In depth review for Fight Night Round 4.
Now, with the generation in full swing, Round 4 doesn't have the luxury of blowing people's minds before a punch has been thrown in anger. So EA Canada have focused more of the sweet science, even toning down the glitz to enhance the purity of the game. As such, Round 4 is a tighter, more tactical boxing experience. The Total Punch Control system, where you twist the right stick to mimic your punches, and the left stick to twist your body, rather than pressing the face buttons, has been streamlined and is more responsive than before, but not without it's bugs. Rather than elaborate twists to throw a hook to the body, for instance, it's now a simple push to the left or right. As a result, flashing leather is much more fluid, allowing you to string together a liquid combination of punches. Along with the improved (although rather difficult to get a hold of) controls, much of this movement comes from Round 4's all new physics system. Whereas in Round 3 punches and blocks were mostly canned animations, playing out much the same each time, in Round 4 each integer of movement is critical to the outcome of a punch. And crucially, each part of a boxer's character model reacts to a hit exactly how it should. Punches glance off shoulders after a deft duck, gloves smack against each other and arms become tangled as the fists fly. It's incredibly impressive to see as two fighters face-off, there's a tangible sense of connection and weight to everything in Round 4. Round 3's over-the-top slow-motion knock downs are back, but they don't retain that comical, rag doll edge. When a fighter falls, Elvis really has left the building, the victim glazing over and crumpling into a heap on the canvas. So, visually, it's a corker in every aspect. But it's how all this translates to in-ring action that impresses the most. As well as the new physics, there's a much greater emphasis on a fighter's height and reach, therefore style and tactics are paramount. A tall fighter can stay on the outside, picking off his opponent with jabs and straights, while a shorter boxer -such as controversial cover star Mike Tyson, has to move inside hoping to stun his opponent with a flurry of vicious hooks. As such, each fight plays out notably different depending on style; orthodox or southpaw, brawler or sniper to really become "The Greatest of All Time" all of these nuances must be taken into account. It does, however, mean that the learning curve can be a fairly steep climb. Many criticised Round 3 for being too easy, which is definitely not the case for Round 4. It's much tougher to counterpunch, for a start, requiring a perfectly timed weave or block to avoid an incoming punch, before unleashing a strike of your own. Haymakers are not nearly as effective either, taking a long time to wind up, leaving an ample window for you opponent to smack you right in the kisser. It's altogether a more thoughtful boxing game than Round 3, and the amount the game asks of you reflects that. Inside the ring, Round 4 is a massive improvement over an already terrific boxing game. The framing for it all has had an overhaul too, but the results are slightly more mixed. Legacy Mode is the game's main single-player draw, allowing you to either recreate the career of a great, such as Muhammed Ali, or create your own boxer and take him to the top. Typical of EA's sports titles, the character creation tool is remarkably in depth, allowing you to pull and tweak every aspect of your boxer's scowling mush. You can even use a picture of yourself and allow the game to recreate your face for you. My attempt at this was only a partial success, resembling me to a point but generally being far too good-looking to be accurate. You can even share boxers online, leading to some intrepid types already creating fighters in the mould of Barack Obama and, bizarrely, Borat.
Once you have your chosen boxer, you're then tasked with making them an all-time great. You can schedule fights, accept challenges, train up your fighter and there's a wealth of stats and yearly awards to keep you occupied. It's more in-depth than Round 3, but you still feel there's only a tangential amount of freedom, essentially falling into a linear climb up the ranks. Possibly the game's biggest drawback is the training mini-games within Legacy Mode. There's a selection of brief training exercises, such as encounters with the heavy bag or maize ball, but are generally fairly tedious. Worse still, they ask far too much of weak-end fighters, leading to a bizarre chicken and egg situation. You're finding it too tough to build up your fighter because he's, er, not built up enough. It's particularly frustrating as these training sessions are at a premium in the months between fights. You'll find yourself relying heavily on the autotrain option, which only gives you up to 50 per cent of the possible gain. This is a shame in such an otherwise well-balanced game, but it doesn't stop Legacy Mode being a huge time-sink due to the quality of the fighting. There's also enough in the way of stats and fripperies to keep you poring over the particulars of your rise to fame. Where the game really starts to show its stripes is in good old fashioned human competition. There are the usual online options, plus World Championship Mode, where you can take your created fighter to online supremacy. But its success isn't down to modes or options, but the rawness and intricate nature of the boxing itself. Some may complain that the option to use the face buttons at all has been removed, but it will please fans of Round 3 that felt many fights could descend into button mashing. Fights against another human controlled opponent can now be delicate chess matches, each brawl significantly different from the last depending on how the player chooses to box. It's transferring this sense of defining style and diversity to human competition that proves just how beautifully balanced a sports game Round 4 is. For me, the immense gratification at an epic comeback.
That sense of investment is the prime reason that Round 4 is such a success. You'll feel every punch, grimace at every brutal knock-down and celebrate every win as if it were your last. It's a heart-thumping, nerve-jangling gaming experience and, as a sports game, is agonisingly close to perfection. A little more finesse in its Legacy Mode could have made it an all-time classic. But even as it is, for video games, the science has never been sweeter.
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Graphics: 4/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Story: N/A
Sound: 5/5
Enemie AI: 5/5
Length: 4/5
Replay Value: 4/5