-drunk boxer who just got nailed with the EA Super Punch must defend incoming blows. This is done from a first-person camera, with the defender hoping to avoid being knocked clean to the mat. On the other hand, though, if an Impact Punch is missed, players could be on the receiving end of some serious damage. Simply given, high risk punches leave the attacker wide open, which is actually a good balance considering how much damage such punches can do.
The entire purpose of the Impact Punching wasn’t just to add another punching mechanic or boxing gimmick, though, it was to improve on the realism featured in boxing video games. Gamers will be trapped in an intense battle that can be altered in the effect of one, well placed, swinging punch. The inclusion of such an emotionally charged featured, mirrored with the realistic damage effects, should add unpredictable and skillfully paced matches to the gaming experience nearly every time you play.
Bums, warehouses, and the Colosseum
Fight Night Round 3 retains the excellent career mode and Create-a-Fighter. But besides this, EA Sports and Renderware took things a step further by including vignettes or rivalries that can be developed and exploited for the match. I was personally wondering when another sport genre would include a feature like this, outside the pro Wrestling games. Albeit, I’ll be the first to admit that many times such rivalries are cheesy and unproductive when compared to the actual match that takes place. However, in this game the fights are already fueled with unbridled emotion. So including outside-the-ring rivalries where you can toss a punch or two at your opponent during weigh-ins or press conferences, only add to the drama during a fight. Rivalries can become so heated that EA brought in the use of the ESPN classic footage feature for the game. While you can watch classic bouts within this mode, you can also create classic footage of your own, through rivalries and battles that stopped nothing shy of being breathtaking.
Yet before making it to the classics, you’ll have to train your way to the pros. Like in previous Fight Night games, you’ll take your bum-status fighter and shape them into a classic boxer who wields wrecking balls for fists. You can also earn new ring gear and fancy entrance gimmicks with your earnings. As you move up in the ranks, you can challenge fighters for their belts and further move up in the rankings in your quest to be the best. Of course, you can also make a name for yourself by establishing memorable rivalries with some of the big names in the business of professional boxing.
Respect for the World Champ
As in the previous installments of Fight Night, players still have the option of taking the fight on-line. After training your ideal boxer and establishing your own style, and ring presence, you can challenge any chump who feels like taking on your championship-material fighter. But, unlike previous versions of the game, players who are more inclined to study and perfect their fighter throughout the career mode will be rewarded with more skills and abilities. Such diligence will give them a greater advantage when playing on-line. So remember to train like there’s no tomorrow if you don’t want to be the sort of chump that everyone else uses as a stepping stone for success.
You can look for Fight Night Round 3 for the Xbox 360 and Xbox to hit store shelves on February 14, 2006.
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ahnonamis
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