PS3 Review: FIGHT NIGHT CHAMPION

Fight Night Champion manages to bring some dazzling new gameplay mechanics to the table, as well as a greater focus on the pageantry and dramatics of the sport. While more an apotheosis of the series up to this point than an outright refinement, there is plenty here to justify a purchase. Not content simply to coast on the laurels of the previous titles, Champion sees a palpable gameplay overhaul, with combat now simplified to strictly defined jab and hook buttons, and a punch modifier operated by turning the analogue stick in different directions, rather than the awkward, over-complicated maneuvering required in previous games. As before, great care has been taken to recognise the technical nature of the sport, promoting blocking and dodging as paramount to your success, while noting the diverse styles of the roster of boxers - which now boasts a massive fifty-plus fleet - in which different strategies must be adopted for success. A greater focus this time rests on the visceral nature of boxing, with the game featuring more blood and inflammation than ever before; blood will seep down onto your boxer's attire, and enough heavy punches will almost definitely result in swelling and heavy bruising. Combined into this is a scientific approach to those moments that always catch bookies off-guard in real life; the game internally calculates the likelihood of a surprise knockdown, and thus, several matches will result in an easy win simply by smacking an opponent in the right part of the face at the right time, cleverly mimicking the occasional upsets that occur in real boxing. As before, you can dive straight into Exhibition mode and recreate some all-time classic fights, but the game's main attraction and most radical enhancement is the addition of a Champion mode, in which you play a down-and-out boxer named Andre Bishop who, after having been jailed, must fight his way from the prison all the way to the World Championship. What really separates this from a generic career mode is the attempt to tell a story; this cut-scene heavy portion of the game is highly cinematic even if it essentially regurgitates every boxing film cliché known to man. Early on you'll encounter various context-sensitive challenges, ranging from having to fight with just one arm to having to, in one of the game's more frustrating bouts, protect your eye the entire match. While a few of these restrictions slow the game down and feel tiresome, the mode is mostly good fun and definitely a step in the right direction. Perhaps the ability to select a character to take into the mode would be welcome next time, though. Solid enough though utterly unoriginal is Legacy mode, a more generic career-type offering in which you either create a boxer or edit an existing one, taking them through a mechanical calender of training, resting and fighting, as you gain points with which you can level your fighter up. The real problem is that, in light of the far superior Champion mode, it feels utterly redundant, and some of the training stages are confusingly presented, resulting in more than its share of infuriation. As impressive as the stellar Champion mode, though, is how much effort has been put into the Online offering this year; its highly comprehensive, competitive nature suggests that EA are fully committed to its longevity, and there's the hope that players will respond by returning to it for a long time. The ability to download other players' boxers is just the tip of the iceberg; while there is the expected exhibition bouts - both ranked and unranked - you can now create your own "gym", essentially a faction of sorts, or join other people's, and even start feuds with other gyms. A leaderboard tracks statistics meticulously, and a great focus is put on the prestige of victory, such that a notification pops up every time the top-ranked player in each weight class appears online. Partied to the array of gameplay options is an expectantly jaw-dropping technical execution; somehow the fighters look even better than last time, with incredible attention paid not only to the physical make-up of a fighter, but the manner in which they move. It's difficult to find many flaws in the visual package, though the cut-scenes during the Champion mode are depressingly pre-rendered, and lack the polish of the actual gameplay. Still, as a whole, the graphics augment the already stellar gameplay, making for an incredibly satisfying experience with more weight and gravitas to it than ever before. Aurally, combat sounds are as exaggerated as you would expect, mimicking what you might hear in a Hollywood film, while voice acting during Champion mode is surprisingly competent and helps immerse the player. The soundtrack is mostly generic, rent-a-beat fare, though the rap stylings occasionally help to convey the game's gritty style. Fight Night: Champion does not want for things to do, though in the basics there are a few gripes; while controls are intuitive enough to allow causal players to dive into a match and win, some crushing input lag means that moves are essentially "queued up" in a flurry of punch animations, with no ability to cancel a move that may on reflection seem dangerous. During some more challenging, technical fights, this can be problematic - especially in Champion mode - though for the most part it can be allayed with clever use of counter punching. More frustrating perhaps is the horrible referee placement; frequently getting in the way of the action and blocking more than a few crucial moments, EA would serve well to remove the referee entirely if they can't find a way for him to move better with the camera. It isn't a huge leap away from previous titles, but then, why fix what isn't broken? Champion simply builds on greatness, delivering a more finely-tuned experience that boasts appeal to both the casual slugger and the more militant fanatic. While Champion mode is only a temporary diversion, the Online offering will keep you coming back for ages. This review is based off of an extensive playthrough of all single-player modes on Normal difficulty, and a brief test of online play. A copy of the game was provided by EA Sports for review after the game was released last Friday.