Fight Night Champion for Xbox 360 Reviews by Gamers

FNC IS a great boxing game, but it has its flaws. some Fighters in the story mode have overpowering punches and can be hard to defeat unless you play the way the game tells you to. And of course defeating Frost was impossible and i quickly gave up on that. Legacy mode was fun but after a while it got repetive. train, rest, train, rest, fight, repeat. Another thing i noticed is that when knocking someone out, the punches just dont seem as epically powerful. Honestly, its a good game. But there were a lot of things i personally found irritating that made the game less fun for me.

So lets be honest, beating the heck out of someone in Fight Night is sweet sweet joy...getting your butt knocked down over and over is not, and depending on how you play this game, you'll experience one or other and not much in between.

Legacy Mode (AKA Build your own fighter mode) works like this:
Schedule fight...wait
Train (Training is hard and boring)
Upgrade boxer with earned XP points from training
Rest
Repeat training, upgrading and resting...and now you get to fight!

So this year Fight Night gets a new gameplay mechanic that replaces the hay makers from the last game and it works like this. Punches have a certain chance to put you or your opponent into a stun state in which you can be knocked out or they just put you straight to the canvas. Why you ask, well the developers wanted to add that element in boxing where you just never know when that one punch could change the tide of a fight. How does it translate in gameplay you ask, well the AI will throw power punch after power punch in a effort to knock you out. Try for more than 2 or 3 punches in a row yourself and expect to go down. Its lame lame lame.

Check this out, I have two characters. One built for speed with maximum points put into any attribute that helps against being stunned or knocked out...he gets stunned all the time!

Second character is as tall and as fat as I could make him in the heavyweight class. ZERO points into those same attributes. 35 fights later and NEVER been stunned and has won EVERY fight with a knock out...usually in the first round!!

So there you have it. This single gameplay change dictates the entire game. Go big and heavy and forget everything else.

Story mode. The first 5 fights or so are good and fun. Every single one after that will handicap you in some way. Broken hand, cut eye, no stamina, etc etc. Lame as H E double hockey stick. And the final fight is one of the most difficult endeavors you'll face in gaming. Annoying too.

Thats all I got.

Champion Mode= 9
Legacy Mode= 6

Legacy Mode:
I dont like the way the stats are increased, complete change from other Fight Night games. Knocking your opponent out in the early going is VERY hard because you dont have the skills to score flash knockouts or stuns till much later in you fight career. Some training mini-games are flawed and are much harder this time around. Loading Screens are abundant and VERY long for Today's gamer. Couple that with flawed training games means you will find yourself reloading and waiting a riduculous amount of time between fights.

This is quite possibly one of the worst games ever. All its problems are exemplified by the fight against Castillo (2nd heavyweight fight in Mexico). This opponenet has infinite stamina and an undefendable move (a clinch) that drains all of your stamina instantly. This is worsened by the low amount of stamina you are given, and its slow recovery. I got clinched right at the beginning of the first round, and had no stamina for the rest of the round, a glaring error in programming. Has the Fight Night team even ever seen a boxing bout?

Other glaring issues are:

Fighter keeps punching long after you have release the right stick. I've had him throw up to 3 punches when I wasn't even touching the stick. This is compounded by a full stamina bar being completely drained after throwing less than 5 punches within 20 seconds

Random one punch knockouts

Opponents taking extreme punishment without falling, but hitting you once and knocking you to the mat.

Block mechanic that works sporadically at best.

I know they want to make the game challenging. The way to do it is to make the AI smarter instead of having overpowered and unbalanced abilities combined with broken mechanics. The Demon's Souls creators got the formula right for a very difficult yet fair game. You might get killed in 1-2 hits, but at least you have a fair chance to dodge/block those hits, and a smart/skilled player can outplay the AI. Since Champion and IV were so horrible compared to III, it's obvious that the Fight Night team has lost its touch and will never get it back. So, I'll never play another Fight Night game again.

I have every version of Fight Night and this version is by far the best of them all. Excellent graphics and the kind of visible damage that you can inflict is much better than in past versions of this game.
Sometimes during the fight the camera might choose weird angles but nothing serious and I am sure within weeks a patch will be release fixing last minute bugs. I haven't try the online mode yet, need to renew my gold account. :) Hope everyone likes it as much as i did.
Peace.

Champion mode (story mode) is incredible. New online features like the ability to create a gym with your friends or anyone internationally. They also added a prizefighting thing sponsored by virgin gaming. Haven't tried legacy mode but a lot of people are hating on it. Extensive fighter share online much like EA MMA. I dont understand why they didnt take the replay idea from EA MMA. Overall, i give this game a 10/10 because i have been playing fight night since release day of round and im a huge boxing junkie. If you love boxing you will love this game for sure. My only criticism, Why the heck is the last boss an absolute destroyer. I mean, i havent had this much trouble with a boss fight since i accidently saved with no bullets before the boss fight with krauser in resident evil 4. The last boss in this game will literally one shot you to the canvas, and you cant just unleash on him either because that isnt the objective. You have to drag the fight out a ton, I was highly ranked on EA MMA online leaderboards, yet i cannot beat this last boss on easy after like 50 tries. I almost shot my xbox.

I think this game is a good one, its career mode sucks like usual but the championship mode is very facinating. One thing i like about is that, unlike the other boxing games from the past.. You can go all out with your creating a boxer. There is no limit on how good you want to make him.. So therefor on newer gamers you can use someone very good, fit just for you. And for more experienced gamers you can make your boxer not as talented and try to earn each and every win.

