Games Database
Xbox
Sport: Boxing
| Also for: | PS2 | ||
| Viewed: | 3D Third-person, floating camera | Genre: | Sport: Boxing |
| Media: | CD | Arcade origin: | No |
| Developer: | Electronic Arts | Soft. Co.: | Electronic Arts |
| Publishers: | Electronic Arts
(GB) |
Released: | 30 Apr 2004
(GB) |
| Ratings: | PEGI 16+ | ||
| Accessories: | Memory Unit | ||
Summary
It's a funny old game, boxing - an extremely popular, lucrative and glamorous sport, yet fundamentally based on the Neanderthal primal instinct of trying to knock another guy's teeth out. However you look at it, it's ideal gaming material and, ever since the likes of Punch Out on the NES, there have been a fair few boxing sims over the years. The latest title to give us the chance to virtually step into the ring and rather safely slug it out with the best of them is Fight Night 2004, from masters of the sports sim, Electronic Arts.
As you would expect, the game allows you to step into the (very tall) boots of an all-star cast of some of the toughest fighters in the world. With a record of 49-1 with 35 KO's at the time of the game's release, undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion of the World, Roy Jones Jr. heads up the mighty cast, which also includes a wide selection of world class grippers from throughout the ages, such as Lennox Lewis, Sugar Ray Leonard and, but of course, Muhammad Ali.
At the core of the actual gameplay is a rather innovative, analogue-based combat system - dubbed 'Total Punch Control' - which lends much more precision and fluidity to the proceedings as you punch, block, bob and weave your way around the virtual ring. To be more specific, rather than opting for the usual scheme of mapping different attacks to different buttons, the developer has instead integrated everything into the right analogue stick. So a jab, for example, can be performed with a quick tap diagonally upwards; semi-circle manoeuvres pull off hooks; and a Street Fighter-style fireball move will give you an uppercut.
Not wanting to do things by halves, EA have rather gratuitously included all the over-indulgent showbiz elements that normally come part and parcel of some of boxing's bigger bouts. As such, you have full control over customising your ring entrances and can do such things as assemble an entourage, choose your theme music, select your pyrotechnics, and set the tone for the fight to follow.
With all the usual game modes such as single fights, versus and a deep 'create a player' and career mode, Fight Night 2004 is pretty much everything you'd expect from a contemporary boxing sim. The current trend for accurate physics has also been fully implemented, so the action is pretty convincing throughout. If your idea of a good time is getting punched in the face, but you somewhat lack the conviction to head down the pub and start dishing out insults, then this may just be for you.
As you would expect, the game allows you to step into the (very tall) boots of an all-star cast of some of the toughest fighters in the world. With a record of 49-1 with 35 KO's at the time of the game's release, undisputed Light Heavyweight Champion of the World, Roy Jones Jr. heads up the mighty cast, which also includes a wide selection of world class grippers from throughout the ages, such as Lennox Lewis, Sugar Ray Leonard and, but of course, Muhammad Ali.
At the core of the actual gameplay is a rather innovative, analogue-based combat system - dubbed 'Total Punch Control' - which lends much more precision and fluidity to the proceedings as you punch, block, bob and weave your way around the virtual ring. To be more specific, rather than opting for the usual scheme of mapping different attacks to different buttons, the developer has instead integrated everything into the right analogue stick. So a jab, for example, can be performed with a quick tap diagonally upwards; semi-circle manoeuvres pull off hooks; and a Street Fighter-style fireball move will give you an uppercut.
Not wanting to do things by halves, EA have rather gratuitously included all the over-indulgent showbiz elements that normally come part and parcel of some of boxing's bigger bouts. As such, you have full control over customising your ring entrances and can do such things as assemble an entourage, choose your theme music, select your pyrotechnics, and set the tone for the fight to follow.
With all the usual game modes such as single fights, versus and a deep 'create a player' and career mode, Fight Night 2004 is pretty much everything you'd expect from a contemporary boxing sim. The current trend for accurate physics has also been fully implemented, so the action is pretty convincing throughout. If your idea of a good time is getting punched in the face, but you somewhat lack the conviction to head down the pub and start dishing out insults, then this may just be for you.
Artwork
