Fight Night Champion Impressions

[SHOGUN]

I played Misogi a few times. I find it fun so far and the new analog controls feel much better than all that half circling nonsense from last game (and EA MMA). The visuals are real nice, but occasionally the camera backs out and put me in an awkward position.

BigBucs, come get that ass whooped. :threaten:

 

[BigBucs]

Man please. New analog is shit. The degree of separation of each punch on the analog leaves very little room for error. You can being trying to pop a jab but throw hooks. There is a bunch of other shit that is irking me about the game but I dont feel like getting into it. Most fights will turn into rockem sockem robots.

 

[manchild24]

Im downloading it tonight and dont care either way, Ive always been a Fight Night guy. There is still a month till release maybe they can tweak somethings.

 

[Hitman]

thought it played well.. i'll have to play the full version to really get the feel of the game but i love the new fighter specific animations.. tysons overhand right is disgusting

 

[stevsta]

I have to agree with bigbucs on the tight controls very easy to throw a punch you didnt mean to do due to how small the windows are for each punch on the analog stick

 

[ryne candy]

It is fun but I sometimes throw a punch at the end that I know I didn't mean to throw....end up throwing two jabs when I only moved the stick once. The entrance is a little bland, not sure if it's just because it's a demo. Not sold on it being a day one purchase but I'm sure to pick it up when it goes on sale for <$45.

 

[SHOGUN]

The hookercuts and flared straights seem like extra and not needed.

I like the auto blocking. I hope they keep it in. My biggest complaint so far is that Ali is even better at in-fighting than Tyson. A lot of players online will come in with Ali and just start wailing away.

 

[BigBucs]

Also seems like they dropped the frame rate. The graphics are crazy but having the useless ref in the ring cant be helping. Low Frame Rate + Online Lag =

 

[Maynard]

demo sucked. u still cant use a jab game and its all about spam punches. the analog shit is a joke

 

[Tengo Juego]

I dont like auto blocking. I still keep holding RT and moving the thumbstick to block, and it's gotten me in trouble a couple of times.

The analogue change is good, but man it's hard to throw jabs in succession, at times. Especially with my messed up thumbstick.

 

[stevsta]

I dont like auto blocking. I still keep holding RT and moving the thumbstick to block, and it's gotten me in trouble a couple of times.

The analogue change is good, but man it's hard to throw jabs in succession, at times. Especially with my messed up thumbstick.

having the same problems

 

[BigBucs]

demo sucked. u still cant use a jab game and its all about spam punches. the analog shit is a joke

You can. Im boxing folks heads off left and right. Took a few days to get used to but Im warming up to it. Looks like Ill be dominating in this shit once again.

 

[stevsta]

You can. Im boxing folks heads off left and right. Took a few days to get used to but Im warming up to it. Looks like Ill be dominating in this shit once again.

so far im 2-0 on the 360 its good to box although with the auto block one guy was just basically bating the punch leaned forward and a lot of my shots were not getting through

 

[Hitman]

being able to punch out of the guard was a nice touch.. although i also find myself throwing punches when i don't want to because i'm used to the old controls..

 

[Steel Mamba]

Much better than R4, but still too much of a slug fest because the pace of the game is too fast, anyone can throw 100+ punches, and the game encourages being planted vs being light on your feet. For instance you can only sway when stationary which is unrealistic and encourages in the pocket, toe to toe fighting.

It has its faults but if stamina actually matters in the full version I think it'll still be worth something.

 

[Hitman]

Ok. So I've been playing the full game for a few days. Here are some quick impressions so far.

The Champion Mode is pretty good. The story is the same old, same old boxing movie cliche crap, but the way they put the fighting into it works very well. There is depth to what you do in the fights and isn't just "Go in and beat this guy". Spoiler below about this. There is virtually no replay value aside from trying to get achievements for doing certain things in the mode.

 

In one fight, Andre breaks his right hand, so you have to beat your opponent by only using the left. This may be a knock on how they changed the way the right stick punching works, but I found it almost impossible to not throw a right with the stick, so I just used the lean modifier and block and hit the X button to throw the rights. Still a pretty cool dynamic and it makes the Champion Mode interesting.

I haven't gotten into career mode much as I just played through the Champion Mode and finished it this morning before I wrote this up. I'll go through a little of it today and throw together some impressions if anybody cares.

The graphics in this game are slightly better than the last. Nothing has really changed from the demo graphics-wise, so if you played that, expect the same. The fighters do get pretty gory cuts and bruising in this game. It's pretty awesome after a 10 round fight and cutting your opponent over both eyes to see all the blood on the canvas and both guys trunks. I thought I would like them putting the ref in the ring, but he gets in the way of the camera sometimes. Not good.

The commentary is identical to last year. They may have added some new stuff in, but the punch drunk Teddy Atlas still talks about the dark hallway in every fight. There is a ton of Andre-specific stuff for the Champion Mode though, so that is pretty nice.

The new blocking simplifies it too much. There should be a little more strategy other than 'if your stamina is low you won't block as well'. I can't time a parry to save my life, but I'll probably get better as I play it more I suppose. Throwing specific punches with purpose is very hard with the way they've changed the right stick. I want to jab at a distance but the guy still throws hooks or uppercuts. Combos are pretty though and devastating as a counter.

Overall so far I think this game is a slight improvement over Round 4. It has taken a step back in the controls, but with the time and effort put into the Champion Mode you can tell that at least EA is making an effort to use the ESPN license and improving the presentation overall. If you're into boxing movies at all I would definitely recommend checking it out. I'm hoping next year they do a 'Great White Hype' story.

As mentioned before, I haven't played Career Mode yet, so I won't be giving the game a review score or anything.

 

[tigstah]

been playing round 4 the last day or so. i want to get this, probably will once the price drops to about 35 bucks. thanks for the review.

 

[pierrolicious]

i cant wait trying it

 

[Maynard]

i would like to get some gamer reviews before i look at this game. i am always hopeful for a good FN game. but the career mode and the game overall has not been that fun

 

[Hitman]

So anybody else buy this today? I was thinking with the new online gym thing we could get a little semi-league going. PS3.