EA Sports Fight Night round 2

Ah, about time I review something else, right? Well hold onto your hats, I just picked up EA Sports Fight Night Round 2.


From the moment you pop this game into the xbox you realize that this game is a no holds barred slugfest full of all the blood splattering glory you could ever want from a hardcore boxing game. The intro movie is just two guys bashing each others' faces in while hardcore rap plays in the background. This game makes no apologies for excessive bloodloss.




I started out by creating myself in career mode. I have never been so impressed with a character generator in my life. You basically use the sticks to adjust the dimentions of every part of your face from your eye placement, size, alignment to the shape of your jaw, nose, mouth, cheeks, everything. There is even a two stick adjustment stage for fat vs muscle. When I was done, it was like looking at myself in the mirror. Unfortunately for the reality factor, I did a ton of training and he's jacked now. The amazing depth of this generator cannot be understated. It's simply amazing.


So I still had no clue what I was doing, and here is my first criticism. There is no training mode, no tutorial, nothing. This game is very different from the old school games that involved a different button combo for different punches, blocks, etc. All of your punches are executed with a movement of the right thumbstick. If you are like me, and never played the original, the "Total Boxer Control" interface is daunting. There are games you can play that help, but if you really don't know how to throw a haymaker uppercut, no amount of chances to do so will help you figure it out. I would have appreciated a mode where you can just slam the heavy bag and get a readout of what you are actually throwing similar to Soul Caliber II.


Immersion Factor:


While we're chatting about it, Total Boxer Control makes this game so realistic that the immersion factor is VERY height. I'm the stereotypical "I'm going to throw 500 punches a round and never block a single punch" guy, but this game makes it easy to evade, block, parry, and simply get out of the way of most punches if you try. That combined with the fact that you can throw punches from anywhere and they all look, feel, and land according to where your standing, where you're moving to, and where your opponent is moving is simply breathtaking. For fun, circle the other boxer and throw an enormous haymaker just to watch his face explode. Then circle away from the other dude and throw the same punch. Not so good. This game makes you think and act like a real boxer. You have to know your opponent and really break down his strengths and weaknesses just as if it was you in that ring.


To put it simply, if you step into your punches, time them out so you catch a full fist of face, and figure out how to wind up and throw a decent punch, you will find yourself cheering like an idiot as you watch in gritty slow motion perfection as the other guy goes limp and lands face down with a mouth full of canvas. If you are throwing off balance punches, punching yourself out, or landing only grazing blows, you will find out real quick what it's like to be a bad boxer.


Immersion Factor rating: Extremely High


Learning Curve:


I normally don't talk about the learning curve with games because I'm just like you. I don't even know where the manual is when the game is shipped. I cut open the packaging and throw it in the tray before I even consider reading anything about how to play. Like I said, there is no training mode and the mini games they have set up are nothing but frustrating to someone who has no idea what they're doing. I immediately jumped into a fight and the only training I received was the loading screen with the "Total Punch Control" options shown. In career mode, the boxers you face to start out with hearken back to the good ol days of Glass Joe. They show blatant weaknesses and will go down to a barrage of lousy punches even if you have no clue what you're doing. Having a basic understanding of punches was a huge help. If you don't know the difference between a right cross and a right hook, you should probably open the manual. I had no problem adjusting to the new style at first when it didn't' really matter what I was doing, but as the opponents started getting tougher, I really had to go back and try to figure out which sweeping motion was an uppercut and which was a hook in order to land the punches I needed to to win.


All in all the learning curve has been very generous. I played for a few hours last night and normally once you break the first 10 fights in a boxing game you all of a sudden end up fighting dudes you can never beat. It's been a nice smooth transition up the skill ladder and I'm very thankful for that. I've found that extended enjoyment of fighting games is only as long as you can find a CPU opponent that is up to par with your skill and yet not so hard that you have no chance. For a good example of this concept going horribly wrong, check out Soul Caliber II. If you get past the first few difficulty levels and try to bump it up to the maximum you will lose without ever hitting the other guy. When you still want to play, but the easy level is too easy and the hard level is too hard, the game goes back on the shelf. I hopefully will come back and amend this post once I've played the game more, but for now, it's been smooth sailing.


