Hands On: Fight Night Round 4

08 May 2009 at 17:15:37 by Andy Alderson

EA Sports’ Fight Night series has led a pretty charmed life. Since its beginnings on the PS2 it has enjoyed a warm reception from fans and critics alike, largely due to the wonderfully intuitive Total Punch Control system. It was the first boxing game to abandon button-mashing for more considered, tactical gameplay and as a result it currently sits way ahead of the competition in terms of both realism and fun. Fight Night Round 3, the first current gen instalment, was an early release title for the Xbox 360 and its truly stunning visuals drew a lot of attention to the new breed of consoles. However, from our hands on with the sequel, it’s clear that things have moved on pretty quickly.

“Right from the get-go we wanted to make the most authentic boxing experience possible,” says game producer Dean Richards at the EA European showcase event in London. “We really wanted to look at four key areas: speed, strength, strategy and style.” And, as we take control of the game for the first time, it’s speed that is the most obvious improvement. Round 4 moves at an almost frightening pace, adding a whole new level of fluidity that was absent from its predecessor. What is even more impressive is that the visuals have also been considerably enhanced -  it’s clear that, in the time since the release of Round 3, the development team have been able to squeeze a lot more out of the hardware which not only makes the game move faster, it has gameplay implications too.

“In Round 3 you pretty much had to finish your animation before you could throw the next punch,” explains Richards.  “But, in reality someone like Mohammed Ali, or Manny Pacquiao or Sugar Ray Leonard had tremendous speed, especially as you go down through the weight classes. These guys can throw five or six punch combos in a flurry, so it was really important for us in Round 4 that you can do that.” As we land two hooks to the body followed by a series of rapid uppercuts, it seems that he’s not exaggerating. Round 4 feels much more responsive in every way and, for the first time in series it’s possible to pull off some lightning combos if your fighter has some decent hand speed. However, while we’re impressed at how the game has captured the importance of speed in boxing, the way Round 4 deals with strength is even more astounding.

Despite the inclusion of impact punches and haymakers in Round 3, all too often the game boiled down to depleting your opponent’s energy bar to the point where you were able to knock him down. Round 4’s new physics engine changes everything. “When you look at traditional fighting engines, they are pretty much based on scripted sequences, meaning that if a punch did land on a hook to the face, it landed in the exact same spot,” says Richards. “It didn’t really offer much in the way of depth or variety, it didn’t really represent strength.” He goes on to explain how, in Round 4, where a punch lands on your opponent influences its effect. Land a hook clean on the chin and you could stun your opponent or even score a knockdown. The new physics system also affects blocking and, if the angle is right, a punch can find its way through a blocking opponent’s hands. “I can get up close and there are these amazing “Matrix” moments,” laughs Richards. “As a punch is coming close to your face, you have the ability to move just an inch or two and it might miss. In Round 3, that was very deterministic. If it was gonna land, it was gonna land, there was no way to get around it. That difference might be the difference between winning and losing the fight.” As we get up close and personal with Tyson (as Ali), we see how the physics engine allows true inside fighting for the first time in series.

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