Fight Night Champion is EA Canada’s latest instalment in the acclaimed boxing series, despite now being over two years old. But will it be a knockout or will it limp weakly away from the ring?
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EA Canada opened in January 1983 and is EA’s largest and oldest development studio. This division alone employs approximately 1,300 people and houses the world’s biggest video game test operation. The first title in their boxing series, unsurprisingly called Fight Night, was released in 2004 and over the next seven years four sequels were published, including the latest instalment from 2011: Fight Night Champion.
Only a very small handful of boxing games have ever caught my eye. Maybe it’s because I don’t follow the sport or perhaps because the titles have come up a little short. Either way I was excited to play Fight Night Champion to see what side of the fence it would sit on – and initial impressions didn’t disappoint. It looks and feels very realistic, with character models including even the slightest blemish or scar on a boxers’ face; and straight away I noticed its cinematic quality, with slightly dulled colours and slow-motion scenes.
It obviously pays to be bald when you’re a boxer.
The main new feature in the title is Champion Mode. This follows the rise, fall and revenge of convicted boxer Andre Bishop who is constantly hassled by crooked fight promoter D L McQueen and cocky world heavyweight champion Isaac Frost. The movie-worthy story begins with Bishop in prison competing against another inmate; being as good as he is, he is beats this guy with ease. Then on his way to the showers, he gets attacked by his opponent and is severely beaten before the game flashes back four years into the past to the very beginning of our hero’s career.
From here players start on the beginners circuit by defeating nine-time amateur champion Joel Savon. This earns Bishop recognition and unwanted attention from McQueen and, after several unsuccessful attempts to sign him, the promoter gets angry. The boxer is then framed for police assault with the help of two crooked cops on McQueen’s payroll and sentenced to five years in jail. While there, Bishop learns that his younger brother has signed a deal with McQueen Promotions to become a professional heavyweight; so after his release the boxer trains hard to get back on the professional circuit, and powers through established fighters to become a contender once again.
Andre Bishop has a tough time of it in Champion Mode.
There are two major game modes in addition to the Champion feature described above: Fight Now and Legacy. The former allows players to jump straight into the boxer selection menu, with the venue selection following. The latter is a long-running series regular and essentially Fight Night Champion’s career mode, in which gamers take a selected character through a full and rewarding boxing life. Other features include training games and online play.
When you get down to it and start boxing, it feels as realistic as any other fighting title out there. The mechanic makes you fight smart: players have to think quick and pick the right time to strike if they want to succeed. If you come out of the corner wildly swinging over and over, your boxer’s stamina bar will drain fast; this will result in the character moving around the ring more slowly and landing strikes weakly, as well as being prone to a knock out. If you do find that you’ve overdone it and need to rest, blocking and dodging is quite effective and little of your opponent’s offense is able to get through.
I only noticed two negatives with the gameplay, one minor and the other unfortunately not so small. I couldn’t find a way of disabling the weight limits and have other boxers from different classes fight each other; it would have been great to have seen what would have happened if Ali fought Pacquiao or if Hatton fought Butterbean. The major issue for me was the blocking system. The necessity of having to go on the defense quite often was a bit frustrating and I thought to myself that there comes a point where a boxing game can get too realistic.
Graphics are done smart in this game, with the colours toned down and dulled slightly to create a classic look and recreate the golden age of the sport. Character models are as real to life without actually having the fighters standing in front of you. The faces and the ring gear are so detailed that I’m not sure there’s room for improvement; there are times where you think you’re watching real people boxing rather than playing a video game. The only criticism I have about the visuals is that it’s a bit obvious the crowd are copies. Not that you’re paying much attention to them when you’re fighting, but if you do take a look you’ll notice that a set of animations are replicated for the spectators.
Ouch, that’s got to hurt.
Sound is important in this title for one reason: crowd noise. If you’re having a boring fight, the spectators will sound lacklustre and quite uninterested. I found that this happened when not a lot of punches were thrown and if you blocked and played defensive more often than not. But on the other hand, if you have an exciting back-and-forth round with lots of offensive strategy, the crowd will pop and let you know they like what they see. And if you get close to knocking out your opponent, their cheers go through the roof.
In terms of replayability, Fight Night Champion has a moderate appeal. Once you have gone through the roller-coaster ride that is the Champion Mode, with its twists and emotional ending, it doesn’t have the same effect during your second playthrough. But a concept that will have a lot of gamers coming back is the potential for dream matches. With such a deep roster of current boxers and legends, you’ll find yourself playing Ali versus Tyson or even Hatton versus Pacquiao; however, once you’ve done this a few times the novelty may wear off.
This game is a winner, just like Bishop.
Fight Night Champion was a positive experience overall for me, and it’s by far the best boxing game I’ve ever played. With its gripping Champion Mode story, realistic fight mechanic and potential for dream contests, the pluses definitely outweigh the minuses. It’s just a shame that EA is taking a break from the series to concentrate on its UFC franchise but, considering how red-hot ultimate fighting is at the moment, I don’t blame the company for striking while the iron is hot. We can only hope that when the Fight Night series gets revisited – most likely on the next-generation consoles – we get something spectacular and it comes back fighting with a knockout round.
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