Fight Night Round 4 Review - 8/10

Fight Night Round 4 is the latest edition into the Fight Night franchise, making this the second Fight Night to appear on the Playstation 3. Fight Night has evolved from its predecessor and has resulted in one of the best boxing games out. Even if you aren’t a massive sports fan, you will still find enjoyment out of this title. Here is my review.

The first thing you will notice in fight night round 4 is that the game play is amazing. It runs rather smooth, and the fighters look great. The game has a new physics system, which means that you won’t be playing with different boxers and they all fight the same, nor will any fight be the same, as your opponent will learn your way of fighting which will make it harder to win easily. The controls are great, the total control punching mechanism on the right analogue stick works, and you can change your stance. The good old ring girls are gone (sadly) and now you are shown the boxers enter, a little cut scene after that, and you are thrown straight into the fight, which I found quite odd. As well as that, there is no option to hire trainers for your boxer, and the good old end of the round healing system is gone. Instead of actually healing cuts and icing swelling you now rely on a points system to recover you. While there may be a loss of some old features, EA sports have made a great job on producing what could be the best Fight Night game.
The game has 48 fighters on disk, with chances that more will be available through DLC. There are 2 Australian boxers included, both making their debut to the Fight Night franchise, Anthony Mundine and Billy The Kid Dib. The game has a new career mode, which is titled “Legacy Mode”, in which the objective is to rise from rags to riches and become the greatest of all time (G.O.A.T). The problem, or not so much a problem, just a slight downside to the game, in my opinion, is that the characters have lost realism, being their looks. The characters look slightly cartoonish, whereas Fight Night Round 3 had more realistic looking fighters, but, that being said the models still looks great. There are now new characters available for download as well for a $8.50 price tag, which features fighters such as de la hoya and some other fighters, and some new gear.
The next part is the major downfall of Fight Night Round 4. The multiplayer is a total shocker; you won’t find many games at all that don’t have lag interruptions or steady connections. There is a new mode titled online championship mode which is similar to a career mode, you must win to increase your rank to earn your shot at a title rank which could take forever if you haven’t got a stable connection. Its pretty disappointing, but with single player being so good it can compensate it in a way.

To summarise the game up here is my verdict:
Graphics – 9/10
Sound – 8/10
Game play -8/10
Multiplayer 6/10
Replay Value -8/10
Overall – 8/10

In my opinion, Ea Sports have done a great job in improving and innovating new ideas and implementing them in Fight Night, but there is still with problems like online modes. This game is great, and with a new career mode this will sure keep you happy if you didn’t already buy UFC 2009.

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skua 07/09/2009

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