Fight Night Champion Review
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SpectralShock
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Fight Night Champion is a boxing video game developed by EA Canada and published by EA Sports. Unlike many of EA’s other sports franchises, this series is not on a yearly release schedule. Thanks to that fact, each iteration has been able to bring a ton of changes and gameplay innovations to the table. Fight Night Champion is no different. With a change of direction for the series towards a more realistic and mature approach, Champion succeeds in delivering a complex yet accessible boxing experience. With great visuals, improved physics, and even a surprisingly good story mode, this title is set to become the undisputed champion of the ring.
Right off the bat, the game introduces players to the new “Champion Mode”. For the first time in any sports series, this mode is basically a single player story experience in the world of boxing. Players take on the role of Andre Bishop, an up-and-comer who is trying to make his mark on the sport. A popular boxing promoter takes notice of his skills and offers him a chance to be his manager – but Andre refuses. Andre’s father once boxed as the client of this same manager, until his tragic death. Now Andre and his brother, also a boxer, are set to carve their own path. Unfortunately, the boxing promoter sets up Andre to take the fall for attacking two corrupt police officers – which lands Andre a five year jail sentence.
The players will get to guide Andre through this whole experience, including his experiences in jail and afterward. The story is in parts predictable, but is nonetheless very enjoyable and often makes you forget this is a sports game. There are over 30 minutes of cutscenes, all done surprisingly well with realistic and fleshed out characters, which are fantastically animated. It’s an amazing step forward for a sports game to include such a good narrative experience. The story doesn’t overstay its welcome either, clocking it at around 3 to 4 hours of play. It’s an interesting and successful experiment of introducing a story mode to a sports title – though this worked for an individualistic sport, it’d be a much more challenging task to add to team-based sports.
Once the Champion Mode is complete, players can dive in to the usual Legacy Mode career. Here, you can once again create and personalize a boxer and take him through the ranks to the championship title. Similar to the “My Player” mode in other EA franchises, the character starts off on a low skill level and must take on training and competitive matches in order to improve. Progress is based on earning XP points from fights and training challenges. XP can then be assigned to a wide range of categories that permanently improve your boxer’s abilities. Certain levels in the skill progress bars also give new abilities, such as the increased chance to knock out an opponent with a particular punch. The progression system is balanced and sets up the players for a long but rewarding career of growing their boxer.
Time advances based on scheduling fights with similarly ranked boxers. Once a fight is scheduled, the calendar advances to 4 or so weeks before the fight. These few weeks before the fight are used for training in order to earn extra XP or improve the physical conditioning. Players begin by selecting a gym to train at – some cost more than others, and offer extra XP and new practice drills. The skill challenges provide an opportunity to earn XP by successfully completing minigames, which range from fun and engaging to somewhat frustrating. The challenges are all based on realistic exercises such as practicing with a punch bag, a sparring partner, or other skill honing routines.
You can only complete one minigame per week, so succeeding at these challenges is crucial opportunity to earn extra XP. Each week spent in training depletes the stamina meter though – so the last week before the match must usually be taken for rest in order to restore energy for the fight. It’s a realistic scheduling system, though one has to wonder why the game limits us to just one training session per week, and for a pro boxer the stamina drains a tad too quickly. The player can also take the training week to improve any of the boxer’s physical skills. This simply results in a text prompt, so there are no minigames to worry about.
As your boxer grows with experience and rises in the ranks by defeating opponents, there will be options down the road to sign sponsors, attend fan events to increase your popularity, and pickup on last-minute fights. All of these events add a bit of randomness to the experience, but don’t actually affect the overall progression very much. While progressing , the way that a player assigns XP points really affects the outcome of the fights and it is satisfying to see your fighter improve overtime. The career can take a player through a number of weight classes and championships before they must retire due to age – an interesting dynamic that always introduces new AI opponents to the rankings while removing the retired ones. The existing roster of boxers includes ranks filled with modern legends in all weight classes, from lightweight to heavyweight. As with any sports game, Legacy Mode offers a ton of gameplay value and very extensive replayability options.
Once you finally step into the ring, after the cool custom entrance presentation you’ve created earlier, the gameplay really shines. First off, the physics are very well done – there is nothing silly like arm models clipping or glitchy movements. Everything is very well animated and dynamically created as punches land, miss or lack power. It makes the game look great, but the physics doesn’t much influence on the gameplay itself – not that it’s a problem. Full spectrum control is once again present, letting you control your punches and swings with either the right stick or the face buttons on the controller. Both input methods work equally well and feel satisfying. There is also a power modifier, allowing you to throw heavy punches – but they often don’t feel significantly more powerful than regular attacks, and use too much of your boxer’s stamina. Still, they are most often recommended when trying to finish off an opponent.
