Fight Night
Playstation
PS2, XBox

Fight Night takes all the tenacity, style and attitude from its cover boy Roy Jones Jr. and molds them together, forming one of the most realistic, innovative and fun boxing games ever.

And, since the Knockout Kings series got KO’d, there’s a new king of the ring. It goes by the name of Fight Night.

Playability/Controls:

Button mashers beware: the control scheme of Fight Night will render your reckless and unsystematic strategy useless. No longer can you A, B, A, B your way to the championship; the time has come to learn something new. Fight Night takes a page out of NBA Live 2004’s playbook by incorporating its “total control” scheme. EA Sports translates all the intricate analog action perfectly from the hardwood to the canvas without missing a beat. “Total control” allows Fight Night to offer its gamers a more in depth and customizable boxing experience then ever before by incorporating the use of the dual analog sticks on the controller (the left analog stick controls body movement while the right analog stick controls punches).

Graphics:

The graphics in Fight Night are so good, even the great Muhammad Ali would approve. Sure, having only two characters on the screen at once helps to allow for more detail; but, hey, that’s boxing. The character models are dead on, and the detail is so great you can actually see the sweat drip down your opponent’s face before you knock his head off. Fight Night is a bold step forward for boxing games; it boasts the most elegant and detailed interface ever seen in a boxing game. The game backdrops are solid and character movement seems fluid and realistic.

Fun Factor:

Although it would help, players don’t have to be boxing enthusiasts to love this game. With a 20-year career mode including six weight classes, 32 boxers and an ultra detailed character creation mode, Fight Night aims to be one of the deepest boxing games ever created. Fight Night’s “career mode” should be the model all other boxing games follow. What’s truly astounding about Fight Night, however, is the damage inflicted on the boxers. Using state-of-the-art facial imaging, players will make their opponent’s face bruise, swell and get cut during fights. Although boxing generally isn’t the most popular video game genre, Fight Night takes the challenge head on, and will convert many gamers with its state-of-the-art, trend-setting style. Fight Night is a winner.

3 Reasons Fight Night will have you wearing a cup and mouthpiece to class:

-Spotting a weakness in your opponent and exploiting it. Is that a cut over your opponent’s right eye? It’s right jab time; make it swell, baby.

-Character creation. Ever envisioned yourself in a boxing ring, and the only thing holding you back was something small like, uh….physical fitness? Well, Fight Night allows you to create a character that looks just like you and work your way to the top.

-Details. Even the smallest detail wasn’t overlooked by EA Sports. Each blood splatter and bead of sweat just adds to Fight Night’s mystique.

3 Reasons you would rather watch the entire Rocky collection on a loop:

-Only the PS2 version is online compatible. Sucks to be an X-box owner, as EA Sports shanks Microsoft’s online capability again.

-No Mike Tyson. OK, so he’s a bit old. But still Iron Mike has got to be a blast to mash some skulls with.

-The mini training games are of little or almost no benefit to developing your boxer. Combine that with how fiendishly hard some of them are and training turns out to be a waste of time.

Contact Chase Kobrin at oraclescene@yahoo.com