Title: Fight Night Round 3

Date: 03.06.2006

Genre: Boxing

Platform: Xbox 360

Developer: Electronic Arts

Publisher: Electronic Arts

After two strong showings with Fight Night 1 and Round 2 on the current-gen consoles, EA Steps into the next-gen ring with a KO!

Graphics

As you already know if you have played a demo or seen screenshots of this game, the graphics are the focal point of Fight Night Round 3. Everything has been remodeled and upgraded for the Xbox 360. Skin on the boxers looks real and has all of the right textures. The faces are accurate to the tee as they scrunch up and contort with every blow. The crowd n the game is in full 3D and even the ring girls FINALLY look like real women. EA Sports hyped up the graphics and they lived up to it completely. Perhaps the best graphics in a sports game, ever.

Gameplay

The core gameplay from Fight Nights in the past is “meated up” with some new mechanics to create a balanced experience. When stepping into the ring you will notice the basics such as the Total Punch Control, haymakers, clinching, and illegal punches are back, but EA added 2 new things to the game. The first is the "Flash KO" punch. By charging a punch the right way, your boxer will throw a "Flash KO" punch that, when landed, will put your opponent in an instant daze, leaving him one big blow away from being knocked out. The new Stun Punch works in a similar way, but when it connects the game switches to a first person view through your opponents eyes, as he watches you wail on him. Both of these mechanics bring new strategy to the game and make fights more unpredictable then ever. Adding these things while leaving the core aspects basically the same help make R3 the best playing fighter since Punch Out.

Presentation

The first thing you will notice is no more health meters or HUD at all! This creates a realistic atmosphere in which you will have to look at your opponent’s body language to see his status. However, the "Heartbeat" remains when your opponent is about to be KO'd. When that KO punch does happen, the game goes into a slow motion close-up of your hand ripping the opponents face or body, spit/blood flying and all. This makes for great fun and adds to the impact of the bone shattering punches.

Also EA Sports brings in their ESPN rights in this years version, but it could have been done better. While you will see ESPN logos everywhere (along with logos from about 10 different companies), you will not get that ESPN feel. Instead the feel of fights is darker, and cinematic, which is cool at first, but in the long run I wish they would make it more like a TV broadcast. It would also have been nice to add the live ESPN ticker on the bottom like they did with MVP 06: NCAA Baseball.

Sound

The sounds of the fights are about as realistic as you can get. The commentary is small, but effective as the punches are called as they happen. The sound of the gloves hitting the body, the fighters grunting as they throw that killer blow, or receive it, the crowd, and the body smacking the canvas all make for a great experience. The music in the game is all rap, which fits boxing like a glove. I know not all enjoy rap music, but that’s what custom soundtracks are for. Overall the sound of the game is great, but nothing we haven't heard before.

EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 has officially taken video game boxing to another level graphics wise, and gameplay wise. Even though the presentation could be better, Fight Night R3 on the Xbox 360 is still one of the best boxing games to date and a MUST HAVE for any 360 owner.

Game Score

8.9

Reviewed By: Anthony Martinez