I’ve always enjoyed EA’s Fight Night series. The ‘Total Punch Control’ system was an instant hit (no pun intended) with fighting game fans and it was this feature of the series, even more so than the graphics that drew me and many other gamers in. Fight Night 2004 introduced us to this brand new and alternate style of control that successfully ended the reign of the ‘button masher’ and replaced luck with actual skill if you were to get the most out of the game.
Unfortunately it was light on in the Career Mode and this was addressed to some extent in the sequel, Fight Night Round 2 which added options to choose trainers, select intro music and lighting effects for your fighters ring entrances. More options in games are usually welcome, but these new features were mostly a matter of style over substance and resulted in little replay value for the game once complete. In my previous review I said the career mode took a bit of a step back. Unfortunately this is the case in the Xbox 360 version, so while we have a game that showcases some of the most amazing graphics ever seen in a sports game on any platform, is that enough to warrant the $100 + purchase price?
It has to be said, the graphics in the Xbox 360 version are amazing, I mean like ‘Holy Shit’ amazing. We’re always looking for that ‘WOW’ factor in new games and when you see the first knock down replay with your victims drool splurting out, the glazed look in his eyes and the skin of his cheeks rippling from the impact of your punch in super sexy slow motion you’d be forgiven if you climbed up onto your roof shouting “YES, next-gen is here!”… or something like that. The truth is that this version of Fight Night 3 looks absolutely amazing and the team at EA Sports have created the most lifelike characters outside a pre-rendered cut scene ever to grace a video game. Most of the time before a games release we’re shown trailers and screenshots that are rarely indicative of the final version, and we all know how damn annoying that is right? But this time around everything you’ve seen is exactly how good Fight Night 3 looks.
The artwork on the Fight Night boxers is so detailed that it’s possible to see every pore plus every bead of sweat on their bodies and in 720p on a nice sharp widescreen, giant television it’s amazing how great everything looks. The lighting is also extremely realistic with reflections and highlights glistening on the boxers’ sweaty skin and it’s also used effectively in each of the stadiums that your fights take place in. Throughout the bouts your fighter will also suffer cuts and bruises but the animations of the blood dripping down the faces aren’t really that smooth as I was expecting. It’s a small point but with the amazing detail packed in everywhere else it does stand out when you see it.
EA secured the rights to all things ESPN last year and this is one of the first rounds of EA Sports games to make use of the licence. Fight Night 3 sports a number of different game modes with the ESPN classic one being the newest addition to the series. Classic matches from the annals of boxing history are selectable so if you’ve ever wanted to relive Ali versus Frazier you’ll be in your element. To continue the fine form of the graphics, even the historical boxers such as Ali look the best that they ever have and once you retire your normal Career mode fighter, you can even go up against him.
The Career mode is where you will spend most of your time and creating your Boxer and building him in to a lean mean fighting machine is plenty of fun. The training modes aka mini-games return with the Combo Dummy, Heavy Bag and Weight Lifting all contributing in their own way to different areas of your fighters’ skills. The option to ‘auto-train’ is there if you’re in a hurry but the performance increase will be almost negligible at best so it pays to spend a bit of time going through them, and unfortunately, while something different to the bouts, repetition is the killer here as after signing a contract, training, fighting a match, signing a contract, training and fighting a match gets old fairly quickly and this is the biggest complaint I have about Fight Night 3. Except for fighting and training, there just isn’t much else to do.
Yes, I realise, it is a fighting game but the Career mode has no story as such and is just you taking your created fighter to the top. With more use of the ESPN licence, the ability to perhaps pick sponsors, take part in promotional events (at least some choices to make) and a little bit of narrative with some story moments between you and your rivals, Fight Night 3 would have even more interesting to actually play through and possibly helped to create more of a bond between you and your character. As it stands though, the excellent graphics keep drawing you back in and you probably won’t stop until you have all the Live Achievements and have retired at least one or two fighters.
If the Career mode does eventually get boring you’re able to jump online and punch on with your Live buddies in either ranked or non ranked matches. In a number of matches against Deathgod there was no lag and knocking the snot out of your mates, and then getting the snot knocked right back out of yourself is loads of fun, especially when those slow motion, skin rippling replays kick in with their over the top, bone crunching sound effects. With winter coming up Fight Night 3 will be one of those games dragged out on cold rainy days for plenty of online action because with the great graphics and the ‘Total Control’ system, smacking down your mates becomes even more enjoyable than ever before. The lack of lag was a nice surprise, especially after some negative experiences with other online fighting, and some other recent EA Sports games.
There are also a couple of new moves thrown in this year as well. The Flash KO has the ability to put your opponent into a daze giving you the opportunity to throw in a few quick punches and knock him down before he can react. It’s one of the longest punches to make so in return leaves your defences open but is pretty effective if you can pull it off. The other new move, the Stun Punch immediately puts your opponent on the defensive requiring only one more solid punch from you to put him down and forces him to block or parry while he regains his composure. They’re both effective moves, but even more so if used after a parry from yourself and the final training mode, Sparring, is the perfect spot to practice them. I think a couple of the matches that I’ve played online (against strangers) and been slaughtered in were due to being on the receiving end of these new moves so I can speak for how effective they can be when used properly.
The audio in Fight Night 3 does a good job in the fights with blows sounding full of bass and oomph. In the slow motion replays the impacts sound awfully painful, even (it must be said) a little over the top. The commentary gets repetitive but this is fairly indicative of most EA Sports games so while a slight let down, wasn’t unexpected. It reacts well to the onscreen action though so it does a great job in that area. The music is the standard hip-hop stuff that EA must have purchased in bulk a few years back and is still trying to use up. While it suits the game it’s a bit light on this time with only 12 music tracks included, but as it’s only on during the menus it’s not a real issue.
Final Thoughts and Score
This is the first EA Sports game for the Xbox 360 that we’ve reviewed so far. We’ve played a few of the rest (with reviews coming soon) and Fight Night 3 is easily the best looking out of the bunch. It shares a bit in common with other EA Sports Xbox 360 titles though being that it’s a bit light on in the features department which is a bit of a letdown, especially in the online modes. I’ve gone on about the graphics but it’s got to be mentioned again just to drive the point home that this is one damn sexy looking game. Everything is photo realistic and EA have really delivered the goods here, when you see it in motion it looks amazing.
The only complaints that can be levelled at Fight Night 3 are the points already raised. The Career mode needs to be built upon, especially with the heavy duty ESPN licence attached to the game. A bit of story telling wouldn’t go astray either, especially to help create a tighter bond between you and your self created on-screen character, but other than that, the amazing graphics and fighting engine hold everything together creating the best looking boxing game ever and a real showcase for the 360’s power.
Pros
Amazingly realistic looking fighers
Lag free online play
Fun training games
‘Total Control’ beats button mashing
Bone crunching sound effects
Cons
Career mode gets repetitive
Some more online modes wouldn’t hurt
90/100