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Burger King! (FIGHT) Dodge! (NIGHT) Under Armour! (ROUND THREE) ESPiN!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 80 / 83
Date: February 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've browsed the previous reviews, and agree with most that's been said. This *is* the best of the series. The graphics are ridiculously good. The control is terrific. For once, you really have a feel for how the fight is going, rather than relying upon health and stamina bars that just (in this reviewer's opinion) take away from the realism -- although they are an option. On the hardest difficulty, the game is absolutely a challenge, at least once your career really gets underway. You will be knocked down, you may even lose some fights, this wasn't necessarily the case in previous versions. Creating faces on character generation is much smoother and more intuitive now. The sound is fantastic. The ring girl's breasts actually jiggle when they strut around the ring between rounds.

Everything is great, really, it's a terrific addition to your XB360 library. Online is fun, there are ranked and non- matches, it's fast and easy to get a fight, another outstanding aspect to the game that will dramatically increase its longevity.

Great! So we got all that aside, I can talk about the commercials.

I've never seen a more over-the-top case of commercialism in the game. Is this a complaint? Yes and no. I mean, watch basically any boxing match, there are going to be ads on the ring canvas, on the ropes, in the arena, even on the shorts of some of the boxers. So there's just some realism here. Does it go overboard though? Yes, I'm absolutely prepared to say it does. Before some fights, you'll be 'treated' to a 360 degree view of a new Dodge truck while the announcer tells you about it. That doesn't seem too bad, right? Okay, later, Burger King's "The King" will escort another fighter into the ring and dance around before the fight. No, that doesn't get your goat either? How about after that fight, when "The King" actually becomes one of your available trainers? That's right, you too can be trained by, and have in your corner, a creepy guy with a giant plastic grinning mask.

Look, I'm not one of those types that goes off the deep-end about stuff like this -- but EA, are you listening? If you're going to throw it in our faces like this, while lining your already deep pockets with the ad revenue that you get from these placements, how about giving us a break on the cost of the game? We're paying for it, the advertisers are paying for it, wouldn't it seem fair to throw the consumers you're force feeding ad content a bone? Here's the thing, it doesn't have to be a big bone, and it gives us less reason to feel as used and abused as many of us are when the suspension of disbelief within a game/simulation like this is *shattered* by having to train with "The King". In fact, then we can cheer the gross commercialism, because we got something out of it too, a few bucks saved.

Terrific game. Worth buying, not just renting. 5 stars for the game, 1 off for taking advantage of me as a fan and customer. I should really ding it harder for that, but the game is too fun to let something sort of sleazy take away from it.

Great Gameplay - but Awful Environment

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 22 / 26
Date: March 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you're into boxing, definitely take a look at Fight Night Round 3 for the XBox 360. The realism in the boxer models is rather impressive.

We know that the XBox 360 has great graphics, but looking at the characters in many other games, you might think that human beings were made out of plastic. When you see the characters here, they look *real*. Their skin has pores and imperfections.

On to the game. You get to customize your character both physically and skill-wise. You can make a small, quick hispanic, or a large, bulky, strong-punching dark skinned fighter. You can alter the hair style, tattoos, and much more. As you earn money, you can also buy new trainers and customize your skills further.

Your main career path is a mix of training and choosing contracts to fight. In training mode it's a series of standard button-pushing games that in some cases are just reflexes, but in other cases are actual combo practicing that serve you well in the ring. The training increases specific skills, so you can further customize your character by deciding how to train.

In the fight, it is of course you against a given character. There are varying levels of difficulty and we found that they did a good job of providing fun gameplay for different types of players. The beginner levels were good - although sometimes challenging - for a person who had never played this sort of game before. The higher levels of difficulty meant you really had to focus on what you were doing and land the combos to win.

Your character has a variety of fighting styles to choose from, and you can buy more - including taunts. You can even play as historic characters if you want, including staging fantastic fight pair-ups that would have been fascinating to watch in real life, if we had a time machine to get people into the same ring.

The in-fight graphics were pretty slick. If you hit someone in the head, a spurt of blood came out of their mouth. Characters had definite personalities - some were arrogant, some were hesitant as they entered the ring. When a really solid punch was landed, time "slowed down" a bit as adrenaline kicked in. Most people in real danger situations know how this happens.

