Unlike the majority of their line-up EA Sports have opted to be rather sparing with Fight Night. The last rendition of the franchise boasted impressive visuals relatively early on in this generation’s lifecycle to receive great critical acclaim. Three years later and EA are back to rock the ring with Fight Night Round 4 with an impressive offering. Only to find out that combat sports have evolved an awful lot since last time around.
The bulk of Fight Night Round 4 comes from the aptly named Legacy Mode. This entails your progress from a no-name amateur boxer to the greatest of all time. It’s a little contrived, as you’ll spend a majority of your time organizing fights or reading vague messages. The path of your career feels spot on, with your momentum up the rankings almost halting if you happened to come out worse for wear in your last fight.
While the controls feel responsive, the fight doesn’t. While the game does ramp up in speed, I felt the game wanted me to be more methodical with my approach. Unfortunately this just lead to sluggish fights that go the distance. While watching the sport, fights that go the distance are worth seeking but when you are in control you a feel a sense of urgency and instantly look for knockdowns and flash KOs. The truth is that the game doesn’t really feature either in satisfying amounts leading to the gameplay becoming tedious, monotonous and a real grind.
Fight Night 3 was all about showing off the power of the new systems and Round 4 doesn’t stray away from it’s eye candy roots. Sweat and spit flying across the ring are commonplace as you nail that counter to the glisten of fluids, in slow motion no less. If your knowledge of boxers is good then you’ll instantly recognise who’s who from a pretty solid roster. Your created character might not slip into that roster unnoticed despite having arguably the best face-generating camera support to date. It’s a massive improvement with this relatively new innovation but it shows there is still a way to go.
The sound design is on par if not better than the outstanding visuals. The commentary transitions from extreme overestimation and exaggerated amazement to in-depth analysis and humours quips. Meanwhile the roar of the crowd when you land that haymaker or gradual rising decibel meter as you speed up your offence with brutal combos is encouraging.
The problem is that it’s all gloss. Paper over the cracks. While the controls are innovative, the sound is incredibly atmospheric and the visuals are pure eye candy, it’s all just for show. The framework is here but with more exciting and in-depth sports like Mixed Martial Arts, Boxing just feels dated. So it’s with no fault of the game it’s self that Round 4 just feels old and sluggish. If you love the sport of Boxing then by all means this will keep you busy until the next round but anyone else might want to throw in the towel after a couple of hours with the game.
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