One game that will keep you coming back for more! Plenty of action and excitement to enjoy here!
Fight Night 2004 is the first boxing game to sport the "Total Punch Control" system. In other words, The boxer's fists were now linked to the right analog stick. Pretty Cool huh! For Example, moving the analog stick up and to the left will cause the boxer to throw a straight left punch. Doing the same movement, but just going to the right first, will cause your boxer to throw a straight right punch. Moving the analog stick all the way to the left, then go up in a semi-circular motion, will cause your boxer to throw a left hook. Basically, this punching system became a lot more intuitive for the person controlling the boxer. Also, they changed the defensive system as well. For Example, you can hold down the R1 button and move the right analog stick to parry incoming punches, which will create counterpunch opportunities. You can also hold down the L1 button to stand in one position, and move the left analog stick around to "lean" away and avoid oncoming punches.
Graphics:
EA also brings in great graphics to an already solid gameplay system. The boxers themselves look beautiful. As usual, some look better than others, but overall, all the models are top notch. The arenas in which you'll be fighting in are spectacular. Every arena has their own style about it that makes them feel unique. For Example, there's one arena where you can see a large shark tank in the background. Additionally, you can also customize your fighter in Career Mode with different entrance music, mouthpiece, trunks, pyrotechnics, ring girls, signature punches, etc. to choose from.
Sound:
EA's Fight Night sports a whole soundtrack filled with Rap/ Hip Hop music. Although some people will be turned off by this, I really enjoyed it because I like rap music. Also, Big Tigger is the fight announcer/commentator here, and for the most part, he does a great job. If you've played NBA Street V3, you could compare Big Tigger to Bobbito, because like Bobbito, Big Tigger compares certain combos to food lol. "He just threw a two-piece and a biscuit." lol. I personally love every moment of it.
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All in All, This game is a well-worth buy from any fan of boxing who owns the PS2 or XBOX because it really does bring many new features to the table.