There were a few down sides here. One, the training mini-games can get a bit repetitive. I would have liked to see more variety. You can skip them if you want, just accepting a "medium" level of skill increase. Also, you choose a "nickname" that the announcers refer to you by during the game. This is a neat idea, but it gets to be a bit much when they use it all the time.

Also, the commercialism in this game is just WAY over the top. There are Burger King displays all over creation. There are promotional items left and right. I realize that sports TV can be like that sometime - but you watch the TV show for free. They are paying their fees with that advertising. With Fight Night, I've already shelled out a lot of money to play the game. I didn't spend all that money to watch a multi-hour long commercial for Burger King. It certainly didn't make me want to go out and eat Burger King food - if anything it made me pretty annoyed with them, and unlikely to visit them in the future.

So in general, I thought the game was great, but that the "environment" you have to play in was really annoying. I would almost pay extra money for some sort of a cheat code / hack to replace all of those ads with blank space. Maybe they'll let me download that from XBox Live in the near future.

A true next-gen gem...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: April 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If you've played the previous 2 incarnations of Fight Night (formerly known as Knockout Kings), you know what to expect: solid analog stick boxing, with great graphics and a lively soundtrack. So what's new in 2006?

The GOOD: The graphics are amazing. One of the first games to truly look next-gen in terms of its realism. The lighting is gorgeous, and the whole presentation is top notch. Even on a non-HD television, this game shines. The controls are as tight as ever, and the haymaker is less prevalent, which is a good fix from last season's gameplay. The game is rewarding in terms of strategy, because you will NOT be able to get very far without some basic strategy (ie: learn to block and dodge, and conserve energy).

The BAD: The menu interface is a disaster. One of the worst I have seen in 20+ years of gaming: it's cluttered, counter-intuitive, and the button presses sometimes register late. There is no rankings list, just a vague "popularity meter". More stats would be nice. The soundtrack is repetitive and not all that great. The unlockable items, while cool, are buried within the depths of the aforementioned interface, which makes it actively unfun to customize your fighter.

The UGLY: While the boxer models are very realistic, the ring girls are a bit alien-looking, and feel like a cheesy afterthought.

Overall, this game is great fun. If you want a semi-deep sports game which rewards patience and practice, pick this up!

Did EA nail it?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: June 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

As far as the mechanics of boxing, as a former fighter I can tell you that this game has me thinking like I was back in the ring.

I'm watching for facial reactions to my body shots, I'm watching for rythem and changing my style from round to round in order to out smart the opponent.

It's a game that think might (even in small way) help the sport itself.

I can really see where the other reviewers are coming from reguarding the advertisements, but I the Burger King guy didn't bother me... it made me laugh. So I can't take points away for advertising considering you can skip it all by just pressing the "A" button. Except for the fact that when I'm replaying a fight from the 1940's I don't think I should see a burger king or dodge logo in the back... in black and white.

So the graphics are indeed a true next-gen standard as far as the fighters are concerned.

There are even things to make the games realistic in career mode. Like the fact that wou have to work even hard to simply keep your attributes from falling quickly... I felt like a true 40 year old trying to prove himself to the young up and comers that I was indeed the greatest.

Here is my wishlist for the next game.
1. I would like to change the entry music and such like previous games. (though I can hook up my ipod and play anything I want.. it would still be nice)

2. I think it would be cool if I could wear a robe while entering the ring. I love that part of a real fight as the tension builds up and the fighters show each other how hard they really prepared to battle.

3. The Ability to save some of my fights... there were battles that I wish I could watch again. Race fans get this, why can't boxing fans?

4. More real boxers. I understand not letting fight Ali in carreer mode, but I'd still ike to fight some real fighters. This is probably expensive, but out of around 65 fights I'd like to beat more than just Roy Jones Jr. 3 times.

5. Let me come out of retirement. If I retire, but keep getting updated news about a punk who is calling me out, I'd love to be able to train up my guy again and kick his [...].

6. Show my fighter age. I think it would be cool if some of his hair started to grey out, or if I kept some scars from past fights... imagine having Fight Night Carreer mode having a hint of Fable!!!!

