|| REVIEW || Fight Night Round 3 (PS3)
Developed By : EA Published By : EA
Category : Fighting, Simulation, Sports
Release Date : February 20, 2006
Throughout my entire life, I've prided myself on at least trying to play just about any and every game I can get my hands on. Certain ones will pull my attention instantly, while others I'll take my time to get around to. The sports genre is one that's always been quite spotty for me, as I'm not a huge sports fanatic to begin with. For starters, I only really follow a couple sports. I'm big into hockey and NASCAR, and...well that's really it. Everything else I have a very on-and-off kind of relationship with, and boxing is one of those sports.
The great thing about gaming though is that it introduces a whole new way to enjoy a sport, at least for me. Boxing is one of those sports that I've just never really been into at all. When I was a kid my dad would take me to some local fight nights when he'd gotten tickets, but it still never really dug an interest for me. Yet, for some reason that I still don't know, Fight Night Round 3 ended up in my personal library and I kept coming back to trying it out.
Your main mode that you'll be drawn into is the game's career mode. Here, you'll build your fighter from the ground up in a quest to take them from a gym-ring scrapper to the top of the ladder as one of the all time greatest. Through a balance of fighting in the ring and training out of it, you'll shape yourself into a better fighter with each victory. Well, hopeful victory.
To progress through your career, you'll first need to start signing contracts for fights. Sometimes you'll only have one available, other times you might be able to choose from four. Each one gives you the same information, including the name of your opponent, their fighting record, what venue you'll be fighting in, the purse the winner will collect and how many weeks away the fight is.
These stats will help determine a lot of things throughout your career. Your opponents record can give you an easy or tough fight. If they've been in 20 fights, there's a big different between fighting someone with 18 KO's and someone with 3. Some of the trainers available in the game cost money so you'll need to build that purse. One of the most important stats though is the time until the fight, since this will also age your fighter. As you get older it'll be harder to keep up your stats between fights so be weary of how much time you're allowing to pass.
After signing the contract you'll need to train. Initially there are three available, but a fourth one can be unlocked later on. The first one is free, while the other two cost $25,000 and $50,000 per training session. In each session you'll get to choose one of four workouts : a combo dummy, a heavy bag, weighlifting, and sparring. Depending on which training you choose, you'll end up increasing some of your stats by 2 or 3%, while the ones that don't get focused on will all lose 1%. The paid trainers offer a focus in either speed or power, so if you choose to train with one of them then those stats may receive an extra buff or, if they aren't a part of the focus, won't lose that 1%.
In the ring it's all about reading your opponent. All fighting is done from a side perspective, although there are modes in the game where you can fight in first-person. You'll move your fighter with the left stick and control your punches with the right. Every hit is detected by the motion you put in on the thumbstick, everything from jabs and straights, to uppercuts and haymakers. These moves can be mirrored on the stick too to throw these punches with your left or right arm.
As for defending yourself, you can block and you can weave. Blocking is done with the right thumbstick while R1 is pressed. You can block left or right, and up or down. If you're able to block in the exact position your opponent is throwing a punch then you'll "slow" them down and open up for an opportunity to counter punch. Weaving can afford you the same opportunities with smaller windows if you can effectively lean your body out of punching range at the right time.
Throughout the fight there will come times where you or your opponent will get stunned and be close to getting knocked down. To avoid this you'll need to avoid taking any big hits, or you can try and go in for a clinch, but this opens up your chances of taking that big hit. If you're the one that goes down, you'll be faced with a mini-game in which you'll need to use both sticks to guide a couple smaller circles to the center of the screen, and if this is done before a ten-count you'll be able to get back up.
Between rounds you can heal your fighter to address any swelling or cuts. This can be done manually or automatically. The only difference is by giving it up to automatic, you run the risk of getting less healing done.
Once the fight is over, assuming you've won, you'll gain some popularity and money. There are various popularity ranks to rise through, and each time you cross into a new one you'll unlock some sort of bonuses. For the most part these are attire for your fighter in the ring that can offer buffs to your stats on top of your training. You'll also be able to unlock new venues to fight in, championship belts and more.
Outside of the career there are some other options for your time. Some boxing legends have been included in the game, so you can pick some of them to step in the ring together across the gaps of time. As I mentioned there's a first person mode, and you can cross weight-classes with any fighters. Meaning if you want to be extra cruel and put a featherweight in the ring with a heavyweight, you're more than welcome.
I got back into playing this game again very recently, and enjoyed it more now than I had in previous attempts. I've played other fighting games since so I felt more in-tune with reading the AI opponents and found myself progressing quite nicely up the popularity ladder. One thing I did notice is that it felt like the AI fighter profiles were randomly assigned instead of coded to each one specifically. You'll come across the same opponent multiple times, and each time I did they fought very differently. One fight they would be very defensive and only commit to counter punches, while the next fight they'd come out swinging and defying the limits of their own stamina.
Overall though I had a great time playing it. In fact, as I write this I'm preparing to start a career in the next game Fight Night Round 4 so you can definitely expect a follow up comparison review. However in specific regards to this one, it's a lot of fun and it's a very cheap game to pick up. If you prefer going for achievements and trophies, grab this on the Xbox 360 then because it doesn't have compatible trophies on PS3. It's available on older platforms too and the PSP but I haven't played any of those versions, so I can't really speak to what's different between the generations. No matter what, boxing fan or not, this is a fun title and easily worth the mere pocket change you'll need to spend to add it to your library.
