Fight Night Round 4
Fight Night Round 4
Written by Vaughan Smith   
Sunday, 05 July 2009 22:10
fight night round 4 This is the follow-up boxing game; that redefined boxing games, on the third generation console.

I’ve been lucky enough to play 'Fight Night Round 3' on a cinema-sized screen... and, yes, it was pure delight.

'Fight Night Round 4', would be even more of a pleasure; as the graphics had a welcome “szusz up”. (How is that spelt? That guy from 'Queer Eye for a Straight Guy' says it; yeah you know the one).

No more jagged saliva ejections, from a punched mouth... It’s not blood and spit, from the big hits.
My much-loved controls of; Hold Left Bumper, Dodge with Left Stick, Punch with Right Stick, Haymaker with A, have changed slightly too... Heck! That was my secret weapon; hang back, have a duck, dodge and time the ultimate haymaker... PACHOW! King hit! Now, your mother won’t even love you.

I didn’t play too many of the career options in FNR3, but have given the career a go for a wee bit in Round 4. It’s very complex; you start as a no-one, win a rookie tournament, then go into the ranking system. You start as 50th in the world and from there, you must become the Highlander... and as you know... There can be only one.

I made my own character, called Vaughan Smith. Funnily enough, the commentators have about 80 surnames that they incorporate into game commentary (of which Smith is one), and multiple fighter nicknames (also used during the fighting), so I chose 'Boom boom'... only because of that Black Eyed Peas song, and I wrote “Pow” on my custom boxing shorts.

There are an insane amount of features, to customize your boxer with. If you have Xbox Live Vision, you can capture your own face using the camera and have yourself boxing the greats; like Mike Tyson and Mohammed Ali. You can also download people’s created boxers. I just let people with artistic flair make these, then I download them. So far; Sly Stallone’s 'Rocky', also Apollo Creed from Rocky, Ron Burgundy, 70's news reader... and U.S. President; Barack Obama. Some amazing creations already; and the game has been out only a few days, as I write this.

When you join the ranks of the worlds best, you can look at your statistics. At the same time, LIVE ESPN radio streams into your “gym”, plus live Sports News scrolls across the bottom of the screen. It’s actually really amazing to listen to Baseball News live over Xbox live, while you plan your next attack on the world title.

If you were anything like me in FNR3, you spent a lot of time trying to line up the two cursors to get back into the match after being knocked to the ground. Well, it’s different in Fight Night Round 4; you have to steady yourself using the left stick and then press the right one up to stand up... and it’s a lot harder than it sounds. Other changes include the blocking buttons; although blocking still works much the same. However, if you use all of your blocking energy, your opponent can punch right through your feeble attempt to protect your beautiful face.  

This game is insanely addictive and when my friends on Xbox Live get it, they can expect to have pain rained down upon them from my fists made of heavenly concrete.

Fight Night Round 4.
Buy it; thanks.
 

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