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Posted on: Jun 25, 2009
Fight Night Round 4
WORDS BY: Ryan McCaffrey
With zero irony whatsoever, we can say that compared to Fight Night Round 4, the face-melting, next-gen-is-here uppercut that was Round 3 is merely, well...a videogame. The fourth bout in this amazing franchise takes what was an excellent game about boxing and turns it into a boxing exercise that happens to take place within a videogame. Round 4 is exponentially more realistic, nuanced, brutal, and ultimately rewarding than its predecessor ever was, and that’s high praise indeed considering the 10 out of 10 we awarded the last game.
Now, we know boxing isn’t for everyone. Round 3 managed to lure in pugilism noobs like us with its bar-raising visuals. Of course, Round 4 can’t hope to make the same graphical impact; it’s technologically impossible. Sure, this sequel is smoother, with fighters that are more realistic and less cartoony, but there isn’t a hidden fourth processing core in the Xbox 360 for the game to exploit. So while Round 3 relied on the “sweet” in the sweet science to get its point across, Round 4’s advances come from placing a heavier emphasis on the science. That means blocking, technique, strategy, and physics play a far greater role in enhancing the play experience.
Unlike in Street Fighter, for instance, where landing Ken’s little toe on someone’s head can yield a full-contact hit, every blow and block in Fight Night Round 4 is accurately modeled, resulting in glancing hits and the ability to properly slip a punch. It gives the blows an organic and convincing feel that’s unavailable in any other fighting game, and key to it all is collision detection that never fails. No joke: clipping issues are non-existent in Round 4. We looked hard for errors, but there were none.
The end result is that you never feel cheated by what happens in the ring. If you get flash-KO’d, you know it wasn’t because of any sort of flaw in the software’s code — it’s because you failed to move your head away from an oncoming fist in a reasonable amount of time. This obviously has positive implications in single-player, but it’s even more important for a fair fight in the local and online multiplayer.
Fri, 08/07/2009 - 02:58
Posted by MortyMatney
I say we need to form a posse and meet outside of EA Sports with pickit signs that say "Give us Buttons, or Kill us now".
Fri, 07/03/2009 - 04:57
Posted by demonic
this game is very fun to play but can get reall frustrating with only analog controls i keep either hitting the pause button on some of my hooks or the center x-box button when the screen pops up the fight is still going on and can't see the screen, just wondering if anyone has had this problem? oh yeah getting up can be a b***h if you have played the game. if you are wondering if you want this game BE READY FOR ONLY ANALOG CONTROLS NO BUTTON BASHING.
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 03:04
Posted by Maukrish
I'm not sure how this game managed to score a 9/10 having purchased this game on the grounds that I really enjoyed FNR3. I found that the control system was frustrating to say the least it's not that the analogue control system is hard to learn but it's un-responsive and has a tendency to get your fighter to throw random punches. From what I understand EA removed the face button controls to even up the online play side of the game but I'm not sure why they didn't leave it for single player mode. Also this game seems to have a number of problems causing the xbox 360 to lock up, which I understand EA are going to try and patch. While the graphics do look fantastic I would have enjoyed it more if the face button controls were left intact and the game worked 100%. I really am getting tired of game developers attitude of release it now patch it later.
Sat, 06/27/2009 - 22:28
Posted by WARPATH360
Please, Please tell me that the punching in Round 4 isn't just anolog only. I, along with other Fight Night fans, will look at it as a huge let down if it is. I know that the analog has always been a part of the Fight Night formula, but it has never been its main focus. Analog only, in my opinion, will make a lot of people shy away from the game and its new found formula. It would be nice if EA can release a patch, shortly after its release, for button support. Then again, that would just be EA milking even more money out of the franchise for DLC. That sucks!
WARPATH360/SPC Barthol, Andrew
U.S. Army
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 21:10
Posted by cart00nstrip
Dan's math makes me grin. Oh, and I just got the latest issue - awesome cover!
~
gt: cart00nstrip
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 19:02
Posted by Dan OXM
Here's how the math works out:
10 - 3yrs + better game = 9.0
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 17:42
Posted by Paul OXM
Yes, what hornerboy said -- exactly that.
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 01:17
Posted by hornerboy73
you cant see it here but in the magazine there is a footnote stating that a 10 in 2006 is not equal to a 10 in 2009
Thu, 06/25/2009 - 23:08
Posted by cart00nstrip
Please disregard my misuse of the word "surely".
~
gt: cart00nstrip
Thu, 06/25/2009 - 23:06
Posted by cart00nstrip
So here's the OBVIOUS question: if 4 is better than 3 in every conceivable way, then why did it only get a score of 9? Granted, your score of 10 for the last one drummed up a lot of controversy, but surely, if 4 is a better game, why did it receive a lower score?
~
gt: cart00nstrip