David Haye is on the cover of Fight Night: Champion

I've played the demo a few times in the past couple weeks. The two worst things about the game are the new punch controls and the blocking. The blocking is especially bad.. in FNR3 you had to block in a specific quadrant to block a punch. In FNR4 they got rid of the quadrant system and changed it so that you only had to block "up" or "down." Now, in Fight Night Champion, all you do is press the "Block" button and it automatically blocks for you. WTF kind of dumbed down bullshit is that, is this Street Fighter or a boxing game? Completely ruins the game imo.

 

GTFOH! Is that true?

 

Disagree. That stops the mindless button mashing..

 

Not me.

I grew up in an era where if anyone told me that one day there'll be commentary in a sports computer game I would have said "BULLSHIT that's impossible".

As such, I appreciate it very much.

 

I wanted to play, but when I pressed "start fight modus" it said: Sorry negotiations failed. Do you want to switch to talkshow mode?

 

Block button sounds awful. I much preferred the quadrant system.

 

Blck system & generally defensive fighting haven't been the same with these last two titles, it's true. I used to take great delight in outboxing a guy a hundred punches to one to a late, swelling-induced stoppage, or a wide decision. I got good enough with the block system in FNR3 that I often did an, "Ali," on guys, & sat on the ropes, blocking, ducking & weaving just enough shots to stay upright, whilst absorbing a pretty bad beating, but doing well enough to survive whilst dropping five or six rounds. After that period, my opponent had thrown so much uncontested leather that they were badly winded, & became an easy KO when I bounced off the ropes to score the big comeback. Was great to see a card where you've lost the first five or so rounds, then stopped the guy dead in his tracks in the space of the next two rounds, because he's simply too exhausted to fight back.

Absolutely undoable now, sadly. Even boxing a great defensive gameplan from the outside is extremely difficult compared to what it once was.

With that said, my housemate & I have had a lot of fun playing this, swapping victories at a fairly even level (OK, I'm a bit stronger overall :: ), & I will definitely be buying it. Even better is that JB Hi-Fi are going to hand it to me for free (Trade three old games, get this one for nothing)!

 

let me know when they rid these games of "haymakers", ridiculous fighter ratings, inaccurate styles and the concept that parrying a punch causes your opponent to drunkenly wobble in place in time for you to land a gigantic punch, and then I will buy it

for every other sport, steps are taken to try and make the games seem sort of "realistic" ... no such steps are EVER taken for this stupid franchise

 

I feel the same exact way:giggle:

It's still amazing to me, it makes it seem so real!

 

I guess we just see it differently. I'm looking for an accurate boxing game, I suspect you want a great video game.

 

apart from the graphics these games haven't improved at all

 

100% true & it's unbelievably bad. If you go to the EA forums, there are a thousand threads complaining about it. Fucking Mike Tyson's Punch Out let you block up and down.. 23 years later we have a "boxing sim" that automagically blocks for you?

 

I don't like the sound of that at all.

Even in Street Fighter you have to block high or low, which is a CORE part of the gameplay, making people guess, switching high/low, overheads, sweeps etc.

At LEAST have high/low blocking if not left and right.

One block for all is too dumbed down.

 

That's just terrible. Might even be the deal breaker for me. I may keep my 60 bucks in my wallet on Tuesday.

 

Well the two shouldn't be mutually exclusive, but if you have to choose ONE, you have to choose the great video game.

There HAS to be a cost for throwing too many reckless punches or else it degenerates into a button masher.

 

The cost should be you run out of gas, like real boxing. Don't get me wrong, I love the slip and counter move. But if I throw a left jab from range, it's ridiculous when it gets blocked, I stop moving for some reason, and I get knocked the fuck out.

 

That's how it is... I guess they changed it so you can punch out of the guard instead.

 

Awful choice. Who gives a shit about punching out of the guard? I never found myself wishing for that in any of the other games.

 

I just pre-traded three titles for this one in exchange.

I think it's the best freebie out there now. I like the demo, all things considered.

 

For those of you playing the demo, does anyone know the name of that song you hear during the Main Menu, & sometimes during loading between bouts?

"Oh, oh, oh oh...the fire, the fire," is all I can glean, but have not had luck finding it online. Any clues, fellas?

 

Yeah, I'm really considering not buying it. But I'll probably give in in the end.

 

I decided to purchase it. I quite like it so far actually. Love the way the punches are thrown and the speed of the fighters. Feels more action packed. Not sure about the auto-blocking thing yet..bugs me...but maybe that's to stop the body punch spam online or something.

Don't know why they took out Barrera and Morales, that's criminal. No Gatti..still no Mayweather. I'm going to have to download a hell of alot of fighters it seems. Still...the roster is acceptable. I like the fact that they have a Middleweight version of Leonard (buzzed cut) as well as the Welterweight version (with the Afro).

They've added alot of great features though...especially in the AI options on tendency to throw which punches etc and I like the improved ratings system.

Overall I think it's a better game. 3 steps forward one step back (the blocking thing and losing Barrera/Morales).

 

This game is EPIC when you get past the 8th round I can no longer dance around the ring, both fighters become completely gassed and start being very sloppy

 

I just lost a fight (as Monzon) to my housemate (Hagler) & a message appeared saying this fight had qualified as a classic bout for the EA servers (it was definitely a memorable clash, a lot of fun).

What does this mean exactly?

 

I think Champion mode is very cool. You guys try that yet?

 

So far the major slap in the face is how the computer all of a sudden becomes unhittable when hurt.

 

Other than the removal of the constant stupid counters, the play is vastly inferior to Round 4.

In career mode, you can't auto train anymore. I understand that some people have all day to sit around playing video games, but I want to get right to the fights.

 

Still, champion mode is very cool and fun. I'll finish and probably never play the game again.

 

I haven't played enough yet in order to see if it's inferior gamplay...but I'll tell you this,....the action in this game is far superior: speed of punches and the way the punches are thrown. It feels like a real boxing fight.

I downloaded a Floyd Mayweather from the EA servers...he looks and fights exactly like Floyd. Good times.:fightme:

 

No auto train? This game sounds like it blows.

Seriously, once you've beaten the game once I think you should be able to go through any subsequent career with the option to set your stats to any level. Then you could start a career with a guy with full power and just clean up all the starting bums with total ease aka the Tyson career.

Removal of auto train is probably a deal breaker for me. I don't have time to play training games most of the time.