Fight Night Round 4

I'm a fan of the Fight Night series, and was more than thrilled to see that they were opening up the roster and even bringing in the controversial Mike Tyson to the boxing ring! After having made a character, boxed as a pro, and logged enough hours into the game, I'm happy to report that this game is worth the hype. There's a few things that have changed since Round 3. Mainly the training mini-games. I miss the concept of the Round 3 mini-games which is a progressively increasing score to receive maximum benefit of the training. In Round 4, however, they opted to have a set goal every time for the several methods to train. While it adds more realism as you have to give it your absolute best every time you train, it becomes more of a nuisance than an enjoyable experience. Even to auto-train is a penalty in respect that it only gives you half the potential benefit because you opt not to focus on the training rather than the boxing. Guess it's required for a true boxer, however, I'm a guy playing a video game for crying out loud! Cut some slack! As for the actual boxing matches - It's a bit more realistic in regards to one well-placed punch can end the fight. It keeps you on your toes so you don't leave yourself open for such a hit. The control scheme has a bit of a difference from Round 3 as well. Mainly your haymakers have been switched to a button, instead of an exaggerated motion with the right thumb stick (if you play with that controller settings and are not a button mashing player) which is fine, but it presents another learning curve. I found myself, at first, winding up for the finishing attack, only to throw a weird underhand jab to the stomach. Character creation also takes a new approach as you can use your consoles video camera to snap a front & profile image and then mapping out the areas it asks you to for the system to automatically generate your face. You can also use any pictures you have on your console. Or you can just use the default option of just making a character. The use of the camera was nice since it's not used often enough, in my opinion. The career mode also has a genuine feel of running the ropes with the bruisers to the pros. All in all, with new rosters, changes to the mini training games, the unique but welcome "between rounds" game, and the enhanced boxing experience that keeps you on your toes, it is a solid performing game. The other nice tip of the hat is the countless options. You have ample opportunity to tweak the game however you see fit to your gaming style. Also there is a patch due out in September that looks to bring back the button control scheme. I never used it, but apparently it's all the rage. Rock solid addition to the gaming library.