Fight night Round 4

[ak47]

FNR4 – Demo is out, I will be downloading tomorrow, I heard its unreal and after UFC’s good yet undercard attempt, I am ready for the main event!

 

[CeeJay]

Ive had the demo for a couple of weeks now (PS3,pe-order code) and Its pretty impressive. The demo just gives you 3 rounds and really leaves you dying to play a full fight. I played the demo about 5 times before I even got a knockdown, which is great news for fans of real boxing. Once you get the hang of the demo youll be KOing in the first round, but thats only because it on easy. Streaks above the pathetic round 3, I cant wait for this one.

The only bummer is that the models look terrible. Manny and Hatton are two very skinny guys, and they both look like fat with ***** ***s. The likeness is pretty bad too. Manny looks like a cartoon. The good news is that youll forgt these flaws as soon as you start playing. Its smooth as silk and you feel like your boxing. Also the developers have promised to fix up the fat bodies for the final release. The controls are a little different to FNR3 and the buttons have been removed as an alternative option for punching.

Did yo know Mundine is in this game!? Lol,but no Kostya Tzu.

 

[ak47]

i am going to bash mundine with tyson, then i will start my career in mundines divsion and bash him with my CAB
cant wait to play the demo - looks like i am converting to the sticks, as i was a button boy in my comfort zone
cannot wait for this

 

[toup]

Can't wait for this game - loving the way that it's so dynamic (from what I've seen), with punches having no pre-determined outcome.

Is the PS3 demo out for non-pre order people? I thought it was due next week?

 

[Cymro]

Very, very disappointed that Joe Calzaghe is not in the game!

 

[ak47]

well i dominated the demo last night and finally won a few biffs
its soo good - getting used to the sticks is unreal.
just found out that photogameface and custom made entrance songs are there - and they way the online boxing federation is there, is epic!

 

[Cymro]

Calzaghe is in ... all is not lost!

 

[toup]

Just seen this video for the boxer creation feature... looks VERY impressive, and glad they got rid of the stupid points system for accessories...

 

[St Helens RLFC]

I played the demo last night. I don't like boxing but I know a quality game when I see one.

 

[toup]

The thing about the demo which I enjoy the most is that it's actually quite difficult. I don't think I've played a boxing game before when 3 rounds isn't enough to consistently knock out your opponent. Will be interested to see how the career mode works on this, but it's already shaping into an almost guaranteed purchase for me.

 

[CeeJay]

once you get used to the demo it is very easy to win by KO in the 2nd and third round. It has been confirmed that it is on easy though.

Have u guys uploaded any dmeo knockouts to easports world?

 

[CeeJay]

Ok, games out in America (already ordered mine via play asia) and reviews are up. Its getting good reviews.............
but one absolute shocker is NO TATTOOS FOR CABS!!! I cant believe it. They finally have gameface so I can put myself in the game, but it wnt be me without tattoos. This is just plain strange.

Legeacy mode seems like its is just training games and fights with a calendar like ufc. Theres no rivals. On the plus side there are multiple belts in each division that you can unify.

Online is has only 3 WEIGHT DIVISIONS!! (light middle and heavy if i remember right ) That sux bad. All the other fighters are pushed up or down to other divisions. Also the stamina is busted again alowing players online to throw punches contiuously in each round. If they get low on stamina they just buy it back with the corner games. This leads to total slugfests, nothing like real boxing. Hopefully offline can be fixed with the gameplay sliders.

Ill wait till I get it before I judge, but Im on the back foot with this one.

 

[CeeJay]

Also, you cant edit your CABS facial features(nose, brough etc) You have to choose from preset faces. So if you dont use gameface you cant create yourself or your favourite boxers.

 

[ak47]

This game is going to knock the industry out

The demo is the most played demo of my life, I reckon I am 200 fights

I have heard mixed reports on stamina

Photgameface is there to be used, and when u figure it out there is no turning back

Ak47 has been in every tigerswoods game, its about time I can show my stuff in the ring and see how I look beat up, and beating up

Throw in some inspirational custom entrance songs, and it ticks all the boxes to capture the gamer, it has real potential, imagine making George Bush, have him come into the ring with the star spangled banner anthem, and then bash im hard!!!

And likewise to Kevin Pitiersen and Johnny Wilkinson…I am going to make Warny, and he will walk into the ring with the channel 9 cricket theme and bash KP

The options are endless….and I get to bash Mundine too, with my WARNY!!!

 

[CeeJay]

I canned the demo after about 40 fights. Its was great fun but 3 rounds got tedious. I played to ufc demo everyday from its release until the games release. Ill be happy to have two great fighting games, but they both have some 'what the' moments that Im not too happy about.

Ill spend most of my time in legacy, and ill use real boxers not CABS. I was going to make kostya Tzu with game face, but not beaing able to tweak the head and facial features means it wont look right.

Using gameface to create your own celebrity death matches.............interesting idea. They dont have to be perfect either. I might create Helen Clarke, rumour has it shes a man anyway.

