Fight Night Round 3 Impressions

EA's champ makes its next gen appearance. We take a new build for a quick bout, before the bruises and cuts settle for a final review. A bunch of HD media included.

Update 28/2/06: Additional videos added

Seconds out, Round 3; EA's Fight Night boxing series that is. Fight Night Round 2 scraped a victory on points last year, over its boxing game rivals, mostly due to its solid and deep control system and typically high quality EA presentation. It was only in a few minor areas that it came up short, but EA Chicago have not only being working on the usual annual 'spit' of incremental enhancement, they've also only gone and polished up the visuals with a next-generation makeover too.

Our first whiff of blood, spit and man-sweat (nice, thanks) was at last year's E3 show, where a mock-up was on display as part of the PS3 showreel, and it is still on schedule for Sony's up-and-coming contender, but is taking its first shot at the title on Xbox 360.

That it's due out on both of these next generation pieces of kit means we're very much looking forward to the inevitable slugfest as the two machines go toe-to-toe, especially because the Fight Night series has always been one to push out some top end visuals. Though which will rule supreme is a long way off, so for now we'll just have to focus on how this 360 version is coming along.

The graphical focus with Fight Night has always been weighted toward the stars of the show, the boxers themselves; appropriate really seeing as that's what the gameplay is most concerned with. Round 3 is no exception to this rule, and the results so far aren't as far away from that PS3 mock-up as you might think. It's true that, mostly due to some jarring animations, the near-photorealistic look of the pugilists is occasionally spoiled, but on the whole the effect is a convincing one. The game has no HUD for energy bars or the like, it being entirely possible to tell the state of your fighter from his movements, a dazed look on his face and an array of cuts and bruises. It's very subtle, yet still works perfectly.

What doesn't gel so well at this stage, at least in terms of player feedback, are the ongoing commentaries. Wildly swinging from near defeat to total dominance, but yet not reflected in the actual fight - it's as if the commentary is for some other fight nearby. There is still time for the commentary to be tightened up, but we're slightly concerned about the overall quality of the soundtrack. The concern isn't with the squelching noise of mitt on face, though the slow motion, knock-down punch noises make it sound as though we'd just broken every bone in your opponent's face (maybe we had).

It creeps in more with the voice acting, and also that EA Trax is currently filled with what sounds like leftover licensed music from Generic Street Racing Game #27. Perhaps that every single one of the boxing managers/trainers is, at this stage, seemingly voiced by the homeless guy from The Warriors, may have swayed our initial reaction toward the negative. It is obviously placeholder audio, and we only mention it so as to include a rubbish joke (about it being nice to see EA's outreach program to out-of-work voice artists in action).

However, the gameplay itself is already clearly building on the groundwork of its forebears; indeed the control system will be familiar to anyone who has played a previous Fight Night, it being almost exactly the same. Newcomers will still feel it to be woolly and random, but with enough practice will uncover its depth and reliability, and be stringing 1, 2 combos together in no time. To aid with this, the much needed addition of a free sparring practice mode will allow any fresh faced glove-lovers to bring their defence game up to speed before having to rely on it for victory. Other new game modes include a 'Classic Match', essentially a Quick Match with historical overtones, and a slightly altered Career Mode. We can't yet comment about the online game, and can only hope that it delivers over Round 2's lag-filled attempt.

All in, the solid foundations of Round 2 are shining through, and the 360 gloss is impressive when it works. Our only worry is that the illusion could be spoiled, unless everything else is in place, presentation wise, come release day. It also doesn't feel at this stage to be much more than a new lick of paint, as the number of refinements and additions doesn't yet feel as if it will earn the game that full extra number for it's title, being more deserving of a 2.5 - this may well have more resonance when more news of the PS3 iteration ducks and weaves its way into view. The Xbox 360 version release date, and review, will be with us in no time; but for now, here's a word from out sponsors.

Stay tuned for more on Fight Night Round 3.

Stephen Rowley
Staff Writer, Kikizo.com