Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[Steve_OS]

The Fight Night Champion demo is available now for the 360 and later tonight (roughly 9 P.M. EST) for the PS3. Please post your impressions here.

[Bullit]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360)

I have only done two matches so far, one with each selection of fighters and here are my very early impressions.

Great graphics, I mean this game really looks good and I mean really good.

Commentary is stale and the same old thing, absolutely nothing exciting in this department.

I may be in the minority here and I probable am but I don't like the new controls. To me it just seems like button mashing, even with the sticks. I also do not like the automatic defence, I would much rather have to move the sticks to block high or low.

I think the stamina needs a tweek or two to. In both fights there just seemed to be no strategy, they were just slugest brawls. I tried to slow it down and actually use some style and just got pounded. I threw over 400 pucnches in one bout and was barely gassed.

Now I am sure this is an early build and maybe I am just off the mark. I am sure a lot of you spend more time with this game then I do, but it just isn't working for me right now. I have it pre-ordered and will keep it on order but with hopes that it will be better. In my opinion it should be re-named Fight Night Champions Arcade.

[Illcat]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360)

Played two matches before work this morning:

I like:

As I am sure most will; the snap in the punches. When you throw and land now you can see the affect of the punches. Heads jolt back and sideways beautifully.

The player models are freakin stunning! I watched the youtube videos but seeing the game in person is awesome. The in between round close-ups are spot on, at least with Cotto and Manny.

I only played with Manny but his movement seemed pretty swift compared to Cotto. I could get in and out with ease and, his lean was quite agile as well.

I don't like:

The same old commentary from last year, adds nothing to the game. I know in the final product they go more in depth but EA just needs to work more on their in game commentary across the board. It's just too repetitive after a few games and not very specific to the fight you're seeing.

I don't really see how the new full spectrum punching is so innovative. It seems like I am more in control versus last year but that's it. I dunno, it just didn't blow me away.

As far as the stamina and stuff like that goes yeah, it's off but it is just the demo. Plus, I feel like stuff like that can be adjusted with slider tweaks once we get the game.

On the other side of the puncher's snap, when they get jolted back they just reset too quickly. The fighters never really seem affected by big punches, unless they get stunned. I made Cotto step back a few times but you never see a guy wobble or get weak in the legs after a barrage. All you have is that sound and if he steps back. There should be more visual ques that a guy is struggling to stay on his feet.

So, all in all, I had fun with it the little time I had. I also only played with one fighter so I have yet to get the chance to see how different the heavier guys are or, Cotto to Manny for that matter so, my impressions are limited. But, I cannot express enough how the fighter models may be the best models I have seen in any game. I'll still be looking forward to picking this one up at the end of the month.

[Money99]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360) PS3 Tonight

Illcat, it sounds like a good snapping jab does have effect this year. Will it keep the CPU off of you? Can you work off the jab more than FNrd4?

[Illcat]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360) PS3 Tonight

I was all over the place trying to get the punching/blocking/leaning down. I did see in the youtube vids where Ali was easily keeping Tyson at bay with his reach and stellar jab. So yeah, I've seen it.

[Sausage]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360)

After several matches on and offline:

*The way the boxers slide forward while punching reminds of FNR2, which to often leads the boxers into each other for toe to toe brawls.

*Punches are quicker, but as been stated lacks snap.

*I like the return of punch modifier from past knockout kings

*In fighting has been improved, but needs a little more ugly because when boxers get real close they get tangled and clinch more often then not

*Good to see ref, stays out of the way for the most part. Could use more ref like animations.

[Sausage]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360)

What I have noticed from all the decision victories. Judges 1 and 3 gives the round to whomever lands the most shots, and they don't care how many shots are missed. Judge 2 prefers clean effective punching.

For example in my previous fight Cotto (me) vs Pacman (random)

Round 2 I landed 53 of 68 and my opponent 57 of 89
Round 3 I landed 58 of 72 and my opponent 63 of 93

Judge 2 gave me those rounds and Judge 1 and 3 my opponent. My opponent and I were landing similar shots throughout.

If I am correct it is similar in FNR4 as well. What is your opinion on how those rounds should be scored.

[big_larry]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360) PS3 Tonight

Love the demo!

PROS

-I like Full Spectrum Punch Control, its a mixture of analog and button pushing, this combination enables you to throw the punches you want when you want, its much easier to throw a cross now, I jab with the analog, and throw a cross using the buttons.

- The new camera, love it! You're not locked in to the same angle the entire match, you get refreshing looks at the boxers, enhancing the graphics.