In conclusion I want to mention rivalry mode. This has the potentional to really make the game matter to some people. My rivals and I went back and forth, but one in particular.

I'm not obsessed, but I do find this game to be the best boxing experience I have had ... without the headache of taking one to many.

Lots of fun, especially stress relieving.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: August 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I come home from a long day at work and I enjoy just being able to just beat up on some computer generated character. I haven't tried the online mode yet and fighting with other people on the net, but I am waiting for my Gold Subscription card to come in so that I can challenge some guys on the net. I don't have a HD tv yet, so I can't see the true graphics of this thing, but so far it is great even on a regular TV. Some of the mini games to train are a little hoaky, but the game play outweighs that. And I don't mind that some of your oppenents throw the same punches over and over again, makes it a little easier to beat em. But even then, some of em are pretty tough cuz they are fast and can take a lot of punches.

Overall... great game and can't wait for the next one.

Franchise on the decline

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: March 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game franchise, in my opinion, is on the decline. Why? Aren't the 360 graphics just incredible? yes they are, but that is not enough in some cases. Consider this....over the three installments of the series, the graphics have gotten better, that much is true. But they have stripped features from each installment, without exception. Far fewer customization options, no entrance effects or entourage anymore--none of the extra features that really made the first game fantastic. It wouldn't be such a big deal if those features were never in the game to begin with, but explain to me why you would take it away? NEVER take steps back in video games.

The other often praised feature of this game is the lack of power or energy bars and its apparent increase in realism. This is garbage and I'll explain why. In a real boxing match it is true that there are no bars to tell you how well you or your opponent is doing, and you must rely on your own observations in judging the condition of your opponent. But the silly part is that in a real boxing match you would be able to FEEL your own damage, fatigue, etc. You would know how much a flurry of punches would tire you out because you could feel it. So although you think the absence of the bars is more realistic, it isn't, because you will never have the ability to feel your own boxer like you could in real life. Those energy bars allowed a close approximation. At least make them a feature that can be toggled on or off.

In short, the game is solid but losing serious ground compared to the second game, and they've both lost serious ground compared to the first. Fit and finish on the first game is what made it great. You saw your guy walking to the ring and could really customize him from head to toe. Not anymore. I think they need to stop ruining what should have been a fantastic continuation of the franchise.

Consider me K-O'ed

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: April 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

EA Sports' next-generation launch was as steady as the legs of a worn-out boxer. They ran a decent game with Madden NFL 2006, but missed a few tackles. They completely air-balled NBA Live 2006. FIFA 2006: Road to the FIFA World Cup was a decent game, but like soccer in real life, didn't reflect a lot of excitement. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006 was also a decent game, but wasn't the 300-yard blast that Xbox 360 golfing gamers expected. Now, with Fight Night Round 3, they've proven something-even a worn-out boxer can come back and make a big hit to get right back into the game. Fight Night Round 3 is easily above and beyond everything that EA Sports has done so far in the next generation, and it stands as one of the premier Xbox 360 titles right now.

Featuring two headline gameplay modes, ESPN Classics and Career, Fight Night Round 3 is chock-full of stuff for boxing fans. ESPN Classics puts you into the trunks of boxing greats and throws you into the ring against the star's biggest rival. For example, there is an Ali vs. Frazier match, a B-Hop and Jones Jr. match, and more. For boxing fans and those of you out there that know your boxing history, this is a real treat. Re-creating big match-ups is something that's always enjoyable.

Career Mode is where the rest of the gameplay is found, and it lets you create your own avatar and make a name for yourself as a boxing legend. This mode forces you to train your boxer, earn money and hire trainers, buy boxing gear, and sign contracts to fight in upcoming matches. By the end of your boxer's career, you'll have fought in all sorts of events, like ESPN Wednesday and Friday Night matches. I enjoyed the Career Mode the most, as it allowed me to have full control of my boxer and his stats. For example, if I needed a power boost before an upcoming match, all I had to do was participate in the Weightlifting training game and my boxer would be a little beefier. Eventually throughout your career you'll form rivalries that are reflected by the action on the mat, where a rival might start throwing illegal hits and taunting your avatar.

