Xbox 360
In reality, boxing is a highly methodical sport, requiring the ability to think tactically under immense pressure and not forget the threat of your opponent's massive fists ready to machine gun your face into a bloody pulp. Boxing games on the other hand are largely the opposite. Unfettered scraps with little or no tactical framework, failing to capture the true feeling of the sport. EA's Fight Night Round 4 transcends the stereotype, delivering an intense and truly immersing experience.
Once again, the Total Punch Control system is the key element that saves this game from mediocrity and sets it apart from the pack. By flicking the right stick in certain directions, players can pull off an extensive range of jabs, uppercuts, haymakers and body shots with ease. It's an easy system to get to grips with, thanks in part to a helpful tutorial that precedes the game's Legacy career mode.
The temptation to run into each bout, fists swinging with reckless abandon is always there, but your fighter will get tired very quickly and take more damage from their opponent's punches. The game's tactical edge lies in fighting the correct and typically delicate balance between choosing your punches carefully and knowing when to back off or block to regain your strength. Also, when you consider that each misplaced punch counts against you on the judge's scorecard, you really are at the mercy of a superb risk-reward system used to an effect rarely found in most fighting games.
To give the combat even more depth, EA have added a new counter-punch system that, when used correctly, can turn the tables of any match in a moment. By dodging an enemy swing at the last second or blocking just before impact, the camera will zoom out for a second, indicating that you have an open window to land a brutal punch. Do it quick enough and you will really hammer your opponent, sending them reeling and allowing for a flurry of follow-up blows.
Newcomers will have to spend some time with the game to get inside all the nuances of the fighting system but luckily, the superb Legacy mode starts players off as a rookie fighter rising up through the ranking boards. The learning curve throughout this mode is perfect for first-time players to get to grips with how to fight, pairing you up with low-level fighters to begin with.
In this mode, you can choose to book as many fights as you want in a year, allowing as little or as much time to train as you like. You can also choose to play the training sessions and matches yourself or get the game to simulate them, but where's the fun in that? As you progress, you will be nominated for rewards, called out by other fighters on the circuit and asked to compete in a variety of events. Every choice is yours to make, but as the legacy introduction says, all boxers eventually run out of gas and what you choose to do before then is what defines your legacy.
From the stunning visuals and brutal punch effects, to the engrossing legacy mode and riotously fun multiplayer mode, this is the definitive boxing game. Whether you choose to play tactically or not will define how much pleasure you derive from Fight Night Round 4, but this freedom allows the game to be malleable. It can be as fast, as paced, as technical or as scrappy as you like. In short, it's a knockout!
