Fight Night Round 4 Getting New Updates

Fight Night Round 4 on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 is getting a couple of free updates in the late summer and early fall. One of them is to fix the on-going control issues of the game. The video game industry covers many areas from educational titles to hardcore games based on competition. The boxing genre, however, has often been neglected. While the Punch-Out titles were popular, they weren't really representative of the sport as a plays more like a puzzle game.

Seeing the opportunity, Electronic Arts swoop in. The third-party company is known for their sports video games. Under the EA Sports brand, Electronic Arts managed to change the landscape of sporting video games with franchises like Madden NFL, NBA Live, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and more.

Electronic Arts' first venture into the ring is the Knockout Kings series. While the games were moderately successful, they couldn't compare to the bigger franchises of EA Sports in terms of quality and popularity. Thus, the third-party giant ended up scrapping Knockout Kings after the 2003 edition.

In the ashes of its predecessor, Fight Night was born. The new franchise from Electronic Arts brought a more streamlined and high-profile experience.

Released in late June earlier this year, Fight Night Round 4 is the latest and greatest boxing simulation game yet. The new title was praised for its outstanding graphics, realistic gameplay in addition to the robust modes and features. Not to mention that it has nearly 50 boxers from the past and present including Muhammad Ali, Manny Pacquiao and Mike Tyson. Fight Night Round 4 became one of the highest-rated games so far this year with an 88 metascore at metacritic.com.

Fight Night Round 4 wasn't perfect, however. Even with the incredible presentation and robust features, many felt that the gameplay didn't hit the mark. The main culprit was the Total Punch Control, which uses the analog sticks to throw punches, block, evade and other maneuvers. Many fans found the controls of Fight Night Round 4 too loose and complicated.

As a result of the complaints, Electronic Arts will be adding the option to use face buttons in September for both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of Fight Night Round 4. In order to ease the wait, the third-party giant also announced a free DLC pack coming in August that will contain a new gym, outfits and gameplay sliders.

With Fight Night Round 4 already being one of the best games of 2009, the new additions will boost the great game into greater heights.