Every year, there’s a new season of professional basketball, football, baseball, and hockey, and every year developers and publishers scramble over themselves to update rosters, secure licenses and arenas, and motion capture moves to produce what they hope to be the number one title of any given sport that year.

And every year EA Sports consistently provides a solid product for every sports genre known to man.

Arguably, what keeps their sports titles fresh is the overwhelming competition that they face from rival sports games. On the Xbox alone, EA’s flagship title, the Madden football series, faces Microsoft’s own NFL Fever series, and Sega’s ESPN NFL Football. Cliché or not, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and it’s because of this that year after year EA Sports manages to get better and better.

EA Sports Fight Night 2004, however, isn’t Madden. It’s a totally different animal, a totally different sport, and, as is probably pretty apparent from the title, it’s boxing.

And that’s what makes Fight Night so special. While games like Madden 2004 and NBA Live 2004 are expected to be gems after years of being tested against the best the competitors had to offer, the world of boxing games is relatively thin. For awhile now EA was essentially the sole titleholder with its Knockout Kings series. With such little pressure from any competing boxing games, Knockout Kings was popular, but flawed, lacking the do-or-die TLC of the other EA Sports games. All that has changed, though, as Knockout Kings was last year. This year EA Sports has opted to not only rename their prized boxing title, but to revamp it as well.

As NBA Live 2004 has Freestyle, and NHL 2004 has Bruise Control, so does Fight Night 2004 now make a new innovative use of the right control stick with Total Punch Control. Welcome to the new face of video game boxing.

The use of the right thumbstick greatly enhances the flow of gameplay by not only eliminating button-mashing in one-on-one two player bouts, but also giving a much more authentic feel to the game itself. Using the right thumbstick to move your "fist" out and then up to connect with a right or left hook is not only satisfying when you make the hit, but it’s also much more realistic than just pressing the A button or B button. As vastly improved as that alone would be, it gets better. By using the left and right triggers in conjunction with the right thumbstick, you have complete control over your boxer’s defensive moves, be it bobbing, weaving, or blocking any variety of punches. And, just like real boxing, footwork is key, as you can move your fighter into the background and foreground, and forward and back. You can step in and bait your opponent into a big swing only to step back to avoid it, and jump back in for a quick jab. The proverbial "float like a butterfly" adage has never been more appropriate. The only real flaw in the gameplay is that it takes a while to learn exactly how to move your boxer horizontally and vertically. Oddly, on a ringside camera angle, pressing up on the left thumbstick will move you forward, instead of into the background (or to the boxer’s left, if you’re player one). The peculiar movement is easy enough to adjust to, in time, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t awkward.

Unfortunately, as good as the gameplay is, the sound, specifically the music, isn’t quite up to par. The sound effects are excellent, featuring accurate and well-done audio to sell every punch, and even a very cool heartbeat that begins to thump slowly when a boxer is in risk of being knocked down. The music, however, is nothing but rap and hip-hop, with absolutely no custom soundtrack support. In a game that could benefit from it in the menu, as well as during fighter entrances, this is downright unforgivable, especially from a company like EA Sports that could have easily included it. There is "play-by-play" and "commentary", but it’s done by the same person, who doesn’t really excel at either, especially when the commentary during the fight is few, far between, and grossly unprofessional. I’ve never heard Bob Costas use the phrase "my man done busted" to set up a description for a right hook, and I’d like to think I never will.

The good news is that for a game built from the ground up for the lowest common denominator of the PS2’s dated graphics, Fight Night 2004 looks absolutely amazing. The boxers look gorgeous, resembling their real-life counter parts to an almost creepy extent, with excellent detail in facial expressions.

And speaking of faces…

Fight Night 2004 is not a game for the weak at heart, as your boxer’s face will bruise, cut, and bleed profusely if it takes too much damage. Blood and sweat will roll down a fighter’s face as it swells, and eventually it will become an unrecognizable chuck of tenderized meat…just like in real boxing. Sweat and blood will both fly whenever a punch connects, as well.

In classic EA Sports fashion, Fight Night 2004 is loaded with extra content and bonus material to unlock. Perhaps the most innovative example, linked to the entire line of 2004 EA Sports games, is the new EA Sports Bio, a nifty little feature that tracks the number of 2004 games you’ve played, how long you’ve played them, and your win-loss record for each. By playing better and spending more time playing across all of the titles, you can earn unlockable goodness in the form of more entrance perks like confetti, laser lights, and fireworks, or more music.

EA Sports Fight Night 2004 is certainly a solid buy with a good deal of replayability thanks to EA’s standard fair of game modes like exhibition bouts and a deep career mode. Not surprisingly, should you choose to play through the career with a created boxer (or the dozens and dozens of licensed boxers in every weight class from Heavy to Featherweight, including legends), you can earn more gear and move up the rankings to finally achieve the goal of world champion. Expect cash rewards that vary depending on who you fight, and a deep, intuitive training mode. By spending time with the heavy bag or sparring, for example, you can improve your boxer’s skills to take on the higher ranked opponents.

Fight Night 2004 is a huge success for boxing fans and gamers alike, and is well worth a purchase, but with lackluster commentary, no custom soundtrack support, and, like all EA titles, no Xbox Live support, it falls just short of greatness.

Pros:

• Fun, intuitive gameplay.
  
• Total Punch Control. It really works.
  
• Legendary boxers like Ali.
  

  Cons:
  

  • No Xbox Live support? For shame…
    
  • Terrible commentary. A street jock wouldn’t be calling the action ringside at the Staples Center.
    
  • No custom soundtrack support.