Fight Night Round 3 A Pugilist s Videogame Dream

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1 Joel Doe English 110 Hale September 16, 2007 Evaluation Essay Fight Night Round 3 A Pugilist s Videogame Dream Master the Sweet Science. That is a quote that one can find on the back of the CD case of Fight Night Round 3 for the Playstation 2. This game is the third installment by EA Sports and is apart of the most successful line of boxing games in videogame history. Since the release of Fight Night 2004, the first installment, this series has received critical acclaim based on its realism, the wide selection of boxers, and the unique controls used for putting your opponent to the canvas. As a fan of boxing, I can attest to greatness of these aspects of the game. While it is possibly the best boxing game I have ever played, there are still portions of this game that can bug both boxing fans and videogame players alike. Luckily, these are only minor details which do not detract much from the overall fun of mastering the sweet science of virtual boxing. Realism is the greatest aspect of this game which sets it apart from all other boxing games. From the blood dripping from cuts to the increased panting of your boxer as the match continues, these encompass the realistic feeling of this game. You can watch your boxer bruise and feel him wear down as each round ends. Fear not, for you can use cold compression to reduce swelling and gels to stop bleeding so that the fight will not be stopped by technical knockout. Unlike the first Fight Night game, you are unable to repair your boxer between rounds, forcing you to suffer all of the cuts and bruises you collect. Even though the graphics compared to the Playstation 3 and Xbox

2 360 versions of this game are not as impressive, they are still quite impressive for the previous generation of consoles. While graphically the realism is nothing short of amazing, there are some aspects of the boxing itself that can be slight problem. In boxing, there are three classes of boxers which really stand out. These include out-fighters, in-fighters, and brawlers. An out-fighter is characterized by throwing long ranged combos, having quick foot work and fast hands. They use their jabs, counter punches and quick flurries in order to control the fights with their opponents. An infighter is characterized by powerful boxers who bob and weave to get inside, or close to their opponents, to pull off fast combinations of strong hooks and uppercuts. They use their reflexes to dodge a punch, step in close, and use a quick combination of hooks and uppercuts, usually ending in a knockout if they land cleanly. Brawlers are characterized as being the biggest, most powerful boxers, who have poor footwork and rarely use combinations, but can push around other boxers and need only one punch for a knockout. In Fight Night Round 3, however, they seem to consolidate these three styles into two, out-boxing and a hybrid of in-boxing and brawling. This makes those fighters who would normally be in-fighters into lumbering, slow hitting boxers. Another odd aspect is how slowly the out-boxers fight as well. If you are familiar with Sugar Ray Leonard and his lightening fast flurries, you will notice he is still fast in the game, but no where near as fast as he is in real life. It is as if the creators decided to slow down the boxers in order to create the pseudo-realistic fighting in the game. Although this is an annoyance, older boxing games such as Evander Real Deal Holyfield s Boxing do not even add in this specific aspect of boxing, which takes away much of the strategy that is in boxing.

3 Another problem with the fighting in the game is when there is a knockout. Anyone who has ever watched a knockout in boxing notices how the boxer goes limp as he drops to the canvas. His arms drop to the side, his knees buckle and he slams into the canvas. For some reason, Fight Night Round 3 decided to create knockout animations, instead of using what is called rag-doll physics, which would simulate that limpness. This rag-doll physics engine oddly enough was in the first Fight Night game, making one wonder why they would get rid of it. The Fight Night Round 3 animations in most cases not only causes the boxers arms to go near their face when knocked out by a blow to the face, but they also do not react much to punches after the boxer is falling down. As a way to redeem itself, animations for when haymakers hit a boxer, or any big shot in general, are brutal and realistic, unlike in Fight Night Not only that, but many times, all that is needed is one big punch to turn around the fight in the other boxers favor, making the game even more realistic. So even though there are flaws in the fighting of this game, it is still the most realistic boxing game around. One aspect of this game which many boxing fans look forward to doing is fighting on one side of one of histories greatest boxing rivalries. In order to do this, Fight Night Round 3 has included a vast array of boxers, new and old. With the ESPN Classics mode, you can start at the rivalry of Marco Antonio Barrera and Eric Morales and work your way back to Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvin Hagler. You can even go far back as the 1950 s, and recreate a match between Jake LaMotta and Sugar Ray Robinson, possibly the greatest pound-for-pound fighter in history. While the selection of boxers is fantastic, it makes one wonder why some of the other greatest boxers and some of their rivals are not included in this game. For instance, where are the legendary Joe Louis and

4 Max Schmelling? Where is the only undefeated heavyweight champion, Rocky Marciano? Not only are some of these old, legendary heavyweights missing, but many more recent heavyweights are as well. These include Mike Tyson and George Foreman. The game does not leave out only big named heavyweights, but it also leaves out some of the greatest fighters of the lighter divisions. These include Joe Calzaghe and Floyd Mayweather Jr. If these boxers and some others were added in, the selection of boxers would be even greater than what is it. As a way to make up for this lack of certain boxers, Fight Night Round 3 has created fighting styles to really create the feel of fighting as one of the boxers included in the game. It allows you to use Muhammad Ali s quick jabs to dominate an opponent, or to use a big left hook with Joe Frazier. Fight Night Round 3 blows away the competition and even its previous titles with these specified styles. Not only does this game have multiple styles, they are accurate to the existing boxers. In the game Ready 2 Rumble Boxing, there are different boxing styles, but they are all over-the-top and almost no boxer would ever use them. While this over-the-top play may be fun, it is not desirable for those who truly enjoy boxing. The final aspect of the Fight Night series that really sets it apart from other boxing games is the control set-up. Instead of using buttons in order to throw a punch, as you would in every single other boxing title, you simulate the motion required for that punch by using the right joystick on your controller, which EA Sports has dubbed Total Punch Control. Fight Night Round 3 has really perfected the use of this control set up by allowing you to control not just the type of punch, but the power put into the punch. The EA Sports Haymaker can absolutely destroy an opponent. This vicious punch can not only cause a lot of damage, but it can put the boxer on the receiving end in a daze, or

5 even prepare them for a quick knockout. After becoming accustomed to the use of this type of punching control, one can easily pull off a combination of lefts and rights and finish off his or her opponent with a haymaker. The perfection of the Total Punch Control system creates an exciting boxing experience. Fight Night Round 3 is a fantastic virtual boxing experience for avid videogame players and boxing fans alike. While there are a few flaws in the game, these flaws detract quite little from the overall game-play experience. Its realistic fighting, large selection of boxers, and amazing control set-up will have one playing this game for hours. Fight Night Round 3 indeed makes a fan of pugilism out of all of us.