The boxer’s stamina starts off full at the beginning of a match, and as punches are thrown and received, it gradually decreases overtime. Between the rounds, depending on your boxer’s skills, a percentage of overall stamina level is restored. As such, managing attack and defence is a crucial tactical skill for long matches. And even overall – tactics are a very important part of the game, and it’s impossible to play Fight Night as a button masher. Balancing jabs and hooks with good blocking is key to victory. Alongside the relatively accessible controls, the game also introduces reflexive blocking, allowing the player to dynamically block punches without having to specify a direction.
Alongside stamina, fighters also have a health rating during the match. By constantly landing punches, the player can decrease his opponent’s health level (which is restored a bit between rounds). After a successful combination, the opponent becomes stunned – giving the player a boost of stamina to launch a finishing flurry while the opponent can only cover up and hope to survive. After a few minutes, if no serious punches land, the stunned condition clears but the opponent would have lost a significant amount of health. When stunned, the opponent is vulnerable to a KO by a strong landed punch. Opponents usually go down around twice before the match is decided by a KO result, which becomes a bit predicable. The game also introduces one punch Kos which are difficult to execute, but feel as satisfying as one would imagine. Overall, the accessible control scheme and great match mechanics make for some very intense and fun tactical battles.
Like previous titles, Champion offers a robust set of online options. There’s the usual ranked and unranked head to head play, but that’s merely a quick pickup choice compared to the other modes available. The biggest mode is probably the Online World Championships, which lets players create and guide their boxer through the ranks, much like in Legacy Mode, instead this time against real opponents. Players are ranked individually, and those who claim the title will surely have a tough time defending it. Whenever a champion player or an online leader (such as most KOs) logs in, everyone receives a notification – even if they are mid-match. This kind of a connected experience offers an engaging way to compete online and keep tabs on the local and global leaderboards.
The game also offers Gyms – these online hubs act like a central location for a team of boxers. Players can practice with their gym members, or take on rival gyms in structured competitive matches. Within the gym, members are free to customize all the rules and aesthetics of their matches. When fighting rival gym members, the fights turn into real matches for extra XP and credibility to your own team. Trophies are awarded for wins, and ranks are tracked on the global gym standings. Overall, the online features in Champion are robust, engaging, and provide ample opportunity to both connect and compete with others.
Given that two years have passed since Fight Night Round 4, Champion has taken upon a seriously upgraded visual look and style. The game presents a very focused and realistic approach to presentation, from gameplay to behind the scenes experiences. Visuals are crisp and realistic, with great real time motion blur and new lighting effects. The character models are highly detailed as well – punches that land send ripples through your opponent, and the KOs in slow motion are a particular highlight. There’s also an extensive damage system – thanks to a Mature rating, the game isn’t afraid to show significant bruising damage and blood during matches. It isn’t over-used though, so everything is kept at a believable and realistic level.
While for the most part the game keeps its Mature rating in check, the soundtrack is definitely where most of the rating draws from. The game’s music is laden with expletives and risky lyrics, so while it may be catchy, this isn’t a game you’d want to crank up when others are around. Thankfully, it doesn’t get any worse – the rest of the game’s presentation uses the M rating to add some significant elements without going overboard. For example, the Champion Mode dialogue and themes often fall into adult territory, which allows the characters to become more developed and highlight vital moments of tension. The commentary duo keeps things interesting, if repetitive after a while.
Many would agree that with a lot of franchises from EA Sports, it is important to take the time and significantly improve upon each iteration. Most of the time, with a yearly release cycle, it becomes a very difficult task. Fight Night Champion, thanks to a longer development cycle, doesn’t suffer from this potential problem. Almost everything in the game has been tweaked and improved, to the point where it becomes more than just a sports sequel. Addition of a story mode was a risky step in the genre that has paid off surprisingly well, with good character development, writing, and well directed cutscenes. Legacy mode offers the same type of customization and depth that fans have come to expect, while inside the ring tweaks have been made to make the game more accessible without dumbing it down. Online options are as robust as ever, and the game looks quite stellar thanks to new effects and dynamic physics. For boxing fans, there is absolutely no reason to miss this title – and if you’re merely curious, you could be in for a pleasant surprise.