Fight Night Round 4 Review

Fight Night Round 3 received rave reviews and was seen as probably the best boxing game ever made upon release. A fact that remains true today, as games like Face Breaker (A game that you should avoid like the plague) and the equally awful Don King’s Prize Fighter do nothing to improve on the ground work that was done by E.A.’s 2006 boxing title. (That is unless, like me, you are a fan of the superior Super Punch-Out on the Super Nintendo, which is the best boxing game ever in my opinion.)

Being E.A. it was only a matter of time before we got to see Fight Night Round 4 getting released. The big question is will Fight Night Round 4 improve over the third iteration of the game in a substantial way to warrant fans of the previous game and new comers alike to pick up the game? The short answer is yes, as quite a lot of things have been improved that weren’t too great in the previous game.



At the start of the game you get thrust into a tutorial which is a good thing as the controls have changed quite a bit, with punches now being thrown using the right stick. (Strangely the option to map the punches to your controller’s buttons has been removed.) The controls take quite a bit of getting used to, especially if like me the last fighting game you played was UFC Undisputed. (Which is a totally different experience to playing Fight Night) It could just be me but it seems like Street Fighter IV all over again, with some button inputs only working when they want to, causing that upper cut to turn into a body shot or hook. If you manage to overlook this slight flaw though and stick with the game you shouldn’t be too disappointed. The big power punches do seem to take forever to actually hit your opponent though, so can quite easily be dodged by the CPU, especially one that will bob and weave all through the fight.

Fight Night Round 4 is a pretty damn fine good looking game, with sweat and blood flying off the boxers as they get slammed in the face with jabs, stiff uppercuts and haymakers. The fighters look as realistic as you will probably ever see on the current hardware available, and I can’t see it getting much better than this for quite a good number of years. The crowd looks a bit better than you see in most games, (Smackdown Vs Raw, UFC Undisputed) but still not all that amazing. Let’s face it though you will be concentrating on what’s going on in the ring as opposed to the crowd outside it.

The A.I. in the game is really well done as your opponents switch tactics as you play. They are also not afraid to sit there and let you hit them blocking your attacks and then responding with a swift counter, which will deal you a lot more damage than a regular punch such as a left hook. They will also switch it up as well, aiming for your body to throw you of guard before swinging a big haymaker straight at your chin and flooring you. You really need to play the game to see the A.I. at work, some may call it a bit cheap while others will appreciate it for the challenge it presents to gamers. (Although winning 7 or 8 rounds in a row then getting floored, only to get up and floored again by an opponent that has done very little does suck quite a bit)

Throw in the fact that each boxer fights quite differently from each other, with some preferring to fight on the inside for a bit of dirty boxing, while others will gladly just sit back and take you apart on the outside before looking for that big knockout punch. It really changes things for the better as you never know what your opponent may do, which makes for a more interesting fight. E.A. Canada has really created a great game that is a vast improvement over the third iteration.


Exhibition mode is now called Fight Now, which as you would expect let’s you jump straight into the action for some major ass beatings. As you would expect a lot of big name boxers are available to choose from such as the cover stars Mike Tyson and Muhammad Ali, there are also quite a few missing that could have been included. (Hell, deserved to be included like Floyd Mayweather Jr) Maybe E.A. will release more boxers as DLC in the future. As you would expect there are a few different arenas to fight in including Boxing Mecca Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.

Next up is Legacy Mode, which is the mode you will spend most of your time playing. At the start you get the option of creating a boxer or using one of the real life counter parts. This mode sees you starting at the bottom of the food chain as you work your way up to the heady heights of World Champion. Right from the start you are thrown into a tournament which winning will move you just one step closer to your dream of being a champ and creating a boxing legacy.



After competing and winning the tournament you can hit start to reach the calendar and schedule a fight. Once you have done this you select a green tile and choose the option start training. This will give you a few options of different types of training to help boost your stats, each one play’s out like a mini game. (Similar to in Fight Night Round 3) If like me your too lazy to keep doing these then you can select the option of Auto, your stats won’t rise as fast but you get to the fight your opponent a lot quicker. (That is unless you choose the option to simulate the fights as well, and if that is the case just why the heck did you get the game?)

There is also an online mode, but being a wise ass I did this review using an account that doesn’t have gold activated on it. So as such I have yet still to try this portion of the game for myself, but from what I have been told the online mode is pretty much a lag free affair. (Although expect to see the same fighters popping up all the time as opponents, as well as people throwing the same exact combinations of punches)

The audio soundtrack to the game is basically just rap. (Feel free to spell it with a C at the front because of a lot of the tracks on there are crap) The commentary in the game is as you would expect to see in any sports game these days. In other words it isn’t too bad overall but you will hear quite a few mistakes as you play. (Such as hearing that Muhammad Ali has just floored his opponent, when actually he is the one on the canvas seeing stars as you just nearly took his head off with a punch)

Overall Fight Night Round 4 is a solid game, which is something we are now seeing with many of E.A.’s sport franchises. In my review for UFC Undisputed I said something along the lines of boxing being boring to watch nowadays. Well it may still be boring to watch, but as far as boxing games go this is a lot of fun. Is it as good as UFC Undisputed? That’s something I can’t really answer as the two games are a world apart.