I was impressed by most of what Electronic Arts did with this version of the Fight Night series, but it does have some annoyances that brought my rating down to just "Good."
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<br />The graphics are better than in Round 4, but still don't replicate the sense of awe you got when playing Round 3. I don't just mean the first time you played Round 3 and were impressed by the new technology used in their first 360 offering. I mean still today. If you play Round 3 there is still a great cinematic wonder in watching those slo-mo replays with bone-crunching sounds that really sends tingles down the spine. Champion is fun, but it is missing that "never gets old" feeling of really crushing your opponent in the way that Round 3 did. Gameplay is best in the series though, with smooth animations and quick combos for sneak attacks.
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<br />Besides not living up to the wonder of a game that came out five years ago, the rest of the game holds its own. The career mode (legacy) is arranged better than in any previous version. Presentation is much more TV like in the ring and ring approaches. You can select music from your hard drive or even from playlists on your PC to use as walkup music. Customization is faily deep in your create a boxer mode, or you can use a real life boxer and play them to the top of the sport.
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<br />There is a story mode called champion mode that is mostly good, but has one huge fault. The end fight is one of the most difficult and annoying things I've played in my 30 years of gaming. Up until that final fight things went very well, although predictably. The story moves along quickly with only a few hours of playtime and excellent voice acting and graphics, but then when you get to the horrible last fight, even on easy mode, you might as well just go back to legacy mode or play online. Or smash your TV set.
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<br />I won't review the online experience. I won't pay for it. I paid for the game. That's good enough. This new system of pay for every game option needs to die now.
Droppo (member since 2006)
reviewed on 3/5/11