Fight Night Round 4 - My Take - Complex's Blog

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Fight Night Round 4 - My Take Stuck

Posted on May 12, 2009 at 09:46 PM.

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It has been a while since I had a chance to sit down and write anything substantial on Fight Night 4. It was not intentional, just that prior to the EA Community Event I was planning to relocate from the South to the Midwest. Don't feel too bad for me, I got a new job and nice increase and signing bonus.

With that said, I do want to add my two cents on the upcoming release of Fight Night Round 4. Most folks that know me know I breathe, eat and sleep boxing. I will watch two unknowns fight in the squared circle on any given day. I am the guy that orders the PPV event to watch EVERY match, not just the main event. I am the guy who will keep a scorecard on an MS Excel worksheet while watching, scoring the fight on my own. I truly love this sport.

I have played a ton of boxing games, including the Fight Night series, Knockout Kings, Victorious Boxers, and Boxer�s Road and so on. While all have their pros and cons, I enjoyed each of them over the years. Well most of them. I will reference some of these games going forward as to give some of you a frame of reference. On to the game.

Under the hood - I posted on numerous sites that need to have additional attributes to boxing games. Some boxers have fast hands, but slow feet. Some have good right hands, but awful left. Few boxers have true power in both hands. The additional attributes that EA incorporated in the game was a godsend for me. I wrote down ~13 attributes when we were allowed to see the screenshot at the community event. New ones included separate hand attributes (power and speed) as well as an accuracy attribute, probably my most favorite. When you think of it, most boxing matches have a punch connect rate of ~30%. And keep in mind that 30% is a good rate. It was good to see EA thinking in that direction. Even if a fighter throws the perfect jab, sets his feet steps into it, and whips his fist on it at the end, there is still no guarantee it lands the same even if his target is motionless. I think this adds a whole new dimension to the game and one I totally welcome.

Fight Nights list of attributes is only rivaled by Boxer's Road 2 for the PSP. BR2 had attributes like 'neck' which assist you in your ability to take punches. Also BR2 has different types of power, Solid and Heavy. When you think of power, there is Tyson type power and Pavlik type power. Tyson will take your head off with the right punch, but Pavlik will make you take notice of his power but won't exactly kill you with one punch. Side note: when I asked Sergio Mora what attribute he wishes he had, he mentioned he wish he had that 'One Punch' power. So maybe this is something that we will see from EA going forward.

They had an attribute for swelling and cuts too. I am not sure how that works out just yet as most of our matches did not last long enough to truly test this. Which leads me to one feature that is going to have me pulling out my hair, well if I had hair. That is the 'get up' mini game. I will get into that in my discussion of game play.

How does it look - Fight Night Round 4 is easily the best looking boxing game to date. There has been some mention of the models shown in demos and early builds, but I do not think anyone will be disappointed in what they will see in the ring. One of my big gripes of the Fight Night series is that a Roy Jones Jab looked like a James Toney jab, which looked like a Hatton Jab. What was desperately needed were new animations in the ring. In my mind it was the easiest fix to an obvious problem. By simply increasing the animations of the boxers, many of my gripes were resolved. I still have a few gripes but that is more of me nick picking. For instance, the jab is used for setup, as well as measurement, and in some cases defense. If they can add this ability in the game, we may be on our way to perfection. No boxing game has been able to incorporate this in a game. EA are you listening?
Knockdowns were varied and fluid and the complete rag doll physics are gone. I mean in FN3, guys would get KOd and you would think they died. Not this time around. We say more realistic KDs. Now the 'KO moment' is still in the game. You know the point of the game where you knew a KO was coming; however the graphics are tightened up a bit.

Outside the ring is probably my favorite. The arena seemed alive and not energetic. I know this isn't a big deal to some but seeing your team right outside the ring or judges working ringside is a real nice touch.
Stick Movements - We played on an Xbox 360 and that weekend was my first time in my life ever touching one. So my view of the movements is biased. We were not allowed to use buttons in our build. So no cheesing online folks, so I guess I need to step my game up. With that said, the analog stick game has been greatly enhanced. Movements have been tightened up too. Many will fill familiar to previous Fight Night players but better. Think of yourself as a fighter and how you would naturally move the sticks/move your body to throw a shot; this is how EA has incorporated the movements. I will let you all decide how you like or do not like the new movements.

One thing that needs to be noted is the introduction of a bob and weave movement. Tyson comes to mind in this instance. In his fights with taller opponents, Tyson had to get low at times and shift his body slightly to the left/right to get inside and do the work he was famous for. This movement was a welcome site, so gamers can be successful with the Tyson-like fighters of the world. In previous games, most guys used Ali and other pure boxers to dance around and jab to victory. I am glad to see this new move introduced to level the playing field somewhat. This movement is similar to the 'sway' move in the Victorious Boxers series but not quite as deliberate and dramatic. I felt it was way over done in VB.

The last stick movement that drove me nuts was the 'Get Up' mini game. So you get KD and you need to get up. The screen is tilted to mimic a guy lying on his side (so imagine your normal view and turn it 45 degrees to the right or left. You have to move the analog stick left/right to bring the screen up right, then when it�s centered you use the other analog stick to bring yourself upright. In the many games I played I NEVER got up properly and always lost when KD. But keep in mind I was totally new to the Xbox 360. I like the concept, I just need practice. So this will no doubt become my Achilles heel. It�s tough but at the same time very intriguing.

So let me try to sum this up:

The Good

Additional boxer attributes - will make CAB much deeper and creative
More animations
Best in class boxer roster
Improved Analog Stick movements
Fight Night 3 was scrapped; this is a totally new game
The EA producers get it (boxing that is)

The Bad

The Unknowns of Career Mode
Waiting on the official release
No Floyd Mayweather Jr (for now, who knows what will happen in the future)

The Ugly
Me trying to get up during the KD mini game
I will answer any questions I can folks. See you in the ring!!

Comments

# 1 Darkleaf @ May 12

Great write up!

# 2 N51_rob @ May 12

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It's always good to get a fellow boxing fans few of a game like this. Can't wait for this to come out. Your a PS3 guy so we will have to go a few rounds.

# 3 Steve_OS @ May 12

Good stuff bro!

# 4 TreyIM2 @ May 13

Thanks for the hands-on prev, bruh. Right about now, I'm just looking for what's not right with the game play. Not trying to have negative thinking nor am I a negative person. I just need to get a full grip on what's in store since I cannot play the demo til whenever. Gamestop seems to not make since with what they are saying but, whatever. There are some things in the clips I've seen that still irk me in terms of the punching not looking as organic as I think it should. Something still seems off but it may not be so bad once I play it because no hands on prev. has said anything about it. Even the trunk rolls still look strange and robotic when players are bobbing and weaving. Thx for the info, though.

# 5 SouthernBrick @ May 13

nice read. KD mini game seems a bit tuff at first but, as long as it takes practice then its all good. I like a challenge. Still haven't figured out alot of things in the ground game on UFC. Its looking very rough right now...lol.