Review: Fight Night Round 3 (PS3)

When Electronic Arts displayed Fight Night Round 3 to the public for the first time, it was very much a unanimous verdict.   Here was a (then) next generation title, with startling character detail and graphical flair.  Since that grand entrance we've seen Fight Night Round 3 arrive on Xbox 360, Playstation 2 and Xbox each to critical acclaim.  Now the one time champion seems like a journeyman as it finally arrives on PlayStation 3.

You take the role of a rookie boxer aiming to become a world champion.  Along the way you'll need to train, acquire experience, buy fighting equipment and create a reputation for yourself.   Initially you’ll fight against poor excuses for fighters in gyms, before moving up to a warehouse and getting on the bill for larger fights across the country.   Yes, its that tired formula of working your way up, which we now see in various releases across the genres.

Visually there is little between the Xbox 360 version and this late arrival on the scene, arguably the 360 edition is still the stronger of the two.  Those slow motion big punches have lost their visual impact, although they still sound amazingly realistic.  Such moments also highlight issues with the rag-doll physics with fallen boxers becoming trapped on the ropes, or crowds creating ghost-like spectres onscreen.  Throw in some frame rate difficulties, slow responses after pushing buttons (whilst navigating the menus) and poorly realised crowds (with dire animations) and you have a title that is beginning to show a few cracks, in a once formidable armoury.  How could we forget the repetitive commentary?   While we can overlook the clichés and repeat phrases, what really annoys is its failure to describe events onscreen, or how well you are actually doing.   The ringside commentators might as well be making it up as they go along, which seems to be the case.

To make up for these issues EA have seen fit to bring a couple of new additions to the release.   The main inclusion is the "Get In The Ring" mode, which puts you in a first person fighting perspective.  This plays out just like the boxing mode on Wii Sports, without the fun, motion sensoring or physical exertion.   Distance is hard to judge, as is aiming to ensure your punches are being landed.  Amazingly the mode is also not as strong graphically as the rest of the game, reminding us of Ready 2 Rumble.   EA have included other options if you decide the Career Mode is too much like hard work.   You can compete against another fighter in a battle of knockouts; take control of classic ESPN matches from history or just jump into the ring for a quick bout.  But for those looking for an inventive use of the Sixaxis controller capabilities, you’ll probably have to wait until the next release in the series.

Even with new additions the core strength of the release is the boxing itself, at whatever skill level or fighting weight you select.   Your range of punches is realistic, lacking the arcade pitfall that many boxing releases tend to stumble into.   While you have your powerful haymaker punch, this is inaccurate and tends to leave you wide open for a barrage of counter punches.   Tactical thought comes into play as you try to wear down your opponent through carefully placed jabs and blows to the chest.  Eventually they will visibly tire, providing the opportunity to go in for the kill.   No matter how often you knock down an opponent, the exhilaration from such a feat or overall victory remains constant.  Key to this is the challenging yet balanced difficulty level that allows you to develop your own tactics during encounters.  

Online you have the option to stream audio news and updates from the ESPN service.  As long as you don’t pause your game or disconnect, this will remain in place even if you decide against an online match.    While this is a real benefit to stateside players, for us Europeans it has marginal novelty value.  Baseball, ice hockey and so on are never the big headline setters in the EU and the lack of more coverage beyond North America is disappointing.   Online the whole package is backed up with statistics, lobbies and the option to take part in ranked, or unranked matches.  These for the most part work efficiently, although the number of players who decide to disconnect when things are not going their way is disappointing.

While EA has strived to include famous boxers and a range of boxing options, a noticeable inclusion is that of product placement.  While we can accept boxing equipment branding the names of companies you’d come to expect in or around the ring, having (for instance) a Dodge sponsor, where the winner gets the car (and a Dodge trophy) is a little more suspect.  Throw in the option to watch a trailer for the vehicle (just a thinly disguised advert) that you cannot skip until the end and you feel a little cheated.  This theme is evident through Fight Night Round 3 and surely must count towards some discount from the retail price?

For our criticisms of the title, at 720p it still remains a visual contender that has been ported with some care, but never fully taking advantage of its new host or bringing any worthwhile additions.  Fight Night Round 3 will provide many hours of enjoyment if you enjoy the art of boxing and pitting yourself against some of the legendary names in the ring.   However with this release Gamestyle was hoping to really push the experience to a new level, instead it's merely content to hold its own.

Rating: 6 / 10

Words by Jason Julier