Wednesday, April 05 2006 @ 12:00 AM CDT
Fight Night Round 3 has hit our Xbox 360 and all I can say is wow. EA Chicago has done an excellent job at not only showcasing one of the most realistic looking boxing games we have laid eyes on, but also making it fun.
At the opening menu, you will have a variety of choices. Choosing Play Now will let you select two boxers and climb into the ring immediately. ESPN Classics, a new mode to the series, lets you fight as one of history’s great pugilists in several classic title bouts. Career Mode, allows you to generate your own boxer and try to advance to the title. Hard Hits, where the rounds end when someone is knocked down, and winning is dependent on how many knockdowns you can generate in the bout returns for Round 3. To sharpen your skills there is a Training mode that features mini-games, such as Heavy Bag, Weight Lifting, and Combo Dummy.
Creating your boxer is a detailed event, as you choose things like the shapes of your cheeks, the leanness of your body, and body tattoos, all in the effort to build your own vision of the ultimate fighter. The only negative is that you cannot change any aspect of the body below the belt, and are limited to adjusting the height, weight, and thickness of the upper body. Was disappointed that EA Chicago overlooked the fact you can not create a boxer from Chitown though.
As you move up through the professional ranks you will start earning more cash, and unlocking special equipment and venues, which can be played in the Play Now mode. Once you have earned enough wins and prestige, you will be fighting in the title fights where your legacy will be sealed in the history books.
As part of its deal with ESPN, EA added an ESPN Classics feature in which you can relive some of the great rivalries from boxing history. As an added bonus, your rivalries from career mode will be added as "Instant Classics" in the ESPN Classics mode.
Graphics though are what set this game apart from the previous games in the series. The default setting for Round 3 is to not show the HUD and helps add to the realism of the fights. You have to pay attention to the breathing and sluggishness of the fighters to know when to take advantage of the situation. Though you should not need it, the game does allow you to turn on the HUD if you prefer to have it onscreen.
Visually this games graphics will be the first feature that pulls you in. Overall this is the most life like game when you get in the zone. Aside from some angles where the player models look plastic Fight Night Round 3 features photo realistic graphics that bring the game to life. When moving around the ring you can watch the shadows change, admire the way sweat is realistically dropping off your player and witness the cut above your opponents left eye slowly open from vicious hooks as his nose starts to bleed more from the wicked jabs you keep opening him with. Who needs a HUD when you can watch the boxer fall apart before he hits the mat? The backgrounds are all gorgeous, but the crowd could have used some more work. While these still appear just a touch above last generation everything that your eyes will be constantly fixed to look gorgeous.
Graphically as mentioned the crowds look very blocky and stick out being about the only non realistic model on screen. Though, while in intense fights, you really won’t notice. Though what you will notice is the disrespect the ring girls got. They seem awfully rushed considering unlike the crowd; they are featured between each round and shown prancing around the ring. I know there are other games I could boot if I wanted to see scantly clad women dancing for me, but was just wishing they didn’t look like they might have looked good compared to the PS2 or Xbox. The rest of Fight Night Round 3’s graphics blow me away, the ring chicks just made me think last gen.
Audibly the game also feels like last gen. The play by play gets a tad old after a few fights and begins to sound very generic. The game features a pretty good hip-hop soundtrack that is played during menu scenes. Even with this though I’m not sure what I missed, but I heard the same song all the time with another song played only once in a great while. The impact sounds are top notch though and makes it hard to look negatively on the fluff sounds when the combat sounds so good.
Going online with Fight Night, you will have the option of playing ranked, standard or custom online matches. You can also compare your stats on the leader boards.
Watching your punches land and seeing the glove absorb some of the impact and the players face take the rest is truly entertaining. With the move to the next generation of games on the Xbox 360 EA Sports has shown with Fight Night Round 3 that they are aiming for the most realistic action they can deliver. With the lack of a HUD the games amazing graphics do a great job of showing in HD who is winning the fight and who is ready for a knockout. Despite its few flaws Fight Night Round 3 is worthy of any boxing fans collection.
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