More on Fight Night Round 3
Disclaimer: This post hasn’t been proofread (I’m running late for a sleep dr. appointment). My apologies if the typos are even worse than usual.
At this point this I’d have to call this both the most entertaining and at the same time mind-numbingly frustrating game I’ve played in a long, long time. It is, however, vintage EA Sports. Include a bunch of features that are good ideas and do them all half-baked. (Think Madden’s Superstar mode or NCAA’s Race for the Heisman.) Bravo, boys, you’ve managed to do it again.
The chief problem is the career mode, which in my mind may have even taken a step back this year. At first I thought the lack of options in prepping your fighter for a fight (choosing a trainer, ring entrances, music, etc.) was just because I didn’t have a big enough name. Well, I’m a “big name” fighter in the featherweight class now and I don’t’ have any more options now than I did when I first entered the pro ranks… Wait. Check that. I can now have The King mascot for Burger King for a trainer.
Whoopidy-freaking do.
This isn’t all about “flare” though. I can live without pompous rink intros with pyrotechnics, whores and music that somehow improves my ability to get up from a knockdown (as in FN Round 2). A lot of that was rather silly. But it was still something that added a little flavor to the bouts and in Round 3 it’s all just gone and it hasn’t been replaced by anything.
Training is still rock, paper scissors equivalent of pointlessness. I like that you can train before a fight, but shouldn’t the amount of training you’re able to do have some relation to the time between fights. If I fight in 12 weeks instead of four weeks, shouldn’t I be able to train more? What’s more, how the hell does hitting the heavy bag improve my ability to avoid cuts to the face? I know these same problems existed in Round 2, but come on. It can be ignored as quaint for a while, but at some point EA actually needs to deal with this stuff.
The in-game commentary is reminiscent of the Weird Al riff, “This Song is Just Six Words Long,” and there are many situations in which there was obviously no suitable commentary recorded so you get just silence. In one fight against a rival, my opponent was throwing head-butts my way, which really pissed me off (in a cool, fun sort of way). So, I started throwing elbows in retaliation. I was absolutely owning his sorry butt. I’d knocked him down three times and was about to go for number four so I decided to see if a flying elbow while an opponent was dazed could actually send him to the canvas. The next thing I knew the screen when black for a second and when it came to there was a shot of my boxer just standing there shaking his head. The next thing I knew I was back in the main menu. Obviously –given a new loss added to my record- I had been disqualified. But there was no warning from the ref. The commentary said nothing about it. The fight simply ended and “poof”, right back to the main menu. That’s just lazy-ass, bullshit game design. There’s nothing else to call it. Maybe if they’d spent less time making sure to include the Big King in the game they could’ve managed to actually implement an actual referee that could interact with the boxers.
I’m also tired of hearing how the “ref” is going to stop the fight, in every single fight, and *never* having it actually happen. I’m sure some people have seen the occasional TKO, but given that it’s been threatened in every last one of my fights without actually happening, it’s getting annoying.
The career mode itself literally consists of picking a contract (between one and four offers usually), implementing one training mini-game (after choosing between a whopping three trainers, not counting corporate mascots), and heading into the fight. That’s it. Yes, the boxing itself is absolutely first rate, and that is the most important thing. And I really am enjoying that part of the game immensely, it’s just staggering that the career mode has seen no improvements at all. There’s no actual rankings, which Round 2 did have. There’s a half-baked and poorly implemented rival feature, in which the game designates your rivals from the outset, rather than have them have anything to do with your actual fights. And the Fight Store continues to be the embodiment of fantasy land. Who the hell pays $300k for boxing shorts and what the hell kind of boxing shorts add to my punching power by 20%?
If you can get the game for $50 or less, it’s still a worthwhile buy. I haven’t gone online with it yet, but my understanding is it’s a phenomenal online experience (something I have no trouble believing). It’s also a great game to put on when you’ve got friends over. But the single-player experience is only worthwhile if you *really* enjoy the pure boxing experience in the ring. Fortunately, I do, so at the end of the day I’m still having fun with it. Graphically it remains shockingly beautiful and the boxing is addicting as all get out. I’m just continually insulted by the gameplay around and outside the ring, which is devolving instead of evolving and three games into the series (not counting the Knockout Kings games) that can’t be excused anymore just because the boxing in the ring is well-done.
March 1st, 2006 at 7:58 pm
I really could not agree more. The gameplay is almost perfection. I say almost because few things are as frustrating as having your punch parried and seeing your boxer just freeze for 3 seconds while you get smashed in the face by your opponent. Really, I feel like screaming sometimes when that happens. I am all for a nice parried punch leaving an opening for a counter, but when you lose total control of your boxer for what seems like an eternity, it only leads to much frustration.
And Career-Mode is absolute shit. Again, if not for the in-the-ring action, the single player experience would be completely worthless. I find it hard to believe that this game was made by anybody that has ever actually seen a real boxing match (I’m talking about the career mode, non-gameplay parts here) becuase they absolutely drop the ball in EVERY area. EVERY ONE!!!
This game could have been simply amazing. Instead, it is an extremely good-playing boxing sim, that can really only be enjoyed on-line or one match at a time (which is what career mode feels like, random matches that are not connected at all).
March 1st, 2006 at 10:29 pm
Excellent review, you hit the nail on the head. The game is excellent, inside the ring. For me, I play it online almost exclusively so I don’t notice how bad career mode is.
March 2nd, 2006 at 8:54 am
Thanks, guys. It’s good to know I’m not crazy with regards to that stuff. It’s really bizarre how much love and loathing I can have for this game, usually within the same 30-second span.