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FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 3 XBOX 360 REVIEW |
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Boxing has
never really been counted as one of the major
attraction in sports entertainment when it comes
to America’s past time. It’s an event that
doesn’t get enough media attention. Because many
are not exposed to it, tracking down a boxer’s
career, rank, or weight class is relatively
confusing. If there’s ever a boxing match being
publicized, most people just settle for the main
event and forget the ones who we are not
familiar with or the ones that have not had the
privilege of consistent exposure through the
media spotlight. Essentially, we are left with a
critical mass of boxing aficionados, hungry for
a 1-2 knockout scene.
Fortunately, Electronic Arts has an answer for
those of us seeking diversity beyond the
mandates of FCC-regulated sports television. If
you are one of the many deprived boxing-addicts,
the anecdote is well within your reach. Just go
to your local video game store and look for
Fight Night Round 3. Fight Night 3 is an
outstanding interpretation of what boxing feels
like in reality. You can practically taste the
intensity of a well-placed hook as it makes
across the chin of your opponent. This is boxing
at its best and you’ll never see it quite this
spectacular on any other console except on
Microsoft’s next generation machine, the Xbox
360.
The game features a robust selection of modes,
which include Career, Play Now, Live
multiplayer, and the new ESPN Classic. In Career
mode, you have two choices: Rebuild a legend or
create your own boxer. You’ll start as an
amateur, and then climb your way up to the rank
of a professional. Your objective is very simple
– you fight one match after another. As you rack
up several victories, your popularity gauge will
increase. Once you have reached a certain level
of stardom, you’ll land a special contract such
as a title fight or an exclusive event promoted
by your sponsors. One of the great aspects about
the career mode is that it doesn’t take too much
labor to become a legend in the ring. It focuses
more on the sophisticated culture of boxing
rather than stressing through a never-ending
level of pounding down opponents for the top
spot. Your stats will increase as you achieve a
new milestone in your career.
The greatest milestone you can attain is
becoming a champion in your weight class. From
there you can choose to advance to a different
weight division and pursue another title. Fight
Night Round 3 is filled with new revolutionary
designs since last year’s release and the most
interesting concept is the introduction of
rivalry in Career mode. You’ll have one rival in
the game and you’ll be facing him quite a few
times during the course of your career. Having a
rivalry is a very exciting feature; it opens up
a pre-fight inhospitality to pump you up for the
main event. The match itself is more than just a
showcase of flashy moves and strategic boxing
art; it involves illegal hits that sometime a
referee would even approve. New to the franchise
is the addition of ESPN Classic mode, which
allows you to experience some of the greatest
moments in boxing history. You can relive the
one of the best fights that happened two or
three decades ago, matches like Ali versus
Frazier and Robinson versus Lamotta.
ESPN Classic is a good concept on paper, but in
its finished stage, the historic authenticity is
missing some details. The retro feel is dampened
by overwhelming ads and glaring lights. The
action for the most part seems underdeveloped.
Fortunately, that is not the case with the Play
Now mode. This feature provides you with a
smoother boxing experience than the one found in
ESPN Classic. Play Now is basically a “quick
match” that allows you to randomly select your
character, choose the opponent you want to fight
against, and set the stage for instant ring-side
action. One of the greater points about Play Now
mode is that it lets you create unlimited dream
matches such as pitting boxing legends against
modern fighters, no matter what weight class
they are in. You can have Eric Morales go up
against Sugar Ray Leonard or Golden Boy Oscar De
La Hoya takes on Filipino legend Manny “Pac-Man”
Pacquaio. |
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PRODUCT
OVERALL RATING: 9.0 OUT OF 10 |
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Both the
Career mode and Play Now mode are all fun and
interesting, but once you’ve become proficient
at it, you just want to move on to another level
of challenge, like the online multiplayer for
example. In the multiplayer aspect of Fight
Night Round 3, you can expect some great
gameplay. The only setback is the occasional lag
time. Because it’s streamed for Xbox Live 2.0,
you get tons more features such as extensive
stat-tracking service and several additional
match options. In terms of action, Fight Night
Round 3 delivers good balanced AI in all of its
offline modes. The fights start off relatively
easy and you’ll be taking down several opponents
before the end of the fifth round. As you head
deep into your career, your opponents are able
to sustain heavier blows, and at the same time,
their punches have a more resilient impact.
Needless to say, the AI (artificial
intelligence) is somewhat predictable; they tend
to use the same combos throughout the match.
These repeated patterns open up weak spots for
you to take advantage of as well as launch a
series of continuous strikes to the opponent’s
trigger points. While still on the subject of
gameplay, Fight Night Round 3 excels in
delivering intuitive control mechanics, thanks
to the introduction of Total Control Punch and
Impact Punches. With Total Control Punch,
throwing combos have become quite easy. You
simply use the right analog stick to perform
various punches, and the left analog stick to
move your fighter. Rotating the right stick in
either half-circle or quarter-circle motion will
give you a strong haymaker or a nice hook
respectively. With Impact Punches, you can
execute different types of vicious haymakers.
Haymakers are generally power punches that you
just throw in for a crippling blow.
One example of such Impact Punch is the Flash KO
Punch, which depletes a lot of your opponent’s
energy and sets him up for a quick knockout. The
downsides of using these Impact Punches are
often difficult to execute. They are slow to
carry out hence easily countered. On the good
side, Fight Night Round 3 has a nice repertoire
of defensive maneuvers. However, timing is the
key to parrying your opponent’s attacks
successfully. By holding the L1 button, you’ll
be able to avoid punches. If you’re on the verge
of a knock down, just “clinch.” And that should
buy you time to catch your breath. With the new
custom creation feature, you control how your
boxer is going to fight in the ring. By changing
the base style, the punch style, and the block
style, you might just end up with a Caesar
Chavez/Muhammed Ali fighter at your finger tips.
It’s really fun to tinker around the different
fighting styles you can implement to your
character; but whatever changes you apply will
certainly affect your fighting strategy.
From the graphical standpoint, Fight Night Round
3 is one the best-looking boxing games to date!
Everything looks very polished, particularly the
character models that look like their real life
counterparts; they react realistically,
struggling as their body wear down from your
repeated punches. As the match continues on to
the last two rounds, his face becomes all bloody
and bruised up! The best part of the game’s
graphics is the knockout replays; they are very
fun to watch! You can see your opponent’s face
disfigures as the camera closes in on your
matrix-like haymaker tearing through his teeth.
All the local venues, including New York’s
Madison Square Garden and the StaplesCenter in
Los Angeles are beautifully recreated. Even the
crowd is far more vivid than we had hope for.
The animation is exceptionally smooth,
considering how many polygons have been
injected, although we did notice some clipping
issues to the boxer’s waist area and feet; but
these are just minor glitches that can be easily
over looked.
In the audio front, Fight Night Round 3 features
amazing sound effects that could only come from
a live boxing match. You’ll hear cartilage
popping and tendons snapping as the weight of
your punch come across your opponent’s pretty
face. The music is good while it lasts, and it
is mostly made of hip hop soundtracks. The
commentary, on the other hand, is a bit
monotonous. The action scripts are being
repeated way too much! Needless to say,
regardless of the game’s irremediable issues,
you have virtually a perfect boxing game. Fight
Night Round 3 is going to be very difficult to
knock over given the handiwork that has gone
into the Xbox 360 version. The graphics are
amazing and the fightin is as gruesome being
next to the ring! Electronic Arts has certainly
brought home the tenacity and the spirit that
make the sports of boxing so great. If you’re
looking for a fistful experience, Fight Night
Round 3 is a punch out you’ll never forget! |
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