-The punching, I love the speed, fluidness, and power of the punches, and each fighter punches different.

-The graphics, do I need to say more!

There is a lot more I like too, but here are the main ones.

CONS

-Commentary sucks

-No presentation improvements, I want to see the boxers climb in the ring, see there robes taken off, talk trash to each other, post fight interviews.

-The fighters are silent

In the next game, presentation should be the number one priority.

[BQ32]

I first and foremost want to state that I am AMAZED at how good this game initially appears to be. I am one of the Elite competitors on round 4 and this trumps it in everyway. (so far, as I have only played it for an hour and then came to work). Using ali flicked out a coulpe jabs and then countered tyson's hook with an overhand right and stunned him hard with my 3rd punch, moved in to flurry and sent him down. It is already on, I love this game. It is much easier to win with ali or tyson then vice versa as ali has range and throws a lot of punches in the demo. I noticed though that picking my shots well, tyson's punches were having much more impact then Ali's and it gives me the impression that even if loosing a couple of early rounds Ali would be breaken down later in the fight, really hoping that can happen.

[BQ32]

Outside of my lovefest however, the commentary is really rehashed, and the entrances still are kind of lame. I really care about the gameplay anyway so it is not a concern for me, but if they want to really score high and appeal to the masses they could have worked on the non-gameplay presentation more. All in all though this is subperb, and already feel that it will possibly be my favorite game yet. For those of you overly worrying about the stamina, i wouldnt be to concerned, the game really rewards you for playing tactical and smart, and I feel the stamina will be on point in a 10-12 round fight. The connect percentages did seem to be quite high, I was expecting it to be lower, but I could not be more exstatic with this iteration. Good job EA.

[Motown]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360) PS3 Tonight

Outside of my lovefest however, the commentary is really rehashed, and the entrances still are kind of lame. I really care about the gameplay anyway so it is not a concern for me, but if they want to really score high and appeal to the masses they could have worked on the non-gameplay presentation more. All in all though this is subperb, and already feel that it will possibly be my favorite game yet. For those of you overly worrying about the stamina, i wouldnt be to concerned, the game really rewards you for playing tactical and smart, and I feel the stamina will be on point in a 10-12 round fight. The connect percentages did seem to be quite high, I was expecting it to be lower, but I could not be more exstatic with this iteration. Good job EA.

The entrances will be revived w/ your own beats blastin from the speakers tho...so that's a plus

[TheCreep]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360) PS3 Tonight

Cant wait for the full release. Its pretty good. Only thing that bothers me now (I'm sure this is an early build) is the framerate is off. Its not smooth its very rough and shoddy ya know. Also, they could've kept the auto blocking. It was cool when they took away the actual blocking to the left and right and went to just blocking high or low, but they shouldn't have stripped it down even further. Hope there's an option for the FN4 style block scheme.

For some reason, the boxing seems less precision than RND4 also. I was very tactical with RND4. It seems like its gonna be difficult to be precision in this game.

Have to get used to playing from different angles again. Remember, we were stuck on the left side of the screen in RND4. Now my swing camera has returned and its gonna take some major adjusting to fight from the right side of the screen or the top/bottom of the screen.

[Sausage]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360) PS3 Tonight

So far online I have not had any spammers defeat me. I have not really played against someone who seemed to be able to abuse any aspect of the game yet.

Also majority pick Pacman and Ali. So far except for 1 guy, I have defeated all Pac users with Cotto's body attack and methodical pace.

Concerned about the EA board, lots of casual boxings fans complaining about getting KO'ed and not being able to punch non-stop. I hope Brizzo puts those folks on the ignore list.

After getting the hang of the way the boxers move, my boxing is starting to improve.

[Motown]

Re: Fight Night Champion Demo Available Now, Post Impressions Here (360) PS3 Tonight

So far online I have not had any spammers defeat me. I have not really played against someone who seemed to be able to abuse any aspect of the game yet.

Also majority pick Pacman and Ali. So far except for 1 guy, I have defeated all Pac users with Cotto's body attack and methodical pace.

Concerned about the EA board, lots of casual boxings fans complaining about getting KO'ed and not being able to punch non-stop. I hope Brizzo puts those folks on the ignore list.

After getting the hang of the way the boxers move, my boxing is starting to improve.

You know, It'd be sweet if there were separate rooms or discs for the button mashers, cheesers,etc...vs the real sim world. then, they could button mash their arses in the mat if they wanted.

[ps3veron]

Anyone noticed lag online?