Great game, but the learning curve comes at a price...
I enjoyed the physics in this game. They really fixed things up by releasing a 1.03 patch that patched over a couple things like the glitch that allowed a person to obtain 99 stamina, 99 left + right hand power, 99 heart, and etc. fairly early in the game. Ill tell you that I exploited this and I had a ball with it. Even with this power, you can be punished fairly easily.
This brings me back to the learning curve. Though, I beat legacy mode with 54 W - 0 L - 0 D and 54KO, they all came with luck. Even with the exploit, you can lose fairly easily. This patch virtually amped up the difficulty. Amateur just became Pro. And G.O.A.T might have just become Diablo. The game does a pretty good job in training you with the new punching system. Right stick diagonal would net in a jab, right QC would result in a hook and etc. This all feels very natural but still takes a lot to get used to. The best way to practice is in Exhibition, I found it very annoying to practice with your Legacy character. He, for one, barely has any stats, and is probably slow as hell. Unless you want to be frustrated, practice in exhibition mode.
Fighting can be result in a lot of frustration. You will be rewarded handsomely when you counter a punch, but not much if you just punch your guy to death. The patch 1.03, has changed significantly how much you can punch. Even with 100 stamina, you cannot throw nearly as much in the pre-patch version. The only way to devastate your opponent in this game, is probably to counter every punch your man throws. That's about it. To me, that doesn't seem like organic boxing. After playing a bit, you can also throw a lucky hook, or upper that would stun your opponent just as fast. But, this punch rarely works and requires nice timing. I wouldn't sit on this one to finish the match.
Neatly enough, every man has their own special punch. For example, Muhammad Ali has the Ali shuffle and "Big" George Foreman has that devastating right uppercut of his. The patch adds the Klitschko brothers, and Olympic Sugar Ray Robinson. And adds the option of buying Evander Holyfield (I don't see why you would do this) and gives "Big" George an updated look. They're still missing a couple of people on the roster. Just to name a few which could have been in this game.... (Sonny Liston - Why is he DLC?, Riddick Bowe, Floyd "Money" Mayweather, Buster Douglas, Ken "Black Hercules" Norton, Larry Holmes, Rocky Marciano) There are so many to name!
This game is great regardless of patch or non patch. I would suggest a much more interesting legacy mode. Maybe some more training exercises? A lot of the training mini games were a little by excessive, IE, the maize bag. I thought the mailbox was still quite repetitive and it kept noting that the title was changing even though I was undisputed champ. EA definitely took the right step in the right direction in this sequel. Give it a try!
8.0
Second Thoughts:
It has been frustrating trying to master the boxing. It's in many ways ridiculous. Is it all rewarding? No, by all means no. Its more fun to play exhibition than the career in so many ways. Rolled up pros are better than grinding it out with a noob who gets Ko'd easily. Yeah, thanks to the frustration of a nearly psychic CPU (predicts every damn punch i make, seriously), most people aren't likely to invest that much time in this game... either.
7.5