The on-mat gameplay is phenomenal, to say the least. Boxing is a test of stamina in real life, and this has been held up very well in the game itself. The punching controls are mapped to the right analog stick by default, and throwing punches is as easy as moving the stick into a certain direction. For example, quickly slashing the stick in an upwards-diagonal motion will result in your avatar throwing a mean jab. Swiveling the stick from down to up will execute an uppercut. There are even haymakers that are done by moving the stick in different motions. Though these punches are much harder to successfully execute, when they are landed on an opponent, the effect is dramatic. Once you wear down an opponent, he'll start to throw sluggish punches, he'll swagger, and he'll eat the floor when you land a clean hit. Of course, punching wildly and getting hit by your opponent will have the same devastating result on your boxer, and the finesse, knowledge, and stamina required in boxing is also required in the videogame in order to win matches. On harder difficulty settings, this game is truly punishing to any and all mistakes you make.

The gameplay is actually enhanced by the visuals; something that I feel the Xbox 360 hasn't really accomplished yet. Playing Fight Night Round 3 in high-definition glory is an experience that truly has to be seen. From the sweat beads dripping down a boxer's chest to the skin ripples in his face when he's hit, Fight Night Round 3 delivers detail in every way. The bright lights make sweat glisten and will actually blind you from time to time, putting you right into the head of your boxer. The default camera angle is extremely close to the combatants, making the action up-close and personal. Sometimes, especially after a big hit, the camera will swivel or shak, representing the unnerving feeling of uncontrollability and pain that a real-life boxer would feel. Like I said, with Fight Night Round 3, the visuals actually enhance the gameplay. Getting hit with a big punch not only feels brutal, but looks brutal thanks to these visuals.

The menu music is fitting, but I usually ended up listening to my Xbox 360 Custom Soundtrack anyway. Fortunately, the in-game commentary is actually worth listening to, even though some of the sound clips are played in a strange order. For instance, after each match, the commentator usually commends one of the boxers but sometimes won't specify whom he's talking about until he's finished complimenting. It's almost as if the sound team put in the different audio clips backwards. If there's anything worth bragging about in terms of sound, it's the sound effects, which do a fantastic job of signaling when your boxer's bones are crunching and when he's gasping for breath. And when the crowd gets into a fight, and starts chanting, you'll really feel it.

In almost every way, Fight Night Round 3 is a sensational game that sports, fighting, or boxing fans will enjoy. In fact, I really can't find anything to complain about. If you own an Xbox 360, I highly recommend giving EA Sports' knockout title a chance. Of course, the game on the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and PSP share the exact same gameplay features, but they don't have the visual enhancements that the 360 version delivers so perfectly. If EA Sports can continue to hit this hard with their next-gen games, sports fans won't have much left in their wallet when Madden NFL 2007 and NBA Live 2007 release.

Awesome game, insane graphics

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: February 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I downloaded a demo of this game over Xbox Live, and I must say that the graphics are by far the best of any game I've played on the 360. The gameplay is impressive as well. The slow motion replays of the devastating punches are very cool as well. Overall, it just feels like you're in the game. The demo sold me on this game.

Best in the Series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I just got the game and all I can say is wow. The graphics are sweet and the gameplay is very smooth. The A.I. is very smart and you have to think your way into combos instead of throwing haymakers. This game is a sim so dont expect arcade like gameplay like the other games. In short this game is a boxing fan's dream come true.

Nothing held back

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game is one of those titles that should inspire xbox 360 doubters. In my opinion Fight Night round 3 is the first game to realy show the pure power the 360 has. The graphics are absolutely ridiculous. I would say they're the most realistic of any game to hit any console yet. The controll scheme is very slick and provides the player with a full range of customization. This prooves to be very important especially in boxing games when the key to success is your variations and unpredictability. Another great feature of this game is the availability of boxing greats (They do not have to be unlocked!) You can fight with Muhhammed Ali, Joe Fraiser, Oscar De loya, Marvin Hagler (Go Brockton MA), Sugar Rey Leonard and a few others I've forgotten. If you own an xbox 360 you need to own fight night round 3.
Graphics 10
Control 10
Game modes 8
Fun factor 9.5 (slightly repetitive after extended play but not bad)

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