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Fight Night 2004
by Jolex Del Pilar
Tuesday, March 23 2004
EA's boxing series undergoes a name change, and a bit more.
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Title:
Fight Night 2004
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Platform:
PS2
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Publisher:
Electronic Arts |
Developer:
EA Sports |
#
of Players: 1 - 2 |
Genre:
Sports
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Origin:
United States
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Expected
Release:
April 5, 2004 |
Grapevine:
Fight Night shows that EA has learned a few lessons from its previous offerings. |
Boxing games have been popular in the industry for a long time, but a big problem with some offerings has been the lack of authenticity, whether it pertains to the "fight" mechanics, or general look and feel. Games like Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!, later renamed to just "Punch-out!" after Tyson's legal problems, were fun boxing games in their own right, but lacked the realism, and feel of boxing that would draw true pundits to the consoles instead of cable TV. That was until EA released the original Knockout Kings in 1999 for the Playstation.
Though it lacked flashy super punches, and had very little in the way of combos, or variety in the way punches could be thrown, it was one of the first attempts by a developer to create a realistic boxing game that would be both fun, and realistic enough, to satisfy both boxing pundits and general sports game players. The following titles in the Knockout Kings series in 2000 and 2001 were both great games in their own right with 2001 being arguably the best boxing game on the market until Empire released the colorful, manga-based fighter, Victorious Boxers. Though the game only enjoyed modest success in North American markets, Victorious Boxers remains the most realistic, and enjoyable boxing game on the market till this day. It was so good in fact that EA purchased the source code from Empire and tried, in vain, to integrate it into Knockout Kings 2002, which by many standards, was an utter disappointment. It featured cartoony game mechanics, with unrealistic body movements, and awkward punch physics, all things that Victorious Boxers did NOT feature. The game seemed to suffer from an identity crisis as it tried to be both a realistic sim-type game, and arcade game at the same time. The 2003 iteration wasn't much better and was only released on the Gamecube, which should serve as an indication of EA's expectations for the title.
However it seems like EA has learned it's lessons. With a new development team, and a new name for the series, Fight Night is looking like a true contender for the crown (currently held by Victorious Boxers). From the early beta that we got to play, it's obvious a lot of work has gone into the complex control scheme. Tagged "total fight control", the system makes use of both analogs on the Playstation 2 controller, and ask players to utilize analog movements to throw punches. Holding the R1 trigger switches into defensive mode and the right analog will then handle blocking, which itself has been totally revamped. EA's rational for this scheme was to prevent button mashing, a common problem in previous iterations of the series. To a certain extent, it works, but the control scheme will take getting used to. Blocking can now be used to defend specific sides of the body which causes the block to be more effective, and may even cause the other fighter to become "off balanced" for a split second, allowing you to land a counter-punch.
Roy Jones Jr. gives James Toney a quick left hook to the head. The punches land viciously in Fight Night, definitely a good thing.
Already obvious is the way stamina and energy have been improved. Stamina is now more of a major factor in the game. Throw too many punches and you will soon have a tired fighter after 3 or 4 rounds. In a 12 round fight, this type of tactical error could be devestating to your fighter. If your fighter is knocked down, your ability to get up is determined by how much damage you have taken up until that point, which means no more button mashing frenzies to coerce your fighter to get up. This is a welcome addition to the game but was probably lifted from Victorious Boxers like many elements of the game seem to be including the way boxer movement, counter-punching, leaning, and super punches are handled. It's no surprise that EA decided to take more than a coy look at it's competitors seeing as how Empire's product was superior in just about every way.
EA has pulled out all the stops in terms of presentation value for this game. The create-a-fighter mode is very deep and allows players to customize just about every detail of their fighter from their hairstyle to skull shape. This is a welcome addition considering how sparse the career mode was in past games. One aspect though that seems to be missing from Fight Night that was present in Knockout Kings 2001 was the ability to choose styles for your fighters. In 2001 you could choose a different fighting style so your fighter could be a fleet footed "points" type boxer, or a rough and tumble brawler looking for the knockout. Fight Night 2004 seems to only have one style choice, and seeing as this game was motion-captured by Roy Jones Jr. (current Light Heavyweight Champion of the World), it seems as if all fighters in the game carry his style of throwing punches as well. That may be fine for fighters like Shane Mosley, or Sugar Ray Robinson who have similar styles to Jones in terms of how he holds the guard, and throws off-angle punches, but what about the real brawlers like Ricardo Mayorga, and Arturro Gatti, real tough brawlers who throw punches with wreckless abandon? Will they fight and throw punches like Roy Jones Jr. too? This is a worry I have as I anticipate the retail version arriving in our mail boxes soon.
Still, notwithstanding some minor points, Fight Night is looking to be an intriguing game from many angles. The deep career mode, the unique control system, and the overall presentation values possible under a huge mega-publisher like EA all point to an experience that will put the player as close to a big fight in Vegas as can possibly be had on a game console.
Fight Fans can look for this game in April, and we'll have our final opinions very close to then as well.
--- Jolex Del Pilar
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