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Parrying defect ruins games

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 19
Date: March 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Let me start by saying that I first got into videogames because of boxing games and have played almost everyone ever produced. That being said, I felt last year's version of Fight Night was awesome. The only weaknesses were that you could not clinch and also that you stopped on a dime when you punched or blocked. Hearing that those problems were fixed, I assumed that this version would be the ultimate boxing game. Well I was wrong. Like a previous reviewer said, why could they not have left well enough alone. My main problem with the game is: Parrying

In the old version, when you parried a punch, your opponents hands slipped upward leaving a very slight opening. It worked very well. In this years version, when you parry a punch, your opponent (or you if you are parried) literally drops his gloves and bends over exposing his face for a good second or two. It is literally like a dog gasping for air. At first I thought this was a defect in the game, but as I played I found out this literally was the parried punch reaction. So when you get into exchanges, you can expect at least one or two times an exchange to drop your hands and stick your face out. It is totally unrealistic and incredibly frustrating as you cannot prevent someone from parrying your punch (it is a defensive skill) and you cannot prevent yourself from being hit as your arms drop to your sides. I am amazed that they let this defect (and it is a defect) go through. It completely ruins the flow of the game. Whoever was responsible for the parrying effect ruined the work of all the other developers and much of the rest of the game is quite good.

My only other problem was the limited number of camera angles. There is NO long range camera so you cannot see the entire ring while you box. This is also a huge oversight as I like to see all the ring when I box.

So, despite the great reviews by mags and site, take it from a true fan that this game is actually an inferior game then last year's version (which I will continue to play simply due to the parrying defect).

Good and Bads!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I just went and copped the new Fight Night Round 2 and it has its negatives and its positives! One of the negatives is the new parrying system. Yea its dumb as hell!!! Your fighter unlike the first Fight Night when you will just have a quick pause and your oppenent gets a quick couple a shots in, now you will totally put your face in front of your oppenent and get hit wit a haymaker!!! Another negative, is the damn haymaker!!! Im gettin use to doin now, but its still dumb as hell!! It totally takes away from the flow of your fight because your tryin to think about how to throw the damn haymaker. When you play the computer they throw haymakers in combo's, but its hard for u to throw one not to mention three!!!! Another negative is the same gripe every boxing fan have, WHERE IN THE HELL IS TYSON!!! Yea we all know the dude is crazy and bite ears and wanna eat kids, but he is boxing since the 80's! You dont even mention boxing without mentioning Tyson and he's not in the game. Its others missin but hell I could do without them if Tyson was in it.The last negative is in Career mode you box a bunch of no names! Even when u finally work up to the top of the ladder your boxing no names! Im a middleweight in my career and I cant fight no actual middleweights! I dont wanna fight to get there be a champ and fight Dennis Erickson! I know u wondering who is that? Thats the same thing I was wondering!

But now since Ive told u whats wrong wit it, it is a bunch of plus's this year too! Now in your career mode, when you buy new clothes you can actually get boost's! You can buy gloves that give you power and speed and you can buy shoes that give you speed and agility! Even your entrance gives you a plus of heart. The women gives you boost for stamina! The graphics looks real!!! When your losing a fight, your face will definetly tell you, and if u dont have a good cut man then the ref will stop the fight for excessive bleeding ( sometimes thats annoying, but its real life!). You can actually damn near make your fighter look like you! The create a fighter is so detailed that if you sat there long enough you could get a pretty close model of yourself in the game. The bad thing is if u played wit that fighter and got your azz kicked!! Finally Im gonna make this one real simple "X-BOX LIVE"!!!!

Overall its better than last years and you will definetly enjoy it and like it, but it could be improved for Round 3! Somethings could return to Round 1 and somethings can stay in the 2nd Round but if they figure it out by the 3rd Round and will mess around and be a knockout!!!!

