Customer Reviews
Never two in a row for this series...
I give up. Every time EA Sports comes out with a good boxing game for PS2, they have always followed it up with a disappointment. After finally getting on the right track with ROUND 2, the train derailed again. Way to go, EA! At least you're consistent!
THE NEGATIVES:
- CONTROL
Here's the big one. I don't know if they sacrificed the quality here for another feature, but believe me, it's not worth it! The "punching under water" reference one reviewer gave is right on the money and not just on the haymakers! I'm trying to fire off a jab-right-hook combination, and after the right, I'm just standing there like a drunken apple woman!
- SLO-MO REPLAYS
Probably more annoying than the controls is the slow motion instant replay of the knockdowns. The screen freezes on the connection for about 4 seconds, and the sound...THE SOUND!!! "Yiiiiiahhh!!!!Booooom!!!!ssssplat!!!!" If I had my eyes closed, it would sound like my dad crashing his '75 Merc into a display window full of grapefruits! Oy vey!!
- BOXER SELECTION
There are too many repetitions of boxers through the weight classes. EA, ever heard of variety? Can't acquire a license for a particular fighter? Try another, you numbskulls!
It was nice to see Ricky Hatton in there, but where's Floyd Mayweather? So much for THAT dream match! Maybe a code to unlock? Don't think I'll be playing this long enough to acquire that one!
- NO TIME-OUTS ON THE PENALTIES (...AGAIN!!!)
Come on guys! If nothing else!!!! When a boxer commits a foul, he's doing it to get a break. Surely the damage it can cause is a nice perk, but that's not the main reason to break the rules. Don't believe me that this makes a difference? Remember Trinidad vs. Vargas? (low blows) Coralles vs. Castillo I (spitting out the mouthpiece)? Kind of critical if I recall...
- NO DUAL NAMES IN CAREER MODE
I heard a rumor about a year ago they were going to try this. Obviously this got shelved too. For a boxer you create, you could choose from a series of first names and a series of last names, and the CPU would combine them... Nope! It's back to the ridiculous nicknames (or pseudonyms) I wouldn't even name my dog! COMEBACK KID! THE ASSASSIN! ...yippee skippee.
- THE MUSIC
Don't get me wrong. I don't have anything against rap and R&B. However, when you choose Arturo Gatti, Mickey Ward, and the 1950's Gillette motif as the center of your ad campaign, you might want to conform the soundtrack to that as well. I mean watching Sugar Ray Robinson walking to the ring to the sounds of Black-Eyed Peoples or even imagining Mickey Ward jamming with his family in his Lowell Massachusetts home to the eclectic beat of Obie Trice is just a little hard to digest. Best of both worlds, huh? Yyyyyeeeeah! Boyeeeeeeee!!!
- NO TAKING A KNEE
Way in the dark ages when this series was called Knockout Kings, there was this really cool feature where if your boxer was in danger, you could actually go down to one knee and take an 8-count. Sadly, that feature has never returned, and it ain't starting back now! Ahhh, memories...
THE POSITIVES:
Believe it or not, there are a few neat features on Round 3. On one of the POV's you can actually utilize full 360 degree ring movement while still keeping the same camera angle. It's a little tricky, but definitely refreshing and a nice challenge.
Also, sometimes your opponent may not be hyped up for a fight with you. He trudges his way to the ring and even tries to leave the ring once he steps through the ropes. His trainer has to keep him from making a break for the exit. Nice little Martin and Lewis there!
The volume of the ring announcer's introduction of the fighters in accordance with the crowd noise...That's an improvement.
The boxers' motions (leaning on the ropes, knockdowns, defensive postures) have been improved as well. However, with the slow control problem, it's kind of hard to prioritize that in your recall.
Overall, ROUND 2 is still the best professional boxing game out there for the PS2. Hopefully the makers of ROUND 4 will learn from the mistakes on this one. It can't hurt to hope, but I'm not holding my breath!
Stick with FIGHT NIGHT: Round 2, it's a much better product.
They really dropped the ball on this one.
First off, he strange retro look to it, makes it tough to look at. Imagine looking at
a Burger King or Mc Donald's all day. The character creation area, has some
cool new stuff, like new postures for defense and offense, but other then that,
it's weak. The view is much further away then in the Previous versions, and the
choices seems to have been cut down, rather then increased (as you would think
would happen in a follow-up game). Still only have 4 places to put tattoos (Left
arm, right arm, back, and chest. If you want a tat on the forearm, no luck there.
The controls are much more sluggish then the others, and there are lots of POPs
in the actions or transfers between actions.
