Ever wondered if Mike Tyson could K.O. Muhammad Ali? How would Joe Frazier do against Lennox Lewis? With Fight Night Round 4 you can float like a butterfly or hammer like Iron Mike while on your way to the championship. The follow up to the wildly successful Round 3, the highly anticipated Round 4 does not disappoint. With the ability to match up the past champions against today’s fighters, you can finally answer the age old question: Who is the greatest boxing champ of all time?
Featuring an impressive lineup of classic and modern boxers, Round 4 recreates the realistic fighting styles of such greats as Ali, Frazier, Iron Mike Tyson, Foreman, and so many more. The all new physics based fighting system allows for extremely realistic movements and animations. The individual boxing styles are captured almost to perfection forcing you to utilize your particular fighter’s strengths and defend against his weaknesses. Height, weight, and reach attributes now come into play to place you with an advantage or disadvantage, depending upon your boxer. You can now effectively block and fight in close as the fighting engine allows for faster response times and gameplay. And the simplified controls permit you to string together combinations with speed not available in the previous version. Now you can see if the shorter, more powerful Joe Frazier can get inside and use his strength against a taller, faster Lennox Lewis. And the possibilities don’t end there. Whether it’s speed vs. power or any other combinations of attributes, you can finally win bragging rights for your favorite fighter. Or choose the new Legacy Mode and create your own boxer, utilizing skills of your choice, and manage a career from the very beginnings to the championship fight.
Fight Night Round 4 is one of the best designed games released this year. The ingenious method of throwing punches using different patterns with the analog sticks, rather than the repeated mashing of buttons, takes a lot of strain off the hand. And whether it’s working a cut for a stoppage or going for the big right hand for a knockout, this game will keep you fighting for hours on end. Even as the sport of boxing declines in popularity, this game is destined to be remembered as a classic fighting game.
Available on: Xbox 360 and Playstation 3
