Fight Night Round 3 is the best boxing game since Super Punch-Out!
Gameplay- All games boil down to gameplay, and Fight Night Round 3 is a blast. You can throw down with your buddy, fight strangers online, or fight the AI. All are fantastic options done with great flare. The Total Punch Control system takes a while to get used to, and sometimes you may still wish to use the buttons, but mastering it allows you to deliver more styles and punches at the power level of your choice. The gameplay isn’t without its flaws either. The painfully long load times really breaks up the game’s furious pace in the ring and makes you wonder why other PS3 games like Resistance: Fall of Man with even better visuals loads up faster than this game. The Total Punch Control system could use a minor adjustment. The left and right jabs are switched from the player’s perspective as you really should be throwing a right jab as you tap the stick to the left and vice versa if you were to throw the punches. Career mode leaves a lot to be wanting as it is poorly organized and seems like a loosely organized series of fights with painfully boring and monotonous training in the middle. If you are a min-max gamer, you will be constantly reloading the game to get the max amount of points for the Combo Dummy exercise and deal with the painful load times. Lastly, the biggest flaw of the game is the advertising. I understand that some advertising is necessary to give the game a realistic appeal, but do you really need to bring Burger King’s mascot, the King in as a trainer? This game takes corporate sponsorship to a whole new level. They should have stopped at ESPN and UnderArmor. Graphics – The attention to detail makes this a great game. From the stitching to the boxer’s gloves, to the sweat knocked off a fighter’s face from the impact of a punch makes it easy to watch. If you play from the first person view, it really puts you in the zone as you try to duck and weave between the punches. When you counter a punch, you can see the look of fear in your opponent’s eyes as they watch your fist fly towards their face. The slow-mo replay of a knock out punch and the pain in your opponent’s eyes definitely showcases the powers behind the hooks. However, the graphics are not without the flaws. The PS3 version has slightly poorer graphics than the 360 version. The audience aren’t as well rendered. It’s slightly disheartening to look at the beautifully rendered boxers then the highly pixilated audience in the background. During the slow-mo replay of the knockdowns, the knockdown is played at the original frames, but slowed down, so the knockdown looks choppy, and at times, unrealistic. EA should have spent the extra time to smooth out the knockdown replay graphics, as every single knockdown is replayed with the same choppiness. Sound – If you like rap music, then you’ll love the music in this game. If you don’t like rap music, better turn off the music and put on the Rocky soundtrack in the background. The music in this game is rap from start to finish, and you’ll get tired of listening to it after the first 5 minutes. It suits the mood of the game ok, but the I wish EA games would have diversified the music a bit. I wish this game had Super-Punch Out’s music at times.
The sound effects of this game are great. The general punches have a sense of speed and impact. You can almost feel the punch sink into your opponent’s ribs as a solid haymaker knocks them out. The sound of sinew ripping and tendons popping will make you cringe.
Value – Dropping $60 bucks for this game is a great value compared to the other pitiful games from the PS3 line-up. It offers loads of fun on a consistent basis with online play, and the smart AI will give you a sense of satisfaction after each and every fight.