Learning Curve: Great


Presentation:

This game is as smooth and cool as you could ever ask for. From it's hip hop soundtrack to it's dancing ring girls in your possie to the colorful announcers it does a great job of showing the glitz and glamour of the [fantasy] boxing world. If you've ever fantasized about doing backflips over the ropes to your own entrance music only to pummel some punk into a coma in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans, this is the game for you.


The only real quirk with the look of the game is the people in the stands. If there is a shot where you can see them, they look like the crowd from Pro Wrestling on the NES. Not a big deal, and I wouldn't want my precious DVD memory being wasted on a great looking crowd, but when you see them, you have to go, "eh..."


For anyone who's seen the movie Snatch, when you knock someone down, they have a slowmotion cut scene that harkens back to when the barenuckle fighter knocks down Brad Pitt with the amazing uppercut. They play around with the speed of the replay, so you'll see yourself wind up in slow motion with the focus on your glove and then when you start swinging it's in full speed only to go back to super slow motion as your glove crushes the punks face in an explosion of sweat and blood. They show the punch from several angles with varying focal points and speeds. I haven't screamed at a TV screen in joy like that in a long long time. There are just some moments in your video game life where you have to just sit back and enjoy. Landing a sick knockout punch on some fool and then pummeling him as he slides down the ropes with 10 more punches while the announcers are screaming out about your animalistic aggression is one of them. Nothing in gaming is that satisfying on a consistent basis.


The camera angles vary depending on the situation, but your punch motions on the right thumbstick do not. For you FPS junkies out there, this will be a hard transition. I know I have a hard time throwing the right punch depending on where the camera is located. It really adds to the immersion factor when you are throwing a flurry of punches and the camera is frantically trying to catch each one of them. It takes a little getting used to, but I wouldn't have it any other way.


Presentation: Great


Gameplay/Fun Factor:

This game plays smooth and fair. I know that a game playing "fair" isn't something you hear a lot, but this isn't' the kind of game where the computer automatically knows what you're doing and counters it. Even when I brought a lightweight fighter out against Ali as a joke I was able to land some serious punches and avoid many of the ones coming my way. I know if you're like me and have played a lot of fighting games you've experienced the phenomenon of the computer controlled fighter all of a sudden having a 6th sense. This game doesn't use a CPU advantage like that to raise the difficulty, it uses different styles. One guy you fight might have a tendency to keep his right hand too low, so you can land lefts to his head all night. Another fighter might be a counter puncher. He'll wait for you to throw, parry the punch, and throw one of his own. Another guy might be a power puncher who exposes his body to all the punishment you can dish out. All of the difficulty and strategy comes from figuring out your opponent, and for someone looking for a great fight game, you can't ask for much more than that.


The only problem I have with the gameplay is that if you try to throw a couple looping shots in a row you have to bring the stick back to top dead center before you throw the second one with the same hand. If you want to throw a right and then a left, you don't have to do the same thing. It's just one more stupid thing you have to remember. I find myself drilling someone in the face with a right hook only to have an opening for another one and to miss because I didn't bring the stick back all the way and my fighter just ended up cocking back his hand "pretending" he was going to hit him again. I also don't like how you have to remember which side of your controller is up. That sounds stupid, but if you let your hands go uneven on the joysticks and you try to go for a sweeping motion from straight out left to straight up and you end up going from down at an angle to 3/4 of the way up you won't throw the punch correctly and leave yourself open for a haymaker. I might be the only person alive with this problem, but it is frustrating, so it's here.


Overall, gameplay is fun and easy. It sounds daunting when you hear that you actually have to "throw" every punch with a punching motion on the analog stick, but once you realize how much fun it is to have total control over your boxer's every motion, you'll wish that every boxing game was like this. It really gives you the chance to mold your own style and use it all the time no matter what boxer you are controlling or going against.


This game has a huge fun factor. The actual physics of this game are so realistic that you feel like it was YOU that threw that left uppercut that lacerated the guy's mouth and knocked him out cold. I can't stress enough how much fun this game is once you get into it. It's exciting and different every fight and it's only looking to get better. When you create a boxer, here's a tip. Make him fat because you'll be able to see his body transform through training and hard work as he gets more and more recognition. If you only make him kinda fat like I did, you don't' really realize how different he looks after hitting the gym. The total reality of the career mode is unparalleled in gaming today. It's really something that has to be experienced by anyone who loves fighting games.


