Fight Night Round 4 [360]

26 Jun 2009 at 00:01:32 by Andy Alderson
Systems used to review this title: (360)

It’s a classic boxing story. The respected but aging champion defends his title against the hungry, energetic new challenger. Fight Night Round 3 has held the video game boxing belt for over three years, albeit in a division lacking talent, and now finds itself up against a new contender, from a new development team and there’s bad news. Round 4 hits like Mike Tyson in a filthy mood.

There’s no doubting that Round 3 did a lot of good for the Xbox 360 in its early days. Its visuals alone demonstrated the power of the new console and, when people witnessed the rippling flesh and bone-crunching audio in the knockout sequences, it was clear that the next generation had arrived. However, those who followed the series from the start could see that it wasn’t necessarily the pinnacle of the franchise. I, for one, have always been a big fan of Round 2. Not only did have the best roster of any Fight Night game, it featured gameplay much quicker, responsive and balanced than the first game (and indeed the third).  So if you share my affection for Round 2, you’ll be glad to know that Round 4 constitutes a similar step up in class. It’s faster, stronger and smarter than its predecessor and yet still leaves itself open to the odd counter.

EA’s Canada team centred its efforts on improving four key areas in Round 4: speed, style, strength and strategy.  From just a couple of fights in Round 4, it’s clear that EA has delivered on its promises. Let’s talk speed first - three years down the line and it’s now possible to make a game that not only looks better than Round 3, it also moves quicker. Round 4 runs at a buttery 60 frames per second and this has a huge impact on the fight experience. Firstly, it makes the Total Punch Control much more responsive – just flicking diagonally up a few times on the right stick will send a series of speedy jabs at your opponent’s face. The right stick control method is now compulsory (although not for long, I imagine, given the amount of grief EA is receiving from button-mashing fans) and remains pretty similar to Round 3 with a couple of new changes. Hooks and uppercuts to the body no longer require you to hold the left trigger and hooks are now handled by simple left and right movements on the right stick, with diagonal movements for uppercuts. The “wind it up and let it go” haymaker system has also been altered, with the right bumper now acting as a haymaker modifier, removing the need for the awkward back and forth motion. The combination of the new controls and slick framerate makes for much more fluid, fast-paced fights featuring realistic combos.

See, now that the game no longer has to wait for a scripted punch sequence to end before throwing the next one, you can actually put together punches in bunches (just one of many boxing clichés you can look forward to in this review) which, for once, bear some relation to the speed you move the analogue stick.  Pick a fighter with good handspeed like Joe Calzaghe or Shane Mosley, keep on the outside and throw some hurtful combinations and you’ll wear your opponent down in no time. Not only does speed have a big gameplay impact, so do styles. Even though Round 3 did some good work with fighter animations, there was no real style system at work as you could essentially only fight from one distance. Get too close to your opponent and you’d experience the invisible wall, presumably in place to prevent clipping. The good news is that in Round 4, there is a robust new physics engine which, for the first time, allows you to fight on the inside.  The power of punches now depends, to a certain extent, on where the glove lands on your opponent’s body. For example, a glancing blow to the top of his head is unlikely to cause much damage whereas a crushing uppercut right on the button (look, I warned you about the clichés) or a right hand straight down the pipe (I know, I can’t help myself) might just put him on the floor.

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