Fight Night 2004 - A Knockout or a Low Blow?

EA Sports has touted this new boxing game as one of the best boxing games ever with its new trademark punch control system. But the question remains, is the new system a good thing or a bad thing for gamers? The answer lies ahead in my review of Fight Night 2004.

The premise would be the same as any other boxing game. You have a choice of picking a well known fighter and match him up with other fighters in his weight class, either present or past legends. Each fighter has his strengths and weaknesses in 8 different categories, all based on a 100 point scale, they are power, speed, agility, stamina, chin, body, heart and cuts. The greats have a great score on most or all of these criteria. I am really surprised there is no player vs. player mode, it seems necessary in all sports games, but this is a solely player vs. computer game, even though there is an online mode that will allow several players to play each other.

Along with the regular one bout player vs. computer mode where you pick a great to fight another great, there is a career mode where you can pick a great fighter and start him off at the bottom and slowly build up his career to where he can fight for the crown, either that or you can create your own fighter with his own physical characteristics and skills to do the same thing. You are ranked 50th when you start and you fight one fight at a time and and in between you train to increase you rating on the 8 categories. You begin with each at 30 of 100 and you are given 50 points to distribute as you wish to any of the categories (a max of 15 for each, so for instance power cannot exceed 45 when you first start). As you train, the success of the training will determine how many points you will get for your categories. There are 4 different training sessions, all running in the same order after each fight. The heavy bag, sparring, combo dummy and target mitts. The heavy bag will give you points for power and speed, sparring will give you points for agility and stamina, the dummy for chin and body, and the mitts for hear and cuts. Based on the point requirements for each training (increases as you win several fights) you get a maximum of 15 points for each training round. With the heavy bag you need to time your punches for the bag to swing high, the higher, the more pints. With sparring you score points for punching your opponent, more for combinations of punches and the most when you make your opponent miss and punch him right away (counter punch). With the combo dummy you are given a target to hit, if you hit it correctly you are given a 2 punch combo, then 3 and so on, if you mess up a punch you start at 1 (reminds me of that simon game from the 80s where you memorize the order of sounds and lights). With the mitts you are told what punch to throw and given 1 second to throw it.

Now to this new innovative punch control system. You use your R3 control (the swivler on the right) to punch and the L3 (swivler on the left) to move, point it down to back up, up to move forward and around to circle the opponent. To jab, point your R3 to the top left, to throw a straight right point it to the left (opposite for a left handed fighter). To throw a left hook, point R3 to the left and arc it to the right, to throw a right point it right and arc it to the left, for an uppercut point it bottom right or left and arc it up depending on a left or right punch. Confused yet? You’ll get used to it. For body shots the same punches apply except you have to hold down the L1 button (one on the top left of the controller closest to you). Hit L2 for a head butt (illegal) and X, square or triangle to taunt your opponent. Hit R2 to throw a special punch and L1 + R2 for another. If you hold the L1 button and swivel the L3 control it will make your fighter duck and weave, a very useful tool to avoid punches and prepare an attack.

I know, it all sound complicated, but as you play more you will get used to it, but you will always run into the problem of wanting to throw one punch and throw another instead (especially in the training mode).

The graphics for this game are top notch, the fighters look just like their real counterparts, the movements are fluid and there is no stiff motion. The damage caused by punches is realistic with sweat and blood flying after a great punch and the realism of winning a fight is staggering, with a lot more effort required in the higher ranks to win a fight.

There is a cool soundtrack in the game, featuring several rap songs, including the intro from P. Diddy sampling to the Rocky theme. As you win fights you make money to buy things such as trunks, mouth guard, tattoos, outfits for you entourage and different musical and special effect intros.

To be successful in this game you need to be clever and not too greedy or the opponent will eat you up, as with any game a lot of practice is required to perfect the controls and learn the strength and weaknesses of your opponents. Before a fight look at the 8 categories for you opponent and devise a game plan, if for instance he has a tough chin but weak body, plan on hitting the body early and often, if he has a low stamina try to wear him out in the later rounds. If you have a better chin and body, plan on trading punches with him to wear him out, and so on. After you learn the punches and combinations you can thrown, focus on movements away and towards the opponent, and primarily standing in place, bobbing and weaving in circles to make your opponent miss with his punches and leave an opening for you. With time you will master this.

As far as training, the sparring and combo dummy are fairly simple to get used to, I had the hardest time with the heavy bag because it’s not easy to throw hooks and time them perfectly to make it swing high, if you mess up and throw a jab in the mix the bag will stop moving and you lose points.As far as the mitts it is hard to listen to the punch you need to throw, get it ready and throw it because you have very little time to do so , it would be easy to do it in real life, but when it comes to the controls it makes it hard.

So in closing, a fun game with great graphics, entertaining, effective gameplay with a good career mode, but it takes a while to get used to the punching controls, some training modes are hard and there is no vs. mode.

Overall Grade:

3.7 of 5