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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Sport Developer: EA Sports Publisher: Electronic Arts |
Sequels always have a large amount of pressure put on them because of the fact that they need to live up to the praise of their
predecessor. What makes things even more difficult for “Fight Night Round 4” is the fact that it is put to the task of improving on a title
that helped shape this generation of gaming. This time around players will be able to play in HD, along with many other chances that
the developers took on the well established formula of the game. They made some changes to the career mode, the control
mechanics and reshaped every move in the game by doubling the speed and adding a new physics system.
When players first hop into the ring, they will notice that there are new controls that dominate the action. The game begins with a helpful
tutorial that gets players acquainted with the new moves, but things are still a bit rough in the beginning. By the time players are set to
play on their own, they will quickly realize that they may need a longer introduction. Hooks, uppercuts and jabs are all the same, but
body shots can now be utilized by flicking right or left on the right stick. There are also new dodge moves performed by rotating in semi-
circles that allow players to get in close to the other fighter while dodging their punches. Overall the new controls work well and make
sense with the new direction that the game is headed in.
The actions that players make in the ring determine how effective their corner will be at taking care of the boxer. Players get points
based on things like how many punches were landed, how many times the opponent was knocked down and more. The new corner
activity is much less hands on than the previous version of the game, but many players will wish that they had more impact on the
effectiveness of the corner.
Overall the AI used in the single player game is good, but it isn’t anything great. Players will see fighters sticking to certain strategies,
but it is too easy to throw quick punches and continue to win matches, even on high difficulty levels. These issues continue into the
Legacy Mode where players will probably spend a majority of their time. Legacy Mode has improved since the game’s last release’s
career offering. There are now some new additions that don’t quite make it, mostly the yearly awards that are handed out. At the end of
the calendar year boxers in every weight class are awarded Fighter of the Year, Defender of the Year, Fight of the Year and Knockout of
the Year and more. The only problem is that the logic of who gets the awards is a little messy. The Fight of the Year award will go to a
fight that may have a worse record than another. Some of the award recipients just don’t make sense.
Another disappointing aspect of the Legacy Mode is the new training games. There are six total training games for players to try out and
most of them are too difficult to do well in early in the career. Stay On Your Feet and Open Sparring are easy enough considering they
are basically standard boxing, but other games, such as the Maize Bag and Double End Bag are dependent on the fighter’s attributes
and abilities which, if players haven’t had the chance to build them up at all, they aren’t going to yield very good results. Players will find
themselves using the auto training more often than they would have in “Fight Night Round 3” despite the large amount of gains that are
offered. While the new training games are more in line with the sport of boxing, they could have used a little more fine tuning for the
early stages of their career.
Though there are a few flaws to Legacy Mode, there are plenty of good elements to the mode. The new popularity system makes much
more sense that the old ranking system and they will find standard rankings and pound for pound rankings. There are tons of statistics
that are tracked once players step into the ring and players are able to check out nearly every punch that is thrown throughout the entire
career. The calendar system is a great new addition to the game. It lets players select their own fight dates which also give players
control over the number of training sessions they will have before they are expected to fight in the ring. It would have been nice to see
the user’s controls in the career extend to the trainers and promoters, but it didn’t quite make it into the game.
Aside from the different fight modes that players can take on, “Fight Night Round 4” is the best boxing experience in gaming to date.
Punches sound and look great and the fighters move seamlessly around the ring with sweat dripping, bruises growing and muscles
flexing. Players are able to create their own fighter or input themselves or other famous fighter quickly with the Photo GameFace option.
Also, is if there isn’t enough material for gamers to check out with this game, there is a great replay editor that allows players to create
clips of devastating blows to the face. There are a few issues, but many will be able to overlook them in order to enjoy this amazing
boxing game, that is sure to get people excited about what is to come in the next round.
predecessor. What makes things even more difficult for “Fight Night Round 4” is the fact that it is put to the task of improving on a title
that helped shape this generation of gaming. This time around players will be able to play in HD, along with many other chances that
the developers took on the well established formula of the game. They made some changes to the career mode, the control
mechanics and reshaped every move in the game by doubling the speed and adding a new physics system.
When players first hop into the ring, they will notice that there are new controls that dominate the action. The game begins with a helpful
tutorial that gets players acquainted with the new moves, but things are still a bit rough in the beginning. By the time players are set to
play on their own, they will quickly realize that they may need a longer introduction. Hooks, uppercuts and jabs are all the same, but
body shots can now be utilized by flicking right or left on the right stick. There are also new dodge moves performed by rotating in semi-
circles that allow players to get in close to the other fighter while dodging their punches. Overall the new controls work well and make
sense with the new direction that the game is headed in.
The actions that players make in the ring determine how effective their corner will be at taking care of the boxer. Players get points
based on things like how many punches were landed, how many times the opponent was knocked down and more. The new corner
activity is much less hands on than the previous version of the game, but many players will wish that they had more impact on the
effectiveness of the corner.
Overall the AI used in the single player game is good, but it isn’t anything great. Players will see fighters sticking to certain strategies,
but it is too easy to throw quick punches and continue to win matches, even on high difficulty levels. These issues continue into the
Legacy Mode where players will probably spend a majority of their time. Legacy Mode has improved since the game’s last release’s
career offering. There are now some new additions that don’t quite make it, mostly the yearly awards that are handed out. At the end of
the calendar year boxers in every weight class are awarded Fighter of the Year, Defender of the Year, Fight of the Year and Knockout of
the Year and more. The only problem is that the logic of who gets the awards is a little messy. The Fight of the Year award will go to a
fight that may have a worse record than another. Some of the award recipients just don’t make sense.
Another disappointing aspect of the Legacy Mode is the new training games. There are six total training games for players to try out and
most of them are too difficult to do well in early in the career. Stay On Your Feet and Open Sparring are easy enough considering they
are basically standard boxing, but other games, such as the Maize Bag and Double End Bag are dependent on the fighter’s attributes
and abilities which, if players haven’t had the chance to build them up at all, they aren’t going to yield very good results. Players will find
themselves using the auto training more often than they would have in “Fight Night Round 3” despite the large amount of gains that are
offered. While the new training games are more in line with the sport of boxing, they could have used a little more fine tuning for the
early stages of their career.
Though there are a few flaws to Legacy Mode, there are plenty of good elements to the mode. The new popularity system makes much
more sense that the old ranking system and they will find standard rankings and pound for pound rankings. There are tons of statistics
that are tracked once players step into the ring and players are able to check out nearly every punch that is thrown throughout the entire
career. The calendar system is a great new addition to the game. It lets players select their own fight dates which also give players
control over the number of training sessions they will have before they are expected to fight in the ring. It would have been nice to see
the user’s controls in the career extend to the trainers and promoters, but it didn’t quite make it into the game.
Aside from the different fight modes that players can take on, “Fight Night Round 4” is the best boxing experience in gaming to date.
Punches sound and look great and the fighters move seamlessly around the ring with sweat dripping, bruises growing and muscles
flexing. Players are able to create their own fighter or input themselves or other famous fighter quickly with the Photo GameFace option.
Also, is if there isn’t enough material for gamers to check out with this game, there is a great replay editor that allows players to create
clips of devastating blows to the face. There are a few issues, but many will be able to overlook them in order to enjoy this amazing
boxing game, that is sure to get people excited about what is to come in the next round.
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