Very satisfying game of boxing

Fight Night has been a series that has been out since 1988 when it came out for the Commodore 64. Over the past few years, EA switched from the series Knockout Kings, and moved to Fight Night to give an amazing series of boxing games.

Gameplay

The gameplay feels like they stepped back in the series and made the gameplay feel a lot like the Knockout Kings due to the layout of the controls and the screen. The screen has the energy meter at the top of the screen. The energy meter is just like a game like Tekken or Street Fighter has at the top, it goes down when being punched, and also it goes down when letting out a punch that you don't land. The energy meter is definately an improvement over the games on the console version where you don't know if you are going to knock him out soon or not.

The gameplay is pretty much identical to the console version and it is still a medium paced game of boxing that has a few different modes and an overall satisfying experience. It's really the type of game that can be played when you just want something simple without a story that can just be played quickly. The fights are intense and really this game would have worked on the Playstation 2.

The combat is fun and has a very complex artificial intelligence. When you have less energy on the top of the screen, your guy will be less likely to come out and do a big combo because your guy gets tired. If you take a hard hit, your energy is obviously going to go down, but also if you try to do a big hit on another guy but you miss, your energy will go down. One thing that I dislike about the game is that once you get their energy down, there is a mode where the energy bars are gone, you then have to get some hard shots on the guy to knock him down. It is usually very hard to knock down your opponent because they usually have great blocking skills and thats all that they do in this mode. Once this mode goes away your opponent's energy is increased quite a bit and it really doesn't make any sense. Three knock downs will maybe get you a total knock out but it is rare that you will get one because the matches usually end really quickly so most of them will not finish by knockout.

The game features online multiplayer that you can basically imagine that it would have, just boxing matches where you can challenge other people to matches and play them, too bad the gameplay is pretty laggy online.

Being a sports video game, it has the general modes being exhibition and career, but also a mode called Hard Hits mode. The exhibition mode is just a simple fight that you design and can play real quickly. The Career mode is a little more complex; in Career, you have to create your fighter and name him. You start off being low on the food chain of boxing and slowly make your way up to the top. As you make your way up, your fighting skills improve, but so do your opponents. You get money and you can use the money to buy equipment for your character. Your opponents really range in skill and some people have extreme power, and some are fast. The Hard Hits mode isn't that much different than a regular exhibition mode, you have 15 rounds that can only be ended by a Knockdown. Win the fight by scoring the most knockdowns or by knocking the player out.

All in all, this game is a satisfying game of boxing that feels pretty much the same as the console version and if you are a fan of boxing games and you want a good portable boxing game, you should get this.

Controls

X: Right hook punch
Square: Right quick jab
Triangle: Power jab
O: Left power hook punch.
Right on d-pad: Cheap shot
Up on d-pad: Grab opponent
Left on d-pad: Taunt
Down on d-pad: Slow but extremely powerful punch.
Left trigger: Move back upper body for a block
Right trigger: Cover face for a block
There are some combos you will learn while playing the game as well.

Graphics
Like the console versions the graphics are terrific and could even work on a Playstation 2 game. The player models faces look great and have the wrinkles and the swelling that appears after you get hit hard. The movements are really smooth and you can see there shorts bouncing up and down with their movements. The framerate is constantly smooth and rarely ever slows down.

Sound
The sound is terrific in this game. There are the same voice-overs that appear in the console version and they sound clear and they are done terrifically. There is quite a few songs on here and a lot of them are from the console versions. The sounds of the boxing glove hitting your face doesn't sound that great and it just sounds like someone is spitting and it is constantly repeated.

Last Words
While it may not try to revolutionize the boxing video game genre, the gameplay is really fun and if you are a fan of boxing games you need to check out this game!