Fight Night Round 4 Review

This EA Sports franchise proves it pulls no punches in Round 4.

Unforgivable puns aside, after a few good attempts at the already well-established Fight Night franchise, EA has put a lot of stock into Round 4.

With a cavalcade of boxers to choose from, including Joe Calzaghe, Ricky Hatton, Manny Pacquiao, George Foreman, Muhammed Ali and - for the first time - Mike Tyson, Round 4 not only has the best line-up yet, it promises to deliver improved graphics, sound, controls and gameplay. This shows instantly.

The thing that's immediately admirable about Round 4 is its overall presentation. EA manages to produce some of the best sports games available and in the last few years, it's standardised everything it produces under the EA Sports division.

You'll look at Round 4 and see the tell-tale EA fonts and menu systems, yet the emphasis of brand experience is only an undercurrent and one which does little other than comfort the player to let them know they're in safe hands.

Working hard to establish a key identity for each game under its vast umbrella, the developer based this game largely on the old-school posters that would accompany fights in the 1960s - big, bold letters and classic, iconic images.


However, this brand-wary approach has given way to strange approaches to more tried-and-tested main-staples of gaming, particularly the Round 4's control-scheme. The analogue based controls issue was first notably annoying in the NHL franchise two or three years ago, and though it can be intuitive and clever, it forces you to work through another complex analogue stick-based system to reap the benefits.

Although it inevitably makes the game more realistic and develops faster reactions, you feel like you're thrown in at the deep end from the start, despite a lengthy tutorial before you reach the main menu. It's like trying to nail Vega's finishing move on Street Fighter IV - sometimes you simply can't replicate the seemingly easy action it's demonstrating on screen or in the manual.

As a result, hooks become uppercuts and you soon ingest your own teeth via AI supremacy, thanks to the escalating difficulty the game can surprise you with when you finally get in the ring. But you'll work it out, after a couple of hours and the odd naughty word under your breath.

Strangely though, while it's easy enough and quite tempting to simply spam with punching until your opponent ends up on the canvas, it doesn't feel fun. It detracts from the rest of the game; the finely-polished surroundings and presentation almost make you feel ashamed to do anything but adhere to the etiquette of boxing that Round 4 works so hard to represent realistically.


When you get the technique down, it becomes just as much of a strategy game as it does a beat 'em up; you play to land that one perfect punch that triggers a great sequence, which sees the opponent wobbling around while the camera suddenly becomes drunk, spurring you on to get straight in and land one more to have them on the canvas for good.

This finalisation process can take seconds or entire rounds, sometimes hinging on waiting for a great counter, a well-timed block or a mistake on the opponent's part. Some fights are pure power; others are wars of attrition.

The fighting is also made easier and simultaneously trickier with the de-emphasised guard system, which just covers the head or torso. However, there seems to be more emphasis on the ducking and weaving element, which, like the controls, is tough to learn but excellent when mastered.

The new AI engine, which helps your opponent learn from your fighting style, means that everything has to constantly flow yet change regularly, otherwise you'll get shafted. Sometimes it can be a bit glitchy and the opponent can do some strange things every now and again, such as walk as far away as possible from you. Still, EA has obviously got hold of a few experts to enhance the feel of the title.


Technical excellence is also particularly visible in the graphics, especially in the knock-out blows and replay cameras which are optional upon landing the killer blow. It genuinely looks painful and you can cringe with sheer agony at some of the punches you'll dish out and receive. Sometimes the accompanying sounds add to this, though it can seem a bit overdone. No matter - you won't be hearing so much as looking as the spat-out blood and saliva that accompanied the crunching and sharp movements of the pummelled face.

The sound has other faults too, particularly with the ringside announcers. Half the time you can't tell if they're on about you or the guy you're fighting, meaning you don't know whether to attack or defend. Furthermore, they're happy to repeat a lot and they have at least one extended spiel for each boxer, making it a drawn-out experience on numerous occasions (such as going on about Ricky Hatton's disaster of a fight against Mayweather Jr).

Legacy Mode has a few interesting upgrades, which seems to make the overall feel more interesting and fun. While the training sections can suffer from repetitiveness and at times end up being downright frustrating, everything else seems to be pretty good fun. The popularity method of measuring a fighter is also innovative, meaning you know what to do to get higher up the chain.


However, some things are a bit of a let down. The World Championship online mode, though still relatively restricted due to the number of people online willing to throw their hat into the ring after buying the game, seemed a bit flawed. Sometimes punches don't register and you'll be subject to people regularly doing the same punch over and over until your guard finally slips out of boredom.

I'm sure this'll improve, particularly with the addition of fights for belts and more people taking the option up, though there's still something missing.

Although the create-a-fighter segment is wonderfully deep, sometimes it all seems a bit ridiculous, much like the all-engulfing stats tables associated with the NHL franchise. There's a choice of a good 76 heads for example, even though within races, nearly all of them are the same.

It's good if you have an hour to spare, though you'll likely leave and play with the established fighter line-up. Then again, there's the option to upload your own face, which can then be sculpted - though I didn't have the chance to try.

Still, having the choice of pyrotechnics and the like for an intro is a good laugh and harks back to the days of playing the WWF/WWE games on the PlayStation.


Just like the EA Sports franchise as a whole, Round 4 is still best-in-class. If you love boxing, you'll never look back. If you don't like the sport, buy it anyway. Still, if you think the sport's brutal, you're not going to like this.

Round 4 becomes less of a game and more of a pugilistic showcase. With solid AI, clever controls (once you get used to them), realistic action and wonderful graphics, the core of the game is close to perfect. Everything on top of this - online play, legacy mode and world championship bouts - are simply extras. Welcome extras at that, even if they could do with some more fine-tuning.

You could say it's an essential purchase, whether you're after a fighting game or not.

9/10

Matt Gardner