Wonderful! The best game ever made!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: March 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is wonderful and its just amazing how such a game can ever be made. Sticking and Jabbing Eventually wears down ur opponent letting u do a crazy KO punch or a haymaker. The controls are easy to maneuver and learn although throwing a haymaker requires correct timing. Tending to cuts and swelling between rounds really brings out the realism of boxing in the game. Sparring lets u harness ur skills and learn the controls. Sticking and moving lets u easily avoid hooks or deadly punches and lets u throw a stinging jab to the face. Counterpunching just makes u feel so good. For example your opponent throws a deadly hook, you can immediately counterpunch and hit your opponent right back in his face, and this could distabilize him because he wasnt prepared for it, letting you throw a flurry of punches and even giving the opportunity to go for a haymaker, which could send them straight to the canvas. Animation is excellent and is very funny too. Rings are beautifully created and lighted and the way the boxers are introduced makes the whole thing awesome. So, what are u waiting for??? Get your copy right now and you wont regret it.

THe BEST boxing game out there BUT......

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: March 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

it can use some imrovments. I'll run through them quickly... 1st, there needs to be a way 2 players can chalenge each other for a belt title. THat would up the fun factor scale. 2nd, THey should do away with the 2 different Creat a Boxers. Meaning, that you have to crerat one boxer to play in Career and one boxer for the Head to Head mode. That takes all the fun out of developing your boxer and pitting him up against your freinds Creat-a-Boxer because your friend can put all his stats up to MAX and your let with the weeker figher!! Just ONE Creat-a-BOxer for the career mode would be good enough. Other then that the game is AMAZING! Oh and if you MUST have TYSON in the game, just creat him!

outstanding

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: March 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

tis review in a nut shell is really great. i wuld reccomend this game to anyone on earth. i am so addicted to this game. i am (...) and i am glued to it!!!!!!!!!!

Best Boxing game yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: March 28, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I hesitated buying this game because the other boxing games in this series i would play finish then be bored stiff.But not this one what a great game Love the punching control and the defense and counter punching is awesome.It couls improve on the next one though the only thing I didnt like about this game was in carrer mode when you make it in to the top ten and go for the title you fight no namers insted of all the greats or even the current champ in real life.You can only fight boxers like ali and lewis ,and all those guys in a exhibition match.Plus Only have One create a boxer and I agree they need to let 2 players challenge each other in a title fight.Othe than those things this game is a no brainer JUST BUY IT if you love boxing youll LOVE THIS GAME....
OH and NO this Game or any boxing game doesent need TYSON he is a has been that cant fight anymore and he has turned into a discrace.They wont put him in this game because of his behavior in a nd out of the ring...This game is for the greats that went oput in style.Tyson once was great and I like him but now he is a black eye on boxing...
10 STARS FOR FIGHT NIGHT ROUND 2

Amazing game but not perfect

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 8
Date: April 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The GOOD: I love EA Sport's innovative Total Punch Control (TPC), which utilizes the analog sticks to punch instead of buttons. It is intuitive, and most importantly, does a much, much better job of recreating the boxing experience than the traditional button mashing. The aspect I love the most is that this game, for the most part, rewards patience and technique over raw power and aggression. As you climb the ranks, boxers will have distinct personalities; while some less powerful enemies will bob and weave you to death, others will go toe-to-toe with you. The graphics are gorgeous, and sometimes almost over the top in terms of recreating the blood and sweat universe of boxing. Thankfully, EA listened to critics and fixed the training minigames (gone is the Uber-irritating heavy bag swinging game), making them more accessible and more effective. The new cutman feature, whereby you control the swelling and cut repairs between rounds, is fun at first but I have yet to see the impact, and now I just let the computer take care of it. This game is addictive and just plain fun.

THE BAD: The computer controlled oponents go up in difficulty (as is to be expected) as you rise through the ranks, but unfortunately, the difficulty jumps from: "I can knock anyone out in the first 3 rounds" to "I get knocked out in 2 rounds and all my punches get blocked" in the span of a single fight. Strategy can remedy this somehow (clinching is now an option, thank goodness, and you really need to learn to block and weave), but by far the biggest flaw is the upper-level character's propensity for just unloading on you with haymaker after haymaker. The worst part is, they don't get tired like they should, and can throw them all day. Since a single one will stun you, they can just keep unloading on you until you get knocked out. It's frustrating, and really an example of unbalanced play.

CONCLUSION: This is a great game that would be even better with more balance in the punching; the haymaker is good to have, but the over-reliance on it (online and off) is hurting this game. That said, this game improves on almost all of the flaws of last year's edition, so it's worth picking up.

