While boxing is commonly referred to as "the beautiful science" (and it certainly plays like it), there's not much beautiful about the way a boxer looks after a fight. Forgoing the "shiny boxer" look that Round 3 had, Champion has a dark, gritty tone.
The Fight Night series has always emphasized visual prowess, and Champion is no exception. The long-running campaign mode where you can create a fighter will also be intact as Legacy Mode. There clearly is a story that the developers wanted to tell, and it's a story I can't wait to hear. Cutscenes make the game feel more like a Grand Theft Auto title than a Fight Night title. In it, you'll assume the role of Andre Bishop, an up and coming fighter looking to make his way through the system.
Regardless, the game controls well, and the combination of the improved gameplay with the tight controls result in a great hands-on experience.īut what has me most excited about Champion is something I didn't get to try out for myself: the campaign mode. I feel more comfortable using a combination of the two, though I do see the distinct advantages of using the analog stick. While veterans swear by using the analog stick, it's sometimes a bit tricky from my experience to nail it down. You have the option of either using your face buttons to control your punches, or using the right analog stick for more "precision" control. So, I adjusted to more of a long term finesse approach of playing and it worked like a charm, resulting in matches either a lot closer that didn't go in my favor, or just winning the match.ĭespite this change in gameplay philosophy, Champion will still be accessible to any veteran or newcomer of the Fight Night series. What happened instead was that I tired myself out and never really won points with the judges. In the several hands-on matches I played, I admittedly did start out like I was playing Round 3: looking to land the big heavy punch. Instead, Champion is about the entire fight.
Right from the start, it becomes clear that the goal of Champion isn't to impress you with the way it looks on your 60-inch TV when you break someone's jaw. Let's get right into the reason why I skipped Fight Night Round 4: the gameplay. Now, developer EA Canada is focusing on a more realistic approach to boxing with Champion, which promises to be one of the better sports games of the year. For all of its praises, I felt like Round 3 was a bit too much like an arcade game, focusing on landing the next big punch instead of the finesse of the entire fight, which led me to skip Round 4.
It was viewed as one of the premiere early next-generation games, featuring spectacular HD graphics and intense combat. The amount of hype that I've seen Fight Night Champion receive is parallel to the hype that Fight Night Round 3 received when it was first unveiled.