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PRE-GAME

Do you have what it takes to become boxing's undisputed champion of the world? The strength, the speed, the heart? 

You better because the competition is vicious and it's going to take all you have to make it to the top!

Create your champion, train your fighter to suit your style and hit the ring. The punches are going to start flying and you better be ready; take the belt or you're going to hit the mat. 

Ladies and gentlemen, it's Fight Night!

EYE-SPY

THE HOOK: The original Fight Night filled a void in the sport genre world for a quality arcade style boxing game, yet it as far from perfect. With Fight Night Round 2, EA has gone back to rework the technical problems of the first game and produced something that, in essence, is the spiritual successor to the SNES classic Mike Tyson's Punch-Out.

HOW IT LOOKS AND FEELS: Trust me when I say there are going to be quite a few moments in this game where you'll just sit back and think "wow, that looks practically real!" Fight Night Round 2 showcases some of the best texture work I've seen in a console game to date (the closest comparison I can think of would be Half-Life 2 on the PC). It is amazing how lifelike the skin and facial structures can look at times. Sweat will bead off characters' faces and bodies, blood will trickle down from open cuts and as you get beaten closer to the brink of collapse, your face will show ever bruise and bump. Once again, as your damage increases so does swelling and bruising. After a very heavily fought title bout, you're likely to come out looking like an over handled piece of rump roast. Glorious indeed!

The models themselves exhibit a wide range of very fluid and true-to-life animations as well. Punches flow together nicely and your character won't jerk around to-and-fro. The motion capture shows some definite polish and despite a few occasional glitches here and there, you should be quite pleased. The arenas are also well detailed, pretty original and satisfactory. The crowd can be a bit static at times but you'll never notice them all the much and they do rise above the standard two-frame pixel animations that most games tend to stick with.

On the control front, I have to say that while I was somewhat hesitant at the "Total Boxing" controls at first, once you get the hang of it, combos become second nature. Basically, the left analog stick is used for controlling your movement and the right analog stick controls your punching. Pushing it in certain directions results in jabs, uppercuts or hooks. Tweaking how you pull off these moves, or pulling back a punch, will result in a haymaker style slam. It's great fun. Leaning and blocking are accomplished by holding one of the shoulder buttons. It takes a bit of practice to get good at leaning, blocking and punching simultaneously, but it's worth the effort. While you can change the controls to punch with the buttons, I wouldn't recommend it. Get used to the analog stick and you'll be unstoppable.

HOW IT SOUNDS: I've really enjoyed the EA Sports soundtracks in the past. Not only were they extremely lengthy but they represented a particular genre of music fairly well (such as in SSX or Burnout 3). Fight Night Round 2 however has been left in the dust. You are given a handful of rap songs that, while not entirely perfect, are enjoyable enough to listen to. The problem lies in the fact that there are maybe six or seven songs, tops. This means you'll be hearing the same thing over and over again. Now granted, the only time you hear any music is when you're in the pregame menus (picking fights, buying stuff, and checking stats) but a little more variety would have been nice. Plus, why can't I turn the music on during a round? I'm aware it's not all that realistic, but neither is the game so at least having it as an option wouldn't hurt right?

Throwing two big muscle bound fighters into a boxing ring and letting them have at each other just begs for some meaty punching noises, this is where Fight Night Round 2 shines. Bone shattering punches and smashes are quite common and very realistic sounding.  Your boxer will grunt and wheeze and let out every manner of noise you would image someone being pummeled to death would. The crowd roars when a massive uppercut lands and boos if all you do is dance around. I especially like the little touches. The slow-mo replays are priceless! Nothing like hearing a slowed down groan as your fist connects with the other guy's face. They even give your quick haymaker punches, in the replays, an almost missile sounding effect. It's just good stuff.

As a quick note, the announcer in the game isn't as annoying as most. It's not perfect and at times the commentary gets sort of backed up or behind the action, especially during some quick exchanges. I didn't have any urge to turn off the announcer though so take that as a positive note. Still, the same recommendations for future versions still applies; more variety, more humorous comments and more enthusiasm.

EXTRAS: As you progress up the ranks, you'll earn quite a bit of money. You can use it to purchase new gear such as trunks, gloves, taunts and even tattoos for your boxer. There are few hidden characters as well though I'd have liked to see more of them. A little behind the scenes commentary or making-of videos would have been nice too, but oh well. One thing to note however is that the Gamecube version of the game comes packaged with the old SNES Super Punch Out!! Quite a cool little extra for you GC people.

CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE: The opening movie is nothing to write home about and after watching it once you'll likely just skip right by it the next time. No other real cinemas to speak of though. Entrance effects are nice but once you've seen them all, it's just another thing to skip.

