Fight Night Round 4: A Preview

After the last time I traded in some games at my local Gamestop, I had enough left to reserve a game. The guy behind the counter did his best to sell me on some of the games that will soon be coming out, but none of them sounded any good. I had read something in that month's issue of Game Informer about Fight Night Round 4, and asked him if they were taking reservations on it. They were.

I have seen many dates on different sites on the web, but the date they gave me at Gamestop was July 14, 2009. Now, of course this can always be changed or pushed back, but more often than not they give me a pretty accurate date.

The trailers feature (at long last) a fight between Muhammed Ali and Mike Tyson, who will also be featured on the cover of the game. These two were picked by fans, who were given the chance to vote.

In a Q&A taken directly from EA, they have promised that Fight Night Round 4's Legacy Mode will be much improved from Round 3's Career mode, offering a more authentic experience with new training game, more titles, and divisional rankings. They have rebuilt the engine from scratch, providing better AI and mechanics and attempting to build a game that will require more strategy than its previous titles. There will be a referee in Round 4, but he will only be present for pre-fight instructions, post-fight results, and during knock-downs, fight stoppages, and disqualifications. While there won't be all the theatrical entrances used by some fighters, the entrances will be more in-depth.

My hopes for Fight Night Round 4 are that it has more of a sim feel than its "arcadey" predecessors, and so far it looks good. EA is promising a more realistic and graphically realistic game, and I just hope they can live up to their promises. I guess I'll find out on July 14.

All information in this article was taken from EA Sports: http://fightnight.easports.com/default.aspx?Sort=MostRecent&PageIndex=1