I've browsed the previous reviews, and agree with most that's been said. This *is* the best of the series. The graphics are ridiculously good. The control is terrific. For once, you really have a feel for how the fight is going, rather than relying upon health and stamina bars that just (in this reviewer's opinion) take away from the realism -although they are an option. On the hardest difficulty, the game is absolutely a challenge, at least once your career really gets underway. You will be knocked down, you may even lose some fights, this wasn't necessarily the case in previous versions. Creating faces on character generation is much smoother and more intuitive now. The sound is fantastic. The ring girl's breasts actually jiggle when they strut around the ring between rounds.
Everything is great, really, it's a terrific addition to your XB360 library. Online is fun, there are ranked and nonmatches, it's fast and easy to get a fight, another outstanding aspect to the game that will dramatically increase its longevity.
Great! So we got all that aside, I can talk about the commercials.
I've never seen a more over-the-top case of commercialism in the game. Is this a complaint? Yes and no. I mean, watch basically any boxing match, there are going to be ads on the ring canvas, on the ropes, in the arena, even on the shorts of some of the boxers. So there's just some realism here. Does it go overboard though? Yes, I'm absolutely prepared to say it does. Before some fights, you'll be 'treated' to a 360 degree view of a new Dodge truck while the announcer tells you about it. That doesn't seem too bad, right? Okay, later, Burger King's "The King" will escort another fighter into the ring and dance around before the fight. No, that doesn't get your goat either? How about after that fight, when "The King" actually becomes one of your available trainers? That's right, you too can be trained by, and have in your corner, a creepy guy with a giant plastic grinning mask.
Look, I'm not one of those types that goes off the deep-end about stuff like this -but EA, are you listening? If you're going to throw it in our faces like this, while lining your already deep pockets with the ad revenue that you get from these placements, how about giving us a break on the cost of the game? We're paying for it, the advertisers are paying for it, wouldn't it seem fair to throw the consumers you're force feeding ad content a bone? Here's the thing, it doesn't have to be a big bone, and it gives us less reason to feel as used and abused as many of us are when the suspension of disbelief within a game/simulation like this is *shattered* by having to train with "The King". In fact, then we can cheer the gross commercialism, because we got something out of it too, a few bucks saved.
Terrific game. Worth buying, not just renting. 5 stars for the game, 1 off for taking advantage of me as a fan and customer. I should really ding it harder for that, but the game is too fun to let something sort of sleazy take away from it.
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If you're into boxing, definitely take a look at Fight Night Round 3 for the XBox 360. The realism in the boxer models is rather impressive.
We know that the XBox 360 has great graphics, but looking at the characters in many other games, you might think that human beings were made out of plastic. When you see the characters here, they look *real*. Their skin has pores and imperfections.
On to the game. You get to customize your character both physically and skill-wise. You can make a small, quick hispanic, or a large, bulky, strong-punching dark skinned fighter. You can alter the hair style, tattoos, and much more. As you earn money, you can also buy new trainers and customize your skills further.
Your main career path is a mix of training and choosing contracts to fight. In training mode it's a series of standard button-pushing games that in some cases are just reflexes, but in other cases are actual combo practicing that serve you well in the ring. The training increases specific skills, so you can further customize your character by deciding how to train.
In the fight, it is of course you against a given character. There are varying levels of difficulty and we found that they did a good job of providing fun gameplay for different types of players. The beginner levels were good although sometimes challenging for a person who had never played this sort of game before. The higher levels of difficulty meant you really had to focus on what you were doing and land the combos to win.
Your character has a variety of fighting styles to choose from, and you can buy more including taunts. You can even play as historic characters if you want, including staging fantastic fight pair-ups that would have been fascinating to watch in real life, if we had a time machine to get people into the same ring.
The in-fight graphics were pretty slick. If you hit someone in the head, a spurt of blood came out of their mouth. Characters had definite personalities some were arrogant, some were hesitant as they entered the ring. When a really solid punch was landed, time "slowed down" a bit as adrenaline kicked in. Most people in real danger situations know how this happens.
There were a few down sides here. One, the training mini-games can get a bit repetitive. I would have liked to see more variety. You can skip them if you want, just accepting a "medium" level of skill increase. Also, you choose a "nickname" that the announcers refer to you by during the game. This is a neat idea, but it gets to be a bit much when they use it all the time.
