Fight Night Round 4 - Review Next Week

  • By JusticeCovert, GameSpot
  • Posted Jun 27, 2009 12:17 pm AEST

I'm sorry that we haven't been able to bring you a full review of Fight Night Round 4 this week, but because of some kind of mix-up at EA we didn't receive final copies of the game until late on Tuesday--several days after we first spotted other reviewers playing online. I've sunk maybe a dozen or...

I'm sorry that we haven't been able to bring you a full review of Fight Night Round 4 this week, but because of some kind of mix-up at EA we didn't receive final copies of the game until late on Tuesday--several days after we first spotted other reviewers playing online. I've sunk maybe a dozen or so hours into the game since then, both offline and online, but as of right now I don't feel that I'm far enough into the lengthy career mode to judge it. With a fight record of 26(14)-1-0 I'm currently ranked tenth in my weight class, but as my opponents are getting tougher (and my attributes aren't improving nearly as quickly as I'd like), fights are frequently taking the full ten 3-minute rounds to win.

I'll be spending a lot more time with Fight Night Round 4 this weekend, and hope to have a review ready before end-of-day Monday. In the meantime, here are some notes on my experience thus far:

My Boxer
The first thing I do in any game that will let me is attempt to put myself into the game. My first attempt with the Xbox Live Vision Camera wasn't too impressive, but using a proper digital camera and using front and side photos of my face uploaded to EA's Website, I've ended up with a fighter that I think looks quite a lot like me--at least from some angles. There's no option to add tattoos though. /sadface.

First career fight.
Bolton Wanderers fan Justin Calvert ready for his first (amateur) career fight.

Other Boxers
Going into the review, I was completely unaware that it would be possible to share boxers online. I haven't uploaded mine for other people to beat up yet, but I've expanded the game's roster with a whole bunch of player-made fighters. Favorites include Zab Judah, Evander Holyfield, Joe Louis, Gary Coleman, Chuck Norris, and Bill Cosby.


Norris versus Cosby

Hitting the Canvas
One of my favorite features of Fight Night Round 4 right now, other than the fighting itself, is the new mechanic for getting back to your feet after being knocked down. The camera shifts to a first-person perspective, you use the left stick to straighten up and avoid swaying left and right too much, and the right stick to actually stand. I especially like the way that the ref checks you out before letting you continue.

Are you OK?
Are you OK to continue?

Training
You don't get to spend a whole lot of time training in career mode, so fighter progression can be slow. The training minigames are fun, but their difficulty is wildly inconsistent.

Training.
This is one of the easier training minigames. Some of them are really difficult early on.

Online Play
I haven't entered the Online World Championship yet, but I've taken part in plenty of online bouts with friends that, to date, have been lag-free. That was before the game officially went on sale, though, so I need to see if the game is still performing as well now that there are a lot more people online.

That's about all I'm going to say for now. I'll be playing as JusticeCovert on both PS3 and X360 this weekend, so if any of you feel like stepping into the squared circle with me feel free to shoot me an invite. I can't promise that I'll jump straight into a game with you though--getting through the career mode has to take priority.

14 Comments

  • Chrisi24

    Posted Jul 26, 2009 7:53 am PT

    im playin this now and so far so good. lol bill cosby.

  • R3NeGaDeAnGeL

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 3:06 pm PT

    Damn, Bill Cosby has got some moves.

  • Tikicobra

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 2:48 pm PT

    Sorry, I'm not implying that it will be bad, but the point of a review is to tell people weigher or not the game is worth buying, and at this point people who wanted the game probably already have it, and the rest of us have already seen the other reviews.

  • JusticeCovert GameSpot staff member

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 1:56 pm PT

    To be clear, this isn't about us taking more time than other outlets did to play the game before reviewing it, it's about us not receiving the game until it was already in stores. Hopefully you'd agree @Tikicobra, that a late, accurate review, is better than a rushed, inaccurate one? For what it's worth, the review I'm posting today would've been quite different if I'd tried to rush it out on Friday - my weekend spent playing more career mode and taking my fighter online definitely wasn't wasted.

  • infamous13579

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 12:42 pm PT

    fight night rules

  • Tikicobra

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 10:30 am PT

    I appreciate that they're trying to make sure their review is accurate and all, but at this point they've pretty much rendered their review useless.

  • drknessfeeds

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 9:31 am PT

    I am glad that gamespot is taking more time for a full review and I hope they have a long time in experiencing its pros and cons. For one the game is full of glitches, check the EA forums for a closer look at what the mass game players are having to deal with, crashes, face swaps. The mini games are obnoxiously difficult at any point in the Legacy if you can even finish it without it crashing or getting stuck. The CAB is a step backwards, no tattoos, limited hairstyles and no sliders unless you import a photo, and the gameface is hit or miss, is it just me or are eyelids nonexsistent, WTH? The TPC...this is not all it claims to be, no matter how precise I am with it I always wind up throwing a suprise punch in my combo that I did not intend. Maybe they should incorporate this into every game, maybe in the new Call of Duty I will aim and pull the RT to fire and a grenade will pop out my butt every once in a while. Way to go EA.

  • gfxarts

    Posted Jun 29, 2009 7:28 am PT

    I buy everyone of these. I'm so addicted I didn't sleep one minute last night... and I have a blister on my right thumb.

  • creep13x

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 2:42 pm PT

    the training mini-games suck for legacy mode. sometimes they are just impossibly hard.. and it wrecks your level up. why can't we just gain points from each fight? similar to the way they are now doing the healing in between rounds. and the new total punch control isn't even close to as good as on round 3, but at least it's more bareable than getting my 68 rated fighter gettting his butt whipped by ali or foreman instead of gaining some chin strength.

  • KerryKing34

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 10:43 am PT

    I stoked for this
    The demo is so fun.

  • zouhou

    Posted Jun 28, 2009 9:37 am PT

    ok now i no whats taking so long take ur time bro

  • FightnEmu posted Jun 27, 2009 7:08 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    FightnEmu

    Posted Jun 27, 2009 7:08 pm PT (hide)

    Another review appearing late, I think its time to cancel my account.

  • iloveyourface

    Posted Jun 27, 2009 11:54 am PT

    i still play round 3 on my original xbox. i'd say this series is just as addicting as the first 4 tony hawk games.

  • Mickleohb

    Posted Jun 26, 2009 7:16 pm PT

    I haven't played a boxing game since NES but I'm really interested in this.

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