BEST PLAYER: Logic would dictate that the boxer you create and build up yourself would be the best since you've sort of customized them to your own style. However, you can also "rebuild" a legend through their career. There are a ton of famous boxers and picking a best would be pointless due to the many weight classes and such but really, how could you not go with Muhammad Ali? You have to!

CHEAT CODE YOU NEED: The best I could dig up is to enter Getfab as the first name of a created boxer. Save the created boxer and Ghetto Fabulous will be unlocked under the heavyweight’s roster. Nothing fancy, but fabulous all the same!  

CHEAT CODE YOU WANT: Super punches! Anything that would allow me to wind up and just send a guy flying across the ring. I have no logical way to explain why I want this, but you know that deep down inside, you want it too.

OH MAN! MOMENT: The jump from Medium to Hard difficulty seems a bit much. Medium can be a challenge in the later fights, but you'll be beating yourself silly if you just pop into Hard mode unaware. Those boxers have laser guided fists....fists that leave massive bruises and incalculable amounts of internal bleeding. It hurts so much!

GLITCH ITCH: While uncommon, there are occasional hit-detection problems. Punches that should have connected are probably the only thing I really noticed. The end of the round replays can be a bit weird at times too. Sometimes, you'll get a great slow-mo scene of....well, nothing really happening at all. Just the two boxers maybe leaning or blocking. I'm sure someone out there wants to see an amazing replay of when their character leaned left and then leaned right; all while blocking...but not me. I'll settle with skull shattering punches.

FAN SERVICE: Well, boxing fans will love being able to play as a lot of legendary fighters...other then that though, you're sort of on your own here. Maybe you have a love for unabated fits of violence and a love of boxing

END GAME:

Being a guy who isn't all that interested in the sports game world, I'm pretty surprised I enjoyed Fight Night Round 2 as much as I did. This may or may not have something to due with the fact that despite being branded with the EA Sports logo, this game is far from a simulation of boxing. Throwing haymakers and stringing together combos isn't complex or daunting, though at times this can make for somewhat simplistic game play.

If there is one problem I have with the game it would be longevity. Frankly, there just isn't enough of a variety of punches. Aside from "signature punches" that can be purchased (definitely not enough of those either) you're limited to jabs, hooks and uppercuts. Hooks and uppercuts can be pulled back and swung with extra strength as haymakers while jabs are used more for annoyances or creating openings and combos. After a while though, you'll find that there just isn't enough of a variety in either punch animations or selection. I really would have liked to see a bigger depth in that area, maybe more skill based rewards. Sooner or later, you're going to tire of just beating people up.

Yet, I keep coming back to the game for some reason! Especially with a group of friends, it can be a blast. Rewatching the slow-motion replays and screaming obscenities at each other; trading punches and jabs down to the very last second; that tension building as you struggle to get up off the mat as your friends mock you. This game begs to be played at parties. It's quick to start, not hard to get the hang of and just overall fun. Don't forget there is online play available for the PS2 and Xbox versions. I wasn't able to test it out for this review but judging from the message boards and topics of other players, it works pretty well.

When you really get into it though, that's when you can just get lost in the action. Just the little details that really pull you into the action. The way, during a replay, you can see your opponent's face actually getting smashed with your punches and watching their cheeks and lips flap around after a nasty punch. Especially after a really nasty haymaker, you will often time just sort of cringe and go "Oooohh! That looked like it hurt!" I've done it a thousand times now.

The added features in Fight Night Round 2 are somewhat of a mixed bag. I really enjoy the new analog style boxing controls. They are fluid, fast and a lot more natural feeling then just tapping buttons. However, the whole Cutman feature feels like a waste of time. Basically, between rounds you can push down the bruising on your character or heal up cuts. At first, it's kind of neat but after a while it becomes a chore. You can have the game Auto heal for you, but during the tougher later bouts (especially on Medium or Hard mode) you really have to do it yourself. Then it just turns into a chore. The same goes for the training exercises. They're fun for a while but they get old very quickly.

As a quick side note, does everything in this game have to have the EA label spewed across it? EA Haymakers, EA Cutman, EA shoes and EA trunks. For the love of all that is holy in this world, we know you're behind the game EA! Please don't remind me of it every second you can! One of these days I really will "Challenge everything!" and you're going to be at the top of my list.

In the end though, despite the issues with longevity and possible repetitiveness, I'd recommend this game for almost anyone. Sports fans will like that there is finally a decent and easy to play boxing game on the market while arcade and fighting fans will enjoy the more laid back areas of the game. It's brutally good looking and responsive to the core. More then worth your hard earned money to pick up a copy. As an aside, I'd recommend the PS2 version over the other versions; merely because the PS2 control just works the best with the analog stick boxing. I really hope there is a Fight Night Round 3 somewhere in the works because with more content and even more variety, this could become one hell of a franchise.

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