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| Game: |
Fight Night 2004 |
| Genre: |
Sports |
| Developer: |
Electronic Arts |
| Publisher: |
Electronic Arts |
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| Related Links: |
Coming Soon. |
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Fight Night 2004 Preview: |
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Hands On Preview:
Year in and year out, EA Sports manages to successfully update and produce a ton of sports titles, so it’s no surprise that Fight Night 2004 is already shaping up to be a solid boxing title.
What most of the focus is on this round is the "Total Punch Control", a system which uses the right analog stick to give the player complete freedom in deciding how to fight, so by swinging right and up on the stick, for example, you can execute a right hook. When you apply this to defensive tactics, as well, you have the potential for a groundbreaking new combat system for boxing titles.
The game modes in Fight Night look to be nicely varied, with basic exhibition bouts, a training mode, and a career mode available. And, as usual with EA’s sports titles, you can expect to spend a good deal of time playing through a "season". It’s safe to assume that you’ll have an obscene number of options for customizing your boxer, with the ability to tweak everything from appearance to in-ring talent through the training mode. Add in the ability to upgrade your virtual "crib" as you win fights, and the option to customize your entrance and ringside entourage, and you could be playing with just the aesthetics for hours. And, of course, if you don’t want to play a customized, rainbow-wig-wearing created boxer, you could always choose one of the 32 other boxers available for a bout or two.
In typical EA fashion you can expect a ton of extras, from footage and demonstrational videos to instant replays and a record book of every stat you can think of. Sound so far has been, again, nice, but somewhat typical, featuring the licensed hip-hop and rock mix we’ve all come to expect from EA’s sports titles. While there was some commentary, it was few and far between, so hopefully that’ll be corrected in the final version. Since this is boxing title and a preview version, though, there isn’t much to expect other than crowd jeers and the smack of a gloved fist connecting with a chin, so no major disappointments yet.
What stands out more than anything, however, is the graphics. Even the PS2 version of the game looks absolutely spectacular, with amazing, photo-realistic boxers resembling their real-life counterparts in every conceivable way. Mannerisms are spot on, and movement looks great, but what really blew me away was just how good the sweat looks. Sweat will roll down your boxers forehead and brow, and when he takes a punch, it will appropriately go flying. You can even expect to see location specific damage like black eyes. It’s difficult to describe just how good this game looks in motion, so expect a visual "wow" when you pop EA Sports Fight Night 2004 into your Xbox on April 5th across North America.
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| Preview By: Jared Brickey |
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