I used to like to watch the slow-motion hits after the knock down, but not any more.
The Characters have lost something in their detail. They don't look as good. And the
sound is Awful in Slow Mo. It sounds like paper tearing, and drums, and the impact,
doesn't line up with the sound. The announcers also get cut off in mid sentence, when
talking about a hit.
The Training is different. They kept the same things as Round 2, but changed
them enough to make me hate them. In Round 2 you could easily see what you
were supposed to do. The angel in Round 3 sucks. The punch dummy, for instance:
He is turned at such an angel away from you, that you can't tell when they want
you to hit the Left side of the face.
The sparing is much better, in that you can choose what you want to work on,
and it trains you in just that.
Problem with the controls, is that when doing moves like uppercut or Heymaker,
you are faulted by the analog controller now. You go to the right then up, for a hook.
For a Heymaker hook, you go right, then roll down, then Up. Trouble is, that once you
go down, the fighter tries to do an Uppercut, or throw a Left. It's almost impossible
to throw an Uppercut Heymaker. Once you cross the middle point on the controller,
he will switch to the other hand and throw a jab.
You also can not block for ever anymore. With the R1 pressed, you get about 3
seconds of blocking, and then he will throw a random punch.
The ring girls change clothes during an event, but a LOT less time was taken
on making them look good. Their hands don't' even close on the cards, and their
heads pop as they look around. the joggle cam (allah 24, or NYPD Blue) when
you go to your corner, is annoying.
OH! And in the middle of a fight, you will suddenly be thrown into a new Camera View!
You start pounding on a guy, and it will switch to HIS point of View.
Stick with Round 2. It's a MUCH better product.
MORE CONS::
* Character builder is greatly restricted in looks. All fighters look like fighters now.
You can no longer build yourself, or your skinny friends, fat friends, or super Buff friends, or
even your really Ripped friends. It's all kind of "middle ground" now.
This makes FNR3 less cartoony, but I liked the fact you could make a Steve Bushemi in FNR2.
* lack of entourage or entrance effects. I am pretty far into the game, and have seen No
choices so far for these, not even under "Locked" . No choice on entrance music.
* Cutman has been simplified to just right and left.
*Everything is too expensive. $20,000 for starter shoes?!
* The entrance "dances" have been greatly reduced. Why not just keep the ones they had,
and ADD to them? Now there are like... 3... maybe 4. I'd still like to be able to choose my
entrance personallity. (ie. show off, humble, crowd pleaser, etc)
*No Rankings. WHY? You never know where you stand in the Rankings.
*Home Towns. I could not find Seattle, or Dallas. They may not be big boxing towns,
but they ARE major Cities.
*Still no chest hair.
* I Figured the sound in Slow Mo: Forcefully Dump a bucket of Ice into a Plactic Cooler that is
half melted Ice.
Some PROS:
* The Coaches now tell you what you need. They are more precise. This is a good step.
* You can change your character as you go. After a few fights, if you want to give him a
new hair style, you can. You can even remold his face, change his stance, or style of
defense or offense. I like this.
* When your character is winded, the controls get sluggish, and he moves slower. This is
not the same as the wanky controls I mentioned above.
* The AI is much smarter. They find a weakness on you, and they will exploit it.
*New Venues
*Better Commentary
*Sparring mode is much better.
Also, if you have an HDTV get a PS2 AV & S Video Cable The regular one that comes with
the PS2 is NOTHING compared to the S-video signal.
What really irritates me is the totall false advertisement going on here. They show all these beautyful vids
of boxers and effects, and NONE of that stuff is in the game!!
The slow motion shot of a face rippleing from a punch: Not in the game.
The ability to make Fighters that look real: Not in the game (Unless you count the Pre-made fighters).
They also have picture of Hot ring girls in the Adverts: Not in the game. They looked better in FNR2
I tell you what.... They should make all of their fighters with the Fighter Maker part of the game. If they
can make all those boxers using that method, THEN they can sell this crap. I had 4 friends try to
create themselves in the game, and we could get close (as in: They looked Asian, or Black with dreds, etc).
But there was no way to get our charactors to look like any of us exactly. The boxers that are pre-made,
all have tatoos all over the place. They all have chest hair, back hair, forarm hair, etc. They have chins,
and face shapes that you just can not get with the Fighter Creation tools.
This is unforgivable!
S-L-O-O-O-O-OW
This game is terrible! I LOVED the first Fight Night,I never played Round 2 but I bought this game the day it came out. The gameplay is so sloooow! I feel like my boxer is throwing punches underwater!! This game sucks so much I tried to get my money back already.
