RipTen Review: Fight Night Champion (PS3)

Sport game franchises are often the same, year after year we receive what’s basically the same game, with a few minor alterations. While the same thing can be said about EA Sports latest Fight Night title mechanically, the series has taken a new gritty thematic tone packed with a full cinematic story and a spectacular online Career mode. However, is Champion a heavyweight hitter worth shelling out the money for, or is it a featherweight re-hash of an already wildly successful series?

The biggest departure for the series is it’s brand new “Champion Mode”. This is a focused story mode which tells the story of Andre Bishop, an Amateur boxer framed for assaulting an officer, subsequently landing him in Prison. The Story is told through cinematics, often played after every fight you complete. For the most part, the story is very compelling – Full of family turmoil, rigged fights and even hints of racism in some spots – Yes, during your time in Prison, you will certainly do battle with various “Cracka’s”.  It’s worth mentioning that Fight Night Champion is a Mature rated game (The First EA sports game to be rated so) and for good reason. The Story can get very dark in spots and the gratuitous amounts of blood and bruises may not be suitable for the younger crowd.

Andre Bishop - He's a Fighter, Not a Lover.

In order for Andre Bishop to rise from Rags to Riches he needs to fight (obviously), but instead of just beating the hell out of the CPU, Champion Mode gives you set parameters and objectives throughout each bout. It’s an interesting idea that actually mixes up the way you play, though some objectives such as knock someone out using a body shot can get a little annoying, especially when you wear an opponent down for several rounds, and accidentally hit his head with a hook because of a wayward analogue swipe. Other objectives however work really well, such as Andre breaking his right hand in the middle of a bout – using the right hand will damage your life severely, so it forces you to primarily fight with your left, only throwing in the right hand if you know you can put your opponent down.

The fighting works the same as it ever has, moving the right analogue stick in different motions for different types of punches, however the face buttons can also be used for players who don’t enjoy the analogue method. You can bob and weave, block, dash in and out, clinch, throw hooks, jabs and uppercuts easily with the controller layout. Sure, you can win fights by throwing punches all out like a barbarian menace, but if you go up against an opponent who can weave around your shots, prepare for a damaging counter which eats far more life away then usual. It’s also worth watching your boxer’s Stamina.  If you throw too many punches off target, you’ll be winded, so throw punches carefully and strategically if you plan to go the distance.

Bob and Weave - Or Face Death By Pacquiao

If there’s one thing Champion Mode is great for, it’s that it’s built like an entertaining tutorial. Mixed in with the Cinematics and fights are small combo training exercises. While your mentor is delivering a speech about the upcoming fight, small prompts appear on-screen, teaching you new and effective ways to exploit your next foes weaknesses.  If you do however manage to get knocked down during a fight, the game encourages you with a stellar soundtrack to get up and fight on. Encouraging Rocky like music will play, your mentor will scream at you to fight on, it all works really effectively. Often I found myself screaming “COME ON!” at my television whilst turning the fight around in my favor. Champion mode also throws in cinematic touches into the gameplay, if Andre lands a clean Knockout punch, the game will slow down allowing you to completely hammer your foe before he even touches the Canvas. It’s small gameplay features like this that really help drive the action into something more then just a slobber knocker.

Champion mode is an exciting breath of fresh life for the series, with a stellar story, superb soundtrack and writing. However it’s only about 5 hours long (possibly longer factoring in difficulty and player skill), but Fight Night Champion offers a wide array of modes for players to engage themselves in after the story is completed. Legacy mode is back from the previous installments, in which you create a boxer (or use a pre-existing one), train him, fight and earn XP to improve skills while you aim for your respective weight class’s title.

Hit The Gym In 'Legacy Mode'

Legacy is also available to play online and if you can, this is definitely where Fight Night Champion gets it’s staying power.  You take your created boxer online, fight other similarly skilled opponents, earn XP for every fight to improve skills and even have the chance to earn the Online World Championship. Playing online feels snappy and responsive, even with poor connections between the two players. It also punishes opponents who quit early, as it tracks the amount of times they have quit, and doesn’t award them as much bonus XP as someone who has a perfect sportsman like record. It’s a great incentive to stay in the fight, as even if you lose, you will still earn XP to further your characters advancement. If you’re a true dedicated Fight Night player, you’ll probably want to earn one of the online titles. Do this by winning your fights, leveling your character and eventually the game will match you with the titleholder provided he’s online. It’s the carrot on the stick that really makes this mode feel like it could last a long time. If you just want to get in and have a good time however, Fight Night Champion will also cater to your crowd, so you can either fight the CPU or a local/online opponent instantly using pre-made boxers.

Visually, Fight Night Champion is jaw dropping. The beads of sweat, streams of blood and the animation of the muscles tensing are all life-like. There were definitely times where someone could walk past and mistake it for an actual Boxing match on TV. The Arenas are rendered beautifully, and the fighters have a fluid base of animation, rather then snapping into place to keep up with the speed of the player.

You're Getting Sweat On My Controller

Fight Night Champion is truly a breath of fresh air for the long running series.  Champion mode has a great and involving story with well written characters, exhilarating fights and a superb soundtrack to top it off.  It’s a great touch and the mature rated story is something Fight Night needed as the sport itself is not often all about what happens in the ring. Coupled with the offline and online Legacy mode, it really has staying power for veterans of the series who are looking to lace their boots up once more, and for new players, it’s a perfect time to start with all the helpful tutorials and mixed objectives to teach them the ins and outs of the sweet science.

The Rundown:

+ Champion Mode is a great addition to the Franchise.
+ The combat feels fast, fluid and frantic. Some truly bone-crunching punches will be thrown.
- One wayward swipe of the stick can send your fighter doing wild combos.
- Some objectives are oddly annoying, especially when most are very well executed.

Fight night champion was developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports.  It was released on March 1st, 2011 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 for $59.99 USD .  A copy was provided to us by the publisher for the purposes of review.  Aaron played it until his hands sweat and his veins pumped battery acid… then he played some more.

Oh, and also:

This is what the Create-A-Face feature thinks I look like...