Fight Night Round Four

Fight Night Round 4 is undoubtedly the most entertaining and most realistic representation of boxing on a computer console to date. The game sports stunning graphics, an excellent physics engine and a vastly improved Legacy Mode, in comparison with the previous installment, Fight Night Round 3. The game also boasts impressive online championships, covering 3 weight classes. Players can bring a real boxer or their own created boxer into these online championships and battle for championship belts. Despite the game’s numerous achievement, it undoubtedly suffers from a number of poor features.

Repetition

I know that this is a boxing game, and as such there will be a lot of repetition. That may be expected, but there is repetition in more than just the actual fights. Training games are extremely repetitive. The animations for fighters getting back on their feet after a knockdown are almost all identical. Within 2 seconds of the beginning of the count, you can be almost certain whether or not they fighter will be getting back on their feet to fight another round.

Image Source: Thev247

Training Games

There are six training games in Fight Night Round 4 Legacy Mode. These are Open Sparring, Stay On Your Feet, Heavy Bag Combos, Heavy Bag Push, Double End Bag and Maize Bag. Apart from Open Sparring and Stay On Your Feet, I found the training games to be extremely dull, repetitive and downright infuriating. Unfortunately, they were incredibly unenjoyable, so the majority of my training in Legacy Mode was passed using the “auto-train” feature. The last four training modes are far too difficult when you originally start the game, which is when you need the stat boosts they have the most of all.

Image Source: Gamespot

Commentary

The commentators in Fight Night Round 4 aren’t too bad, but they are very repetitive and never seem to give players any real insight into the fight that is taking place. At times Teddy Atlas and Joe Tessitore, the two commentators, will ramble on about completely insignificant events. They will compare the legs of a stunned fighter to “wet noodles”. When they talk about an injured boxer, they rarely use the name of the boxer they are discussing. The frequent use of the word “he”, instead of the boxer’s name, leaves players wondering if they or their opponent are the ones being discussed. When someone hears “he’s got a swelling under his left eye”, they don’t know whether to attack the opponent’s left eye or defend their own.

Image Source: DasGamer

Regardless of the problems that this game suffers from, it is undoubtedly a very complete and enjoyable package regardless. It is definitely worthy of the high ratings it has received from most sites, such as 8.8 (or 88%) from IGN. Personally, I would rate this game 8.5/10, and it really is a must buy for all sports fans. It’s even worth a look in from more casual players, who can enjoy building their career over time.