Originally Published: July 7, 2009, on 1050ESPN.com (now ESPNNewYork.com), Lundberg.me, and Examiner.com
With its unprecedented dominance in most sports games, EA Sports felt it was a good time to continue another one of its majestic, untouchable franchises. Fight Night Round 4 was green lit and, after months of hype, was being touted as one of the most anticipated games of the year (it even had a sticker on the cover saying so) with two of the all-time great heavyweight champions serving as the game’s cover boys in Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali. Could such a highly publicized title live up to its positive press, though?
One of the major appeals for the game churned out by EA’s hype machine was the “what if?” premise. Upon your first time selecting Exhibition mode you’re provided a roster that features some of the greatest fighters of all time combined with the greats from today as you mix and match to answer those questions fight fans have always had like, “Who’s better: Ali or Tyson?” or “What would Frazier or Foreman do to Lennox Lewis’s weak chin?”
Disappointingly, there could only be so many boxers included in the game and so some of the other all-time greats, like Rocky Marciano and Floyd Mayweather, had to be excluded. Fortunately for die-hard fans though, there are rumors that they could be available via downloadable content at a later date over Xbox’s or Sony’s respective store systems.
After living out your boxing fantasies in Exhibition mode, you can jump into the create-a-boxer feature and try your hand at the impressive “Legacy Mode” to see if you could work your legend up to somewhere near that of the two athletes that grace the game’s cover. With hundreds of customizable features for your boxer, ranging from blocking styles to the color of your trunks, you’ll feel as if you’re actually living the dream as you begin to work your way up from dingy gyms to some of the most spectacular arenas in all of boxing in an attempt to become the “Greatest Of All Time” (or G.O.A.T. as the game prefers).
The legacy mode isn’t difficult once you’ve figure out the patterns for the mini-games, which constitute the fighter’s training, to raise his stats to near unbeatable levels. On the first go-around, I received the max reward on half the mini-games and began maxing out my stats to the point that “Legacy Mode” just didn’t have the luster to bring me, a more casual boxing fan, back for more after I was 12-0 with 11 KO’s.
Continually, it is once you step into the ring as your created fighter where the game’s hype starts to show a few openings in its airtight defense. If you build up your stats enough (so you turn that chin of yours from glass to granite), you can just button-mash (or analog-stick mash, either way I averaged 1200 punches per 10 round bout, that’s about a punch every 1.5 seconds) your way to victory over almost any opponent. You might not always get a knockout, but unless you’ve imported someone like Ali (whose stats are off the chart) as an opponent you can just keep dropping haymakers and straight rights until the match is over and you have your hand raised.
Aside from the lackluster A.I., the game does deliver on most other fronts. Instead of the system used in previous versions of the franchise (where you would physically apply ice to different parts of your boxer’s face to keep the swelling down and allow him to fight longer) a new, three-level system has been implemented that measures your boxer’s health, stamina, and damage.
Depending how your well your boxer performs, points are awarded to your corner, allowing you to heal and prepare your player as the fight continues. A high punching-accuracy will net you a lot of points. Stunning or knocking down your opponent is worth even more. These points can then be applied to healing your fighter’s damage, restoring health, or rejuvenating his stamina. Obviously, the longer you keep these bars filled up, the better your boxer will be as the fight goes on. A low stamina will mean your punches will have less bite and can be thrown less often. Having high amounts of damage inflicted on your boxer, along with a low health bar, will mean he is more likely to be knocked out. This new system makes it much easier to gauge how well your boxer is doing as the fight progresses and where you might need to make some in-between round adjustments.
Along with the Exhibition and Legacy modes, there is also a strong multiplayer mode where you can fight other boxers, either online or off, and use either imported boxers that you create yourself or boxers from the roster.
Overall, considering that EA Sports lacks any real competition in most sports franchises, it was nice to see the improvements they made on this more distinguished one. It might not have the long-lasting appeal for more casual boxing fans, but hardcore fans will keep thinking they have a puncher’s chance for a long time.
Ratings are based on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.
Graphics: 8.0: The boxers themselves look great, but the backgrounds and in-between round animations lack the polish I would expect from an EA Sports game, considering the time they usually pour into their hit franchises. However, it is still a very strong game visually to the point you can see sweat flying off of your opponents after landing a devastating haymaker.
Audio: 9.0: Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas do a great job with authentic ringside commentary and the soundtrack provides you with a beat to get your blood pumping before you step into the ring. Joe and Teddy do get a little repetitive after a while, but that is just expected with sports games nowadays if you play them long enough. The punching sound effects are solid, but not special.
Plot/Plot Development: N/A: It’s a sports simulation.
Gameplay: 7.0: A lackluster A.I. and repetitive motions keep this from being anything more than average. This game is too much of a button masher to make it great, but the new health bar system is one of those changes you didn’t realize you needed until you saw it.
Replay Value: 7.0: Unless EA Sports begins to have other great boxers added as downloadable content, there isn’t much to bring to bring the casual fan back for more. A strong multiplayer or the chance to be known as the G.O.A.T. will bring hardcore boxing fans back for more for a long time, though.
Overall: 8.5: Most of the improvements and changes that EA Sports made between rounds were welcome additions to this franchise that many would argue were needed to be fully rejuvenated. Hardcore boxing fans will be happy to pick this up since it is the best pure boxing game out there right now, but more casual fans will tire of it quickly.
Fight Night Round 4 is out now for the Xbox 360 and PS3.
-Ray Carsillo
RayCarsilloWrites.com 