It may be more of the same, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

User Rating: 8 | Fight Night Round 4 X360
Feels like it's been forever since we got a boxing game that was fun. Now don't get me wrong, I liked Facebreaker and Wii Sports just as much as the next guy waiting for Punch-Out to come back (and then it did...wow), but there's just something about slugging someone in the face and watching the spiddle and blood fly out. Especially in slow motion.

Fight Night Round 4 is, in a short summary, a complete improvement over Round 3. There really isn't anything Round 3 had (except the corner mini-game and Burger King) that Round 4 doesn't. It's actually quite amazing to play one game and then the other. I remember when I first played Round 3 (which was only this year, amazing I know), it felt so revolutionary. Then I played Round 4, and it felt completely superior. So much so that Round 3 felt obsolete. It was like eating to pieces of bread and then having an actual sandwich thereafter. You know a sequel is good when it makes you question why these elements weren't in it's predecessor.

What elements to be exact? Well, the fluidity of the gameplay, the uphauled physics engine, the ace Legacy Mode, the gameface feature, custom soundtracks for ring entrances, and fighting for titles online. If you didn't get the point by now, I'm trying to say that Fight Night Round 3 is now an afterthought and the new game has already cemented itself very well. Let's start with all the little fluff features. The physics engine makes boxers able to actually collide and realistically tangle and land and miss punches more realistically and reasonably than ever before. There is no weird invisible wall like in every other boxing game to make the action feel like there is a barrier or make the player feel like they aren't actually pummeling someone's jaw off. The custom soundtracks are nice, you would think any current generation game with any kind of theme for the player will allow this. It's nice to know that EA not only did allow this, but also piled it with some good licensed music, which isn't something I'm used to hearing of from the company.

But the real ace customization feature is the gameface. This had such a cool impact for me and everyone I showed it to that I firmly believe any game with character creation should use these features. Essentially, you use a picture or two (could be with the vision camera, or upload them on EA's website) and get a very well done and accurate scan of your face for your character. This not only helps to personalize your roster however you like, but also makes the user feature of uploading creations great. I spent most of my initial time with the game downloading boxers that didn't make it in (Floyd Mayweather, Evander Holyfield, and Sonny Liston have some ace representation), as well as some fun celebrity/character boxers. Now I can finally see who would win in a bout between Borat and Ron Burgundy, or re-live the classic movie bouts of Rocky Balboa against Apollo Creed or Ivan Drago.

But enough of the sides and appetizers, let's get to the main course. This franchise has been known for it's very good gameplay, and Round 4 does not disappoint. The Total Punch Control has been made more fluid, more accurate, less strict, and overall faster and more fun. Combined with the really well done stat system, you also get boxers with actual styles, strategies, strengths, and weaknesses. If you think you're going to just rush in like Mike Tyson, you better have someone with very good power, punch accuracy, toughness, and blocking. If you would rather play a distant game like Muhammad Ali, you will need foot speed, hand speed, head movement, and stamina. The best thing about this is the balance. It's so balanced and fair. Even created boxers can't have maxed out stats, which I love. You have to know what strengths you wanna play to, and you will have according weaknesses. I made a fast jabbing runner and whenever I forgot that and let someone get in my face, I lost the match. But I never felt like it was because the game wasn't responding or wasn't giving me a fair chance. Well...except in one area.

The knockdown system. Talk about practice, you could spend hours playing online like I did and still not master getting up. Basically, you want to align your character through a first person view so he's sitting up straight with one analog stick, and then push the other analog stick upward to make him stand. Sounds incredibly easy, doesn't it? Not quite. Based on your damage and momentum, you can go right past the target area of the meter to stand up and just fall right over and chances are after that, you're done. You may be thinking this is to prevent people from fighting forever and make knockouts possible. But truth is, most people won't get up after already being knocked down once. There is even an achievement to win a match after getting up from two knockdowns. I can see why, because getting up is ridiculously difficult.

Other than that, there aren't any notable flaws. The online mode is awesome. You will climb the ranks and fight all you like. You can do standard matches with the in-game/created boxers, or take to the insanely deep World Championship Mode. Here you have to use a created boxer and your stats will be balanced with everyone else. You will fight online people accordingly, but everybody is fighting in whatever weight class their character is in and for the championship of that class. It's deep, it's competitive, and it's fun.

Fight Night Round 4 at the least, is a shining example of why EA should NOT try to release yearly sequels to their games just to get some quick cash. This is the most accurate representation of boxing ever done in a video game, and arguably the best interpretation of any sports game we have seen.