 

[toup]

Picked this up today despite being whelmed by the demo (that's right... whelmed... not over or under, just whelmed). I have to say, I'm VERY pleasantly surprised.

I found the demo a bit frantic and not as 'realistic' as promised, but now I see that that is perhaps due to the opponent being either Ricky Hatton or Manny. Having started career mode, you are fighting against much lower level fighters and the slower pace is ideal for getting used to the counter system and fighter movement. Playing FNR3, I used to not bother all too much ducking and weaving, but just picking off my opponent with counter punches and haymakers. This round, there is definitely a massive reward for just continuous movement, or certainly movement AND blocking when you get up close - there is a real difference between punches which connect sweetly and ones which hit, but only glance off.

The counter system takes a little getting used to, but I definitely prefer it to the 2 or 3 second window you had in FNR3 - this way around it is harder to get right but ultimately a lot more satisfying.

Career mode is a BIG step up from round 3, and whilst not as in depth as I'd have hoped, you do feel like you are much more in control and not just playing through a predetermined string of fights. You arrange fights against a selection of 4 or 5 potential opponents (choose wisely based on the next available date, potential impact on your rankings etc), and then you play training games.

The training games have had a lot of bad press, saying they are too difficult and should be skipped to maximise points... I couldn't disagree more. They are challenging, but also rewarding once you get the hang of them, and definitely teach you useful skills rather than just stat-stuffing. Improved for the better in my mind.

The fights themselves are absolutely sublime - and I have already experimented with a number of boxers / strategies and so far have not found that any particular style is unfairly biased towards. I'm sure the online element will discover cheap tactics, but having only played offline so far, I think the weighting is absolutely perfect.

I've only had a couple of hours with it so far, but would urge even people who were not overly impressed by the demo to at least rent this - I think the finished product is a massive improvement. Thought I'd finish with a few cool things that you may not have known or read in reviews.

- Downloads from Community: These are free (on PS3 anyway) and include created boxers where people have clearly used the photo import tool to great effect... I've bolstered the already impressive roster with some very authentic downloaded characters (David Haye etc), and there's even a fair few Rocky Balboas and Apollo Creeds out there

- Character Customisation: You probably all knew it was in there, but the depth here is amazing - you can literally pick all of the colours and materials (sequins anyone?) for your equipment, the colours coming from an imprsessive photoshop-style colour wheel, making almost any combination possible

- Surname Pronunciation: EA has included a load of additional surnames in the commentary files - helps really immerse you when the commentators talk about your character by name rather than some predermined nickname (Although you get one of those too)

I am rushing straight back to play this, but am happy to answer an questions!

 

[CeeJay]

Thanks for some new info. I have a couple of questiosn.....

1. Who are you using in career mode? Did you create a boxer or use an existing fighter? If you did the latter, then can you change the trunks etc of existing fighters in career mode?

2. Have you used game face yet?

3. Do the fictional boxers in career mode all look retarded like in FNR3?

Im still very mad about there being no tattoos and no way to create decent boxers without using game face. Theres no excuse for removing the traditional face moulding tools. This has killed all the good CAB makers in one go. Now we are at the mercy of game face and it seems to randomly look good and bad.

I have already ordered this game and its on its way, but I have mixed feelings.

 

[toup]

No problem - a few answers for you...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CeeJay @ Jun 27 2009, 12:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

1. Who are you using in career mode? Did you create a boxer or use an existing fighter? If you did the latter, then can you change the trunks etc of existing fighters in career mode?[/b]

I created my own, but just went in and checked. If you choose an exisiting boxer, you can edit SOME things. So you have to leave name, nickname etc, but you can edit ring intro stuff and all of their equipment - quite cool, I was expecting it to be far more limited. As another side note, Mike Tyson's 'body' is available in CAB, so wondering if they will launch more of those as downloads...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CeeJay @ Jun 27 2009, 12:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

2. Have you used game face yet?[/b]

Yes, and I was pretty pleasantly surprised. It's not as good as Tiger, and you can't do anything in the way of actually editing the features, but it does a pretty good job and is (I think) forced to be basic to allow for all the deformations / cuts etc, which seem to work pretty well

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CeeJay @ Jun 27 2009, 12:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

3. Do the fictional boxers in career mode all look retarded like in FNR3?[/b]

So far, I'm pleased to say, so good. Not sure if they've implemented some kind of 'sense' rules, but all of my opponents are pretty co-ordinated looking. Sure there will be the odd horror story, but no problem in my 10 or so career fights.

Hope that helps? The CAB does feel like it's missing a few features (notably Tattoos and face / body fine tuning) but don't know if this is fixable in a patch or anything. I suspect not the face editing tools, but maybe the tats.

 

[Cymro]

Game is pure awesome ... SIMPLY!

 

[ak47]

Its finally out here in AUS

Clearly already stated as a matter of a fact – time to dominate