Fight Night Round 4 – All About Those Visuals

Now is your chance..

The fighters are ready, they have entered the ring. We have been here before it seems, yet something is different this time around, and where to begin?

Fight Night Round 4 takes the visuals in Fight Night Round 3, and takes it up a notch. This wouldn’t be an easy feat, since FNR3 already had incredible visuals. But, remember when you would punch an opponent, knock him down, and in slow motion see blood splatter. It looked as if the blood was actually the same, consistent stream. Not anymore, those days are gone.

Yet the blood is only a small sample of what has been improved upon. The boxers look more realistic, with every muscle, the facial expressions, and even the overall style of each boxer. Style as in, how they hold the gloves, what kind of fighter they are, and how they string together 3-4 punch combos. However, it is the entire experience which makes this game look like a winner.

 

The music blaring, the crowd roaring, its Showtime!

Let’s begin with the entrance, as we see Muhammad Ali enter the ring, throwing his hands up, fireworks going off, and music customized by the player . Yet, as Mike Tyson comes out, you can see the anger, a different style entrance, as he just makes his way to the ring. The glare in his face showing that with the right punch, at the right time,  it could all be over. With the entrances over, and both fighters in the ring, its time for the main event.

To explain how the game looks, you have to first break down the big changes to the game. Speed comes to mind first. In FNR3, you could throw the same punch, and it would do the exact same thing. Throwing a right hook to the face, could either A. make contact or B. be parried, and open up a vulnerability, potentially for a few seconds. Yet, in FNR4 these things have changed. The right hook could potentially break through the block, smashing through an opening, and landing squarely on the opponents head. No more will you be allowed to simply sit back and cover up, cause now you can get around that in FNR4.

You may want to cover up, otherwise, too late

We had a chance to watch the producers play an early build of FNR4, and as mentioned before,  the biggest surprise was the speed of the game. Punches being thrown left and right, sweat flying, blood dripping, but most impressive was the amount of animations. Throw a punch in FNR3, and you’ll see the same animation every time. Throw the same punch in FNR4 and it is nearly always different. The punch will land at different locations, with different results. This makes the game look more realistic in the sense of, you don’t really know what to expect until you actually see the game in action.

The biggest way to succeed is to look for those openings, and knowing which punch to throw, and how far away to be from your opponent. Don’t want to give away too much, but the game will allow you to play with a few different styles, something that FNR3 didn’t really allow.

The game feels more fluid, and doesn’t feel like two robots fighting. From getting hit, to leaning back, to throwing the perfect punch, you could feel like you were in the game. Seeing a boxer enter the “red zone,” and feeling the crowd roar, adds to the overall experience. Seeing Muhammad Ali receive a vicious punch from Mike Tyson and falling down to the mat, was one of many different endings to this fight. But when the game ships this summer, how will this fight play out, when you are in control?