Fight Night Champion – Review (360, PS3)
Fight Night, a franchise rich in history and the virtual sport of kings has come a long from its early roots.
Fight Night round 3 is probably considered the greatest version of this franchise with its one button punch control as well as using the analogue stick and famed for its fluid fighting system, beautiful graphics as well as being easy to gain a quick 1000 achievement points.
The follow up to this was good, better in places, but excluding the one button fight system put a lot of gamers off so with this inmind, Fight Night Champion sets out to restore faith in a franchise that could easily have gone to the dogs.
Fight Night Champion sets its stall out well, in fact better than expected, to provide all of the gameplay you know and love and re-introducing the one button system as well as the most improved part of the Fight Night series, the Full Spectrum Punch Control system, which takes away all of the silly moves from your right analogue stick and replaces them with refined punching controls with a flick of the stick instead. This way, you should never choose the wrong punch again and I must say works very well. It has taken away my need to use the one button system and instead concentrate on understanding the full range of punches that’s on over providing a more strategic affair than the usual brawls I got into.
The blocking has also been improved to help you along. It is a lot more simplified now and with a squeeze of the right trigger will block punches high and low automatically without you having to set up a high or low block yourself. This does drain stamina little so putting yourself in block constantly will eventually tire you out more. It has helped though utilise the system a lot more efficiently as you learn to block, weave and dodge at the right times.
The physics engine has been used from Fight Night 4 but has been improved upon too. Graphically, the game looks absolutely beautiful, producing sweat, blood and movement like you have never seen n the Fight Night series before. The gameplay dyamic itself has also had a massive overhaul to provide a more balanced fighting experience, utilising a lot more styles and tactics in order to succeed and giving you all of the tools to actually think about the fight itself rather than just swinging in. It all plays out beautifully and has really invigorated my interest in playing.
Legacy modes are still where you can create a fighter and move him up through the ranks to fight himself into boxing history and still works as well as it ever did but EA Sports has also introduce the Champion mode which puts you into the shoes of Andre Bishop and telling the story of his rise from street bum to the top. The story is satisfactory, a breath of fresh air and also adds some more depth to a game that wears its heart on its sleeve.
Online is really where you’ll be heading eventually and EA Sports have not only catered for the usual head to head matches as well as tournaments and championships but have also created gyms for you and your friends to belong too. Gyms serve as your main meeting hub, a little like FIFA, where you can build your online fighter via xp and special points awarded for completing certain tasks, spa with other members of the gym as well as take on other boxers and other gyms around the world to place yourself onto global leaderboards and ranking systems.
The online gyms are very addictive and as I set my fighter up, with the help of an MG friend or two, I begin to see how progressive and entertaining this area will be. I must admit though that I haven’t fought yet in this arena as I need to build my fighter up further but my gym colleagues have, a lot, which has placed us very high nationally and in the top 275 worldwide.
Overall, there is a hell of a lot going on under the hood of Fight Night Champion and its all good. The main features to the game can hold their heads up high and bringing back some of the features that made the game what it was is inspired and testament to EA Sports and the experience that they want to provide. Graphically beautiful and a physics engine that temps the weak to think about their fight plans so to not rely on the one punch system all wrapped up in game modes that will keep you playing forever puts Fight Night Champion back at the top. It may have wobbled for a while but Fight Night Champion delivers the knockout blow we’ve all been waiting for.
Sponsored by:- Music Matters – The audio and visuals specialists
