Fight Night 2004, my first boxing game since Punch-Out, good to see things are still going well.
Fight Night 2004 is my first boxing game since Punch Out, which I played on Animal Crossing when it came out. FN2004 is a very entertaining game and the reason I got it instead of FNRound 3 is because I wanted to make sure I liked the series before I spend $50 on FN Round 3. Instead, I got FN2004 for $9.99.
The game's a lot different then in Punch Out, it's from a more traditional fighting game camera angle but it plays almost nothing like a traditional fighting game. Blocking is done with the R and L triggers while the punches are with the right analog stick. Once you're used to the control scheme this ends up being very innovative and works well. For example, for an uppercut you swing the right analog down and then jerk it back up/left or up/right. Very cool.
There is also tons of variety. There is an in-depth career mode where you box for money and then you can buy things or just become head of the ring. You can buy stuff for the Create-a-Boxer feature which is very detailed, the guy I made almost looked like me and I didn't use Eyetoy or anything like that.
The graphics, while compared to FN Round 3 look outdated, where excellent for 2004. It looked great on Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox. Xbox version probably runs the smoothest because it's the smoothest running system but I haven't played the other versions so I'm not exactly sure. The detail is amazing, lots of it.
The music is the worst part. There are only like 10 EA Trax and they are all pretty bad rap songs. If you don't like rap, you won't like the audio. Even if you like rap, the rap songs aren't very good, and even worse the game doesn't support custom soundtracks. However, the punches all sound exceptionally realistic and the sound effects are great, voices are pretty good not sounding too cheesy also.
This was $9.99, not sure if I'm ready to spend $49.99 on FN Round 3 but this is a game you shouldn't miss.