Fight Night Round 4 Jul 09
It’s hit and don’t get hit - it’s not hit and counter,” the Round 4 team is focusing on more authentic boxing. Punches are also delivered more quickly and smoothly, eliminating the robotic, repetitive feel that a flurry of blows sometimes had in round 3. Xbox Live, World Championship mode lets you fight for belts at the regional, national, and international levels. You’ll create your own boxer, but they’ll all be levelled as far as skill ratings go, “so you’ll fight based on skill.”
The most crucial factors in a boxing match are the size and skill of the boxers. The new physics mechanic means there isn’t a set distance from which you battle your opponent; you can get up close and personal for uppercuts, or stay outside and unleash straights.
Round 4 requires more moving and leaning. You can’t just tip your head to one side and never get tagged; your opponent’s punches will automatically retarget your skull’s new location, just as any real-life boxer who hadn’t been clubbed senseless would do. While all this focus on authenticity should make the core gameplay even richer, this series also needed to modernise its structure, and that’s where Legacy and World Championship modes come in.
New Career mode -
picking from eight weight-class divisions, you start out a prospect and blaze through a career, trying to become the greatest of all time, rather than a has-been bum. A lot of factors determine your success: winning titles, unity belts, moving up in weight class, how accurate you are, your pound-for-pound status, and more. You’ll take cumulative damage as your career progresses, but on the other hand, lengthy vacations will give you ring rust.
Ultimately, you’ll have to decide whether to risk a few more fights for the chance to go out at the top… when you could soil your legacy with defeat. You might get a title after 20 or so fights, and being a champ or Hall of Famer is reasonably fast, but becoming the greatest of all time is hard.”
The new game is doing so many things right, fixing many problems from the previous Fight Night.
This game shows the capabilities of the next-gen console. A graphical powerhouse, Going hand in hand with that; increased speed. control tweaks that make combos much easier to execute in the ring, both head and body shots can easily be thrown with the right stick alone. The left stick still controls your boxer’s movements around the ring, but if you flick left or right, or do a “hook” motion left or right, you’ll be able to perform effective bobbing and weaving as you look to get inside your opponent. In fact, these kinds of tactics are especially effective for “inside” fighters.
New HUD element-
a trio of bars that represent each fighter’s health, stamina, and blocking. While the health and stamina meters are self-explanatory, the blocking meter is new for the game and works in conjunction with your fighter’s blocking ability (tied to the right trigger). As you hold the trigger, your blocking meter will decrease over time, and when your opponent punches you, it will decrease in larger chunks. Essentially this meter will prevent you from turtling all round, because if your blocking meter runs out, you won’t be able to stop your opponent from landing a punch. This new blocking system replaces the awkward parry system from Fight Night 3, and while meters tend to go against the grain of the modern trend of relatively HUD-free games, it seems to be relatively unobtrusive. More to the point, it makes sense in the ring.
When Fight Night Round 4 ships to retailers worldwide on June 30, the game will feature cover athletes Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.
The charismatic Ali “shook up the world” at age 22 with an upset victory over the champ, Sonny Liston. Before his career was done, Ali made three different runs as the undisputed heavyweight champion. Tyson rose to fame even faster than Ali to become the youngest heavyweight champion ever at the age of 20.
Fight Night Round 4 will feature over 40 licensed fighters. EA promises an emphasis on speedy in-ring action and a new career-spanning Legacy Mode for created fighters.
