Fight Night Round 4 Review

Upon starting Fight Night Round 4 and starting a fight, the first thing you will notice is the nearly photo-realistic graphics. You will see the sweat glisten and drip off as the fight progresses, muscles will flex realistically as punches are thrown, and blood will fly from crushing blows. This is, in my opinion, the greatest looking game of this generation so far. Once you get over the amazing graphics, you will most likely be astonished by the amazing physics engine in place. Glancing blows don't do full damage and can also result in leaving yourself open. Dodged punches leave you open to devastating counters and you must always worry about the danger of being hit by a haymaker and being instantly dropped to the canvas. This is the most realistic, best looking, and most engaging boxing game to be released to date.

The controls in Fight Night Round 4 have been slightly controversial. In Fight Night Round 3, players have the option of using the right stick to throw punches or using traditional button controls. EA decided to leave out traditional button controls in this game, a decision that led to so much uproar EA is planning on releasing DLC with button controls to appease the unhappy fans. Honestly, I'm a big fan of the stick controls so that wasn't an issue for me but you should keep that in mind.

The gameplay is very fun and satisfying most of the time. Unfortunately it can be very frustrating depending on your opponent. In my experience outside fighters are a huge pain to face when controlled by the computer, maybe it is just me but I just couldn't beat them with much frustration. Playing humans is fun most of the time as well, although those who spam certain punches are a real problem and can be extremely frustrating to face. The Legacy mode has been much improved from Fight Night Round 3, in that game training games didn't benefit you at all in the actual fights. In Round 4 they all have at least a small impact although some can be extremely frustrating (the heavy combo bag is very hard to get the hang of). As Legacy mode goes on it does tend to get repetitive because all you do is train and fight. You are sent emails too, but these are a chore and are very repetitive as well.

Overall Fight Night Round 4 is a great game, one that is well worth the price due to its high replay value, great production values, and great gameplay.