Fight Night Round 3, aka Underwater Boxing Extravaganza!
First, the good. Yep, there is some. The boxer models look better than they did in round 2. Only a little mind you.
Now, the bad. Oh my there is so much of this I really don't know where to start. Ok, the graphics. While the boxer models look better than they did in round 2 when static, they have lost all the facial animations that made watching replays so much fun. The arena and the crowd look absolutely abysmal, I've seen better backgrounds in a game on the SNES. The user interface is horrible and even after 20 hours of play I still can't get used to it.
Now for the sledgehammer. The gameplay. What the **** happened EA? The gameplay is absolutely disgraceful. Round 1 was a real surprise package and, like Ivan Drago, was a "look at the future" of boxing games. Round 2 improved on round 1 by introducing us to the rib breaking haymaker punch and some nice graphical improvements. Round 3 has thrown all of it's predecessors innovations out of the window and has introduced a unique slo-mo boxing mode that I just can't seem to turn off!!!!
Every punch looks like it's being thrown underwater. Even jabs are telegraphed and give your opponent all the time in the world to get out of the way. Even when punches connect they look powerless and completely ineffectual. Haymakers? Don't make me laugh. Throw a haymaker in round 1 and, if you're really lucky, it might land in about round 5. The new "super haymaker" stun punches are even worse and are a complete waste of time.
I didn't even want to try the online mode because the act of engaging an opponent in a fight became an excercise in utter and complete boredom by the time my boxer was in any condition to pose a challenge.
Don't waste your money on this one, round 2 is massively superior in almost every aspect and is infinitely more fun to play.
If anybody wants to see for themselves how awful this game really is, my copy will be on EBay shortly.