Try and name me something that is as much fun as taking some dude who's stunned and stumbling and just hauling off and cracking him with the perfect punch only to watch him get knotted up in the ropes unconscious! It never gets old. Every knockout is more fun than the last. If you are a power puncher or if you are good at connecting big shots, you'll experience a lot of them too.


I still haven't tried this game out on xbox live due to the fact that I know I'm no good and don't want to get destroyed, but for you, the faithful reader who has been reading my Kingdom Under Fire review over and over waiting with baited breath for my live! Reviews, I'll do it. If this game is as much fun on live as it is single player, this might become a fixture in my xbox.


Pros:

• Relistic from your hair down to your boots. Simply amazing graphics
• Very high fun factor. Every fight is an adventure.
• Fair learning curve. You can pick up and play straight through the easy guys and work your way up to the hard fights comfortably
• Soundtrack is contemporary and fun without sounding repetitive or becoming annoying
• Enterance sequences are just as exciting as real life
• Amateur circuit looks and feels like you are really there
• Total Boxer Control - It's just that. You have total control. If you get hit, it's your fault. If you knock someone out, it's your fault, and it feels great.
• Immersion factor near critical levels. You feel the pain of every blow and the elation of every victory. Never felt so "into" a boxing game.
• Nice easy layout. Follows along the same line as the Madden series. If you've played Madden, you'll know exactly where all the game modes and options are from the get go
• Cut man - Between rounds you have to take care of your own cuts and swelling. It's not hard and it's actually a neat little feature. The whole time the cut man is working your coach will be catching you up to speed on what just happened and what you have to do to win. Again, immersion factor all over this piece. You feel like it's you getting your face cleaned up and you hearing that you need to have better punch selection because you're punching yourself out. Amazing.

Cons:

• Loading is annoying. Every time you see your boxer it has to load. Every time you change windows... it has to load. Every time you do anything... it's got to load. Not bad at first, but it gets old real quick
• You can't preview new gear until you buy it. This is EXTREMELY annoying if you are trying to figure out what tatoos you want. They do nothing but look cool and there's no way I'm spending the hard earned cash I could be using for better skills to get a tat that I'd hate. (yes, I'm whining, sue me)
• Total Boxer Control - It is easy to pick up, very difficult to master. That's a good thing, but when you've been playing a while and have no idea why you can't throw a left hook or a right uppercut and the dude is begging for you to kill him with one, total boxer control makes you want to throw your xbox out the window. It's also frustrating if you don't go through the whole motion and your boxer "feins" a punch instead of throwing one. Then you're just standing there with your face out there like a big ol target when you should have been erasing his childhood memories with a killer punch to the mouth.
• ***speculative con*** If this game follows suit with every other fighting game on Xbox Live! it will be a trash talk fest with a bunch of 12 year olds. Why do I even put this here? Because playing against a real breathing human being could be the most amazing experience ever. Unfortunatly when a game is as popular as this one it means a lot of youngsters have copies. If I get online and end up having a decent experience then this game will be perfect. If the real market ends up being annoying kids (see halo2) then I'll play through career mode and put it back on the shelf.

The Short of it all:

EA has come out with yet another franchise that cannot be overlooked. This game has been designed to give you the total boxing experience... Minus all the brain damage. It's realistic, bloody, and perfect. Try to not feel like you got your butt kicked when you are looking at your bloody and swollen face between rounds while the cutman is trying to get the swelling down before the next round. This game is fun, smooth, fair, and beautiful. I've never seen a more realistic or brutal game in my life and I believe this game deserves all the praise in the world. If fighting/boxing games aren't your dish, you should at least stop at your local rental shack and give it a try for it's amazing character builder and physics. I defy anyone to knock someone out with a haymaker, watch the replay, and return this game. It's just too much fun. If you've ever dreamed of raising the belt over you bloody and beaten face screaming out to an arena filled with 40,000 screaming psychopaths, then you MUST buy this game. It's worth every penny.