Some improvements from the original version...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: April 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

So, I rented the game before I bought round II. I don't think the developers did enough to justify a part II to an awesome original release. If you think you'll be blown away by the graphics just like you were with version 1, think again. I liked the gameplay [which has not changed, thank god]. I didn't see many enhancements besides closeups of KO's and better sound management. Other than that, the fighters are the same, no new editions. The graphics have improved, but not as much as one would have expected. I would not pay full price for this game... I think the used market on this will be very cheap once the release has been around for more than a month or two. I like version wayy better.

Great Game With a Few Monumental Flaws

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: April 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Fight Night round 2 is so frustrating because this should have been a game that was head and shoulders above every other boxing game created so far as well as almost any other sports game out there. It is still a good game but falls far short off the greatness that was so easily within reach. Here's my take on the many highs and major lows:

Why is the Game so Much Fun...
a) Punching control/delivery, movemnet, and response to punches landed are wonderfully delivered. Graphics are top notch, and the soundtrack while not quite as good as the previous version in my humble opinion isn't bad.
b) The create a boxer mode has tons of possibilities and offers hours of entertainment as you create a boxer that can look like almost anything you can imagine (within reason off course!!) and fight your way to the top in different weight classes.
c) Playing with a friend (or foe!!) is great and for boxing fans, this is probably as close as you can get to living the dream of big time boxing without actually getting your block knocked off.
d) Different add-ons, like tattos, different types of apparell, ring entrances and cute ring girls can make for an ecclectic colorful boxer and entrance.
e) While it doesn't appear to really have a direct impact to the outcome of a match, the cuts, briuses, as well as the cutmen in your corner make it seem realistic and remind you that your boxer is taking or dishing out a grand beating as the case may be!!!
f)You can now protect your boxer while he is moving foward or backwards. Great addition.
g)A boxer in trouble can now clinch to stop the pummeling!!!

EA Missed the Boat...
a)Parrying a punch which was included in the previous game was quite interesting. If it was pulled off correctly, it gave the parryer a slight opening to land a punch. Even when you did parry a punch a quick opponent could escape damage if you weren't quick to strike. When a punch is parried here (FN Rd 2) the boxer inexplicably drops his hands down to his side, and literally sticks his head out for about 2-3 seconds!!!!!! This is completely asinine!!!!! Also as soon as the AI is close to being knocked out, 8 out of 10 punches you throw are going to be parried. So a person is more able to defend himself when he is close to being knocked out?!?!?! Oh behave!!!! Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

b)Inclusion of the HAYMAKER: while this might have seemed like a good idea, it definitely did not translate to anything positive in this game. In fact I will go as far as to say that this is the single most negative, and worthless addition to the game. It single handedly destroys, and downgrades the game play against the games AI. It is understandable that especially in the heavyweight class, a single well placed punch thrown with the full force a boxer can muster could knock an opponent out. However there is a reason boxers don't go around throwing HAYMAKERS. You can see them coming from a mile away, you can't throw them in combinations, and they wear you down really fast. Neither one of these apply to the AI in this game, so you have a situation were an opponent throws HAYMKERS in a rapid stacatto fasion!!!! Totally rediculous!!! Combine this with the previously discussed parrying flaw and a fight against a fairly competent AI oponent would go something like this: You throw one punch it get's parried and your boxer puts down his hands and sticks his head out, boom, boom, boom, you get hit by 3 haymakers. This is repeated over and over (AI never tires of throwing haymakers off course), till either you get knocked out or you dance around your opponent till the match ends, afraid to throw a single punch.

Have you all noticed that anytime a game maker introduces a special move; especially difficult for a human to complete, which has the propensity to drastically change the outcome of a game, that game invariably becomes a mess. This in no exception.

Playing this game with a friend hides it's worst flaws, and here the game really shines as it can provide hours of fun and entertainment; beating each other sensless without actually loosing any teeth. However playing against the AI at any serious level is indeed a lesson in futility, which quickly becomes distracting. Perhaps EA got lazy and took the easy way out towards the end who know?.....

I agree with naz's review

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: May 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

overall the last game was better than this new one the fighting in my opinion feels glitchy and i feel the game doesnt run as smooth as the last one although the graphics have improved thats not enough to make me like this one more than the first ...id wait till the price drops on this one if your still interested in buying anyways..because over all its still an ok game

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