Fight Night Round 2

Added March 29th, 2005 by Kisan Parikh

Introduction:

Fight Night 2004 provided gamers with an innovative boxing game that was lacking in polish and fine tuning. Not only did Fight Night Round 2 build on the somewhat lacking features of 2004, but Fight Night 2 also added completely new features that attempt to really bring the boxing ring into your home. Let’s see if EA delivers with their newest boxing game, Fight Night Round 2.

Gameplay:

Fight Night Round 2’s main single player mode of play is Career Mode. This mode of play can either be played by rebuilding a legend’s career or by creating your own boxer and turning him into a champion. When you create your own boxer, you are offered with complete control of his appearance. After choosing your boxer’s name, hometown, and nickname, you are given complete control of his body build and facial features. This control is brought to you by the right analog stick sculpting control. You can shape everything from the cranium to the forehead to the eyes, nose, lips, mouth, cheeks, chin, and even the jaw. Even though it took a bit of time and comparing back and forth to a photograph, I was able to create a boxer that looked very much like myself (only with bigger muscles).

After creating a boxer, you are then presented with amateur fights that you can  partake in. While you are competing in amateur fights, your training will consist of sparring. This sparring will take you through the basics of the game and acts as a tutorial. You can turn pro any time you wish, so you can skip this step if you already know how to play the game. Once you have turned pro, you are presented with many more fights to take part in. You can either choose easy fights to slowly build experience and money, or you can go immediately for the big fights. The second method is much riskier, because you may experience your share of knockouts. I felt that the freedom available in choosing fights was a great element in the game.

The next step is setting up your fight prep. In the fight prep menu, you are given the opportunity to choose your trainer, cut man, music, entrance, and ring girl. Your trainer can either be basic, speed or power; and your cut man can either be basic, swelling specialized, or bleeding specialized. Your music, entrance, and ring girl basically have three stages. Each of these selections affects your boxer’s ratings for that fight. I wish there was a bit more customization available for the entrance, but the accessible effects vary depending on the boxing venue.

Once you have done this, you are given the opportunity to train for the fight.  You choose either focus training or quick training. In focus training, you are able to pick from three mini games. Power bag allows you to gain strength and stamina by working on your combos. Agility and speed can be built by using the combo dummy. The combo dummy lights up in patterns and points are earned by following the pattern of punches. The final game is weight lifting, which builds your power. This is the simplest mini game and consists of using the two analog sticks to control the weights. Obviously, the more points earned in a mini game, the more results seen. I enjoyed the mini games, but I really wish there were a few more to give variation. The quick training mode provides fewer payoffs, but allows you to skip the mini game. Both modes provide results in both numerical and visual form. After a workout, your boxer may appear more toned, bigger, or thinner depending on what activity you chose. You should look at your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses to determine which activity to perform, because if you don’t, you may get knocked out.

This game’s gameplay is one of the most addicting that I have ever experienced in a sports game. The game revolves around using the two analog sticks to control your boxer’s movements. The left analog stick is used to move your boxer around the ring. Also, if you hold the left trigger, you can use the left analog stick to duck and lean away from punches. The right analog stick offers you the ability to block and parry. Parries can really help set up your offensive moves.

The offense relies heavily on the right analog stick. Jabs are used to set up the bigger punches. These bigger punches are hooks and uppercuts. To offer further control of the power of punches, haymakers make their debut in Fight Night Round 2. By winding up and following through, more powerful punches can be executed. Using jabs, normal power punches, and different degrees of haymakers, you can set your opponent up for a knockdown.

When your opponent is about to tumble over, the game kicks into a different mode. In this mode, the sound of punches is louder, other noises are muffles, the camera is zoomed in, and everything feels a bit slower. The person who is about to be knocked down usually cannot get anything going offensively, and normally the AI will cover their face up. The only way out for them is either blocking every punch, or they can clinch their opponent. Clinching involves grabbing onto an opponent to prevent them from landing any additional punches. Once knocked down, you must move circles that correspond to the analog sticks into a central circle. This gets more and more difficult after each knockdown, and eventually becomes impossible. If you don’t eventually have a knockout, a winner will be chosen based on number of rounds won.

Rounds are normally timed, except for when playing with Hard Hit Rules. Hard Hit Rules make rounds un-timed and end with a knockdown. This makes for a completely different approach to fights, because you cannot solely play defensively until the round is over. In the corner, between rounds, you take the role of cut man. Using swelling and bleeding tools, you prepare your boxer for the next round. All the while, your boxer is being coached, and you are normally given some pretty good advice.

The gameplay of Fight Night Round 2 is superb. With the great career mode and addicting in-game play, you are sure to love the gameplay if you are any type of boxing fan. In Fight Night Round 2, you will take part in a wide variety of fights. From outright whoopings to strategic fights, Fight Night Round 2 has it all.

Graphics:

Graphically, Fight Night Round 2 is pretty amazing. Each of the real life boxers represented in the game can be easily recognized. This goes to show how great the facial models are. The game features real venues as well, and each is designed realistically. The game also features an enormous amount of details. Sweat and blood flies off a boxer’s face after he takes a punch. Swelling and cuts can be easily seen as well, especially in replays. Speaking of replays, they are done very well, and feature a number of angles and speeds. Unfortunately, sometimes the game shows a basic jab three times in a row, but luckily you can skip replays. The visual effects in the game are great as well. Although the situation itself was frustrating, I especially liked the effects shown when you are attempting to get up. You can see mostly blurs, and then you can slowly make out the referee counting. This really makes you feel like you are actually in the ring, struggling to get up. The visuals in Fight Night Round 2 really add to the overall experience of the game.

Audio:

The audio in Fight Night Round 2 has its brilliant aspects and its not so brilliant aspects. The announcer is a perfect fit for the game, and makes insightful comments. The one problem is that he mixes up nicknames. He calls you your opponent’s nickname quite a bit sometimes. Another weak point in the audio is the soundtrack. The songs are fine on their own, but there just aren’t enough of them. The sounds in game are fantastic. Each punch lands with a satisfying thud, and the crowd chants for you accordingly! This really does its job in making you feel like you are in the midst of the fight.

Controls:

With the analog sticks being central to the control scheme, Fight Night Round 2’s controls are one of its strongest features. As promised, you feel completely in control of your boxer at all times. Also, if you don’t like the analog stick controls, there are many different control schemes, and I am sure at least one will appeal to you. The controls are quite easy to pick up, but not necessarily easy to master. The learning curve is about 30 minutes to an hour, but the more you play, the better you will become. The tutorials featured in movie form go over new features, and the sparring in career mode really helps speed the learning process along.

Replay:

Fight Night Round 2 will basically have you trying to becoming the next great champ in career mode. With this said, there aren’t many other modes of play. Sure, it is fun to play against friends and strangers on Live, but I really think that career mode is addictive enough to keep you occupied. Live play wasn’t included in last year’s mode, and this year you can battle it out online. The controls felt a little slower, but gameplay wasn’t affected too much. You will have so much fun rebuilding Muhammad Ali’s career and working on making yourself a champion that you will not need any other mode of play.

Summary:

I think Fight Night Round 2 really delivers on all of the promises and expectations. Basically, every flaw from Fight Night 2004 has been fixed, and there are enough innovative features to make it worth the purchase price. If you are any type of boxing fan, you will love the smooth gameplay, stunning graphics, and great control scheme that Fight Night 2 offers. My only wish is that next year’s game offers more training games and more songs in the soundtrack.