Also, the commercialism in this game is just WAY over the top. There are Burger King displays all over creation. There are promotional items left and right. I realize that sports TV can be like that sometime but you watch the TV show for free. They are paying their fees with that advertising. With Fight Night, I've already shelled out a lot of money to play the game. I didn't spend all that money to watch a multi-hour long commercial for Burger King. It certainly didn't make me want to go out and eat Burger King food if anything it made me pretty annoyed with them, and unlikely to visit them in the future.
So in general, I thought the game was great, but that the "environment" you have to play in was really annoying. I would almost pay extra money for some sort of a cheat code / hack to replace all of those ads with blank space. Maybe they'll let me download that from XBox Live in the near future.
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If you've played the previous 2 incarnations of Fight Night (formerly known as Knockout Kings), you know what to expect: solid analog stick boxing, with great graphics and a lively soundtrack. So what's new in 2006?
The GOOD: The graphics are amazing. One of the first games to truly look next-gen in terms of its realism. The lighting is gorgeous, and the whole presentation is top notch. Even on a non-HD television, this game shines. The controls are as tight as ever, and the haymaker is less prevalent, which is a good fix from last season's gameplay. The game is rewarding in terms of strategy, because you will NOT be able to get very far without some basic strategy (ie: learn to block and dodge, and conserve energy).
The BAD: The menu interface is a disaster. One of the worst I have seen in 20+ years of gaming: it's cluttered, counter-intuitive, and the button presses sometimes register late. There is no rankings list, just a vague "popularity meter". More stats would be nice. The soundtrack is repetitive and not all that great. The unlockable items, while cool, are buried within the depths of the aforementioned interface, which makes it actively unfun to customize your fighter.
The UGLY: While the boxer models are very realistic, the ring girls are a bit alien-looking, and feel like a cheesy afterthought.
Overall, this game is great fun. If you want a semi-deep sports game which rewards patience and practice, pick this up!
Honest reviews on Fight Night Round 3 - Xbox 360
I come home from a long day at work and I enjoy just being able to just beat up on some computer generated character. I haven't tried the online mode yet and fighting with other people on the net, but I am waiting for my Gold Subscription card to come in so that I can challenge some guys on the net. I don't have a HD tv yet, so I can't see the true graphics of this thing, but so far it is great even on a regular TV. Some of the mini games to train are a little hoaky, but the game play outweighs that. And I don't mind that some of your oppenents throw the same punches over and over again, makes it a little easier to beat em. But even then, some of em are pretty tough cuz they are fast and can take a lot of punches.
Overall... great game and can't wait for the next one.
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As far as the mechanics of boxing, as a former fighter I can tell you that this game has me thinking like I was back in the ring.
I'm watching for facial reactions to my body shots, I'm watching for rythem and changing my style from round to round in order to out smart the opponent.
It's a game that think might (even in small way) help the sport itself.
I can really see where the other reviewers are coming from reguarding the advertisements, but I the Burger King guy didn't bother me... it made me laugh. So I can't take points away for advertising considering you can skip it all by just pressing the "A" button. Except for the fact that when I'm replaying a fight from the 1940's I don't think I should see a burger king or dodge logo in the back... in black and white.
So the graphics are indeed a true next-gen standard as far as the fighters are concerned.
There are even things to make the games realistic in career mode. Like the fact that wou have to work even hard to simply keep your attributes from falling quickly... I felt like a true 40 year old trying to prove himself to the young up and comers that I was indeed the greatest.
Here is my wishlist for the next game.
1. I would like to change the entry music and such like previous games. (though I can hook up my ipod and play anything I want.. it would still be nice)
2. I think it would be cool if I could wear a robe while entering the ring. I love that part of a real fight as the tension builds up and the fighters show each other how hard they really prepared to battle.
3. The Ability to save some of my fights... there were battles that I wish I could watch again. Race fans get this, why can't boxing fans?
4. More real boxers. I understand not letting fight Ali in carreer mode, but I'd still ike to fight some real fighters. This is probably expensive, but out of around 65 fights I'd like to beat more than just Roy Jones Jr. 3 times.
5. Let me come out of retirement. If I retire, but keep getting updated news about a punk who is calling me out, I'd love to be able to train up my guy again and kick his .
6. Show my fighter age. I think it would be cool if some of his hair started to grey out, or if I kept some scars from past fights... imagine having Fight Night Carreer mode having a hint of Fable!!!!
In conclusion I want to mention rivalry mode. This has the potentional to really make the game matter to some people. My rivals and I went back and forth, but one in particular.
I'm not obsessed, but I do find this game to be the best boxing experience I have had ... without the headache of taking one to many.