But on the other hand there are two things i dont like about it.. For one the career mode is sooooo boring! I dont recomend you try it.. And for two, the chamionship mode is good and all but I will say it is hard to beat... no matter what level you play on... It will be a challenge... But that can be good or bad..

I played the Champ mode and I loved it! The story line was great, it was a bit rough on the language but what prison movie isn't? The things the other guys didnt like, I loved. Like fighting with an injured hand or having to use my speed to wear down a bigger and faster opponent. I didnt want each fight to be the same! I enjoyed the ESPN plug-ins along with the overall presentation. I then went to legacy mode which was ok for me I hate going the distance to lose by decision. My fighter is terrible compared to the Champ mode and will take a little getting use to. Overall good game, I never liked boxing over xbox live but the single player stuff is good.

I beat this game on some free time it only took 3 hrs on the story mode. It could of been longer. Great game play. One thing i didnt like about the game is that you have to buy the online pass.

I have always liked the FN series eventhough in most cases they have to grow on me. In this case the game was kinda fun but the championship mode has some pretty dumb requirements it's like playing a boxing RPG fighting with one hand,not getting hit by a guys left because it's so strong it can knock you down by a glancing blow, keeping an opponent away because he will drain stamina by clenching...all great ideas but it makes the whole appeal drop that much more. I haven't played Legacy mode by I mean it's always the same in FN so no need to even bother reviewing that

I give the game a 7 out of 10

I like it but I just don't love it, and I would most definitely not pay $60 bucks for it.

It's not a bad game but I don't see me getting hooked on it like I did with Rounds 3&4

The graphics are amazing!!! I liked that they added a story mode to the game to give fresh feel to boxing games. But the controls are sluggish, blocking doesn't quite work the way it did in round 3. Online achievements take too long and way to hard to achieve with out spending additional cash.

this is the most pathetic piece of garbage that has ever come out from E.A.

Where's road rash? Now that was a good game

Avoid this game at all costs. Its not the same Fight Night.
Fight Night Rounds 3 & 4 where better

Changing the difficulty on the game seems to do literally nothing. The amateur level is level with the hardest. The game is very annoying. Landing punches is a pain. The graphics are beautiful, but the game overall is a no.

Im tired of being controlled by the game. "You can only use your left hand" (stupid and unrealistic,). " You have to wait till the 3rd round before you can start fighting, and when you do you have to get 75 body blows before you can advance" (what the heck is going on in story mode). Cant the matches just be a fair fight. the story mode is Garbage! other than that, its just fightnight 4 all over again. They put a M rating on it because of the F bombs and the prison fight. which by the way is unrealistic, because in prison they would have killed him. Shouldve known better............ ITS EA whadaya expect!!!

I played this game feverishly for about two weeks and it's left a very bittersweet taste. Before I forget, I would like to note that I COMPLETELY ignored the online portion of this game. As I have with all the Fight Nights. I find more fun from the CABS (Create-A-Boxers) and Legacy mode! Since a recent patch, the online population has been severely reduced anyway. Just 2 days ago during peak hours, I decided to take a peak and test the online waters. To my disappointment, there were only about 700 people online, with something like 76 odd fights going on. Check out the official online forums for a look-see for what to expect from the community.

Champion Mode: Every since it's announcement, I've found it hard to conjure up any excitement. Without giving anyway any spoilers, I'll just say it's the most cliched & gimmicky storyline/gameplay I've seen in quite a while. You'll likely breeze through all the Champion Mode fights and then hit a giant brick wall named Isaac Frost. This fight ruined any of what little good I found in this mode..

Legacy Mode: My favorite mode returns! Combine this with CABS and it'll keep me busy for months. As I said earlier, I only played this game for two weeks. Care to guess why? Should you decide to import CABS into the Legacy roster, you essentially doom yourself. Everything works fine until you have to either, Spar with a CAB, Fight with a CAB, or simply look at a CABS portrait in the roster. Your game will crash. There is no fix, nor word from EA about it. However, If the only imported CAB is the character you play as, you can get through the legacy.

CABS (Create-A-Boxers): So the CABS don't really work with Legacy mode, and I didn't play online. That just leaves the 'Fight Now' and 'Bare Knuckles' modes. The Bare Knuckles mode was recently patched in & in a disgusting display, EA nerfed all Cuts, Swelling, Gore as a gimmick to get people to buy Bare Knuckles mode. It's also impossible to alter CAB Cuts/Swelling stats due to a bug..

i don't know what ea was thinking when they made this game except that they were trying to influence a certain demographic. played 30 minutes of it to see if the game play was worth it and the timing was so off on the punches that a three yr old mashing buttons could have won the match. compete disgrace to boxing.

ok so i really like fighting games, especially boxing however some how every game ea turns out fing blows!!!!!! i am wait was a huge fight night extremely disappointed on how cheap this game was made. Knockout punches or punchers in general don't even connect but somehow still score as hits or knock downs, glitches all the time, not even worth playing the campaign in the game because ea riges the computer to win everytime even if your beating the chit out of the other guy(computer). Also the during campaign the computer still lands punches after bell has rung and sometimes as player1 throws combination punches to score a knockdown the punches go right through the computers boxer and dont even register. NOTHING CLOSE TO REAL BOXING!!!!!! THIS IS THE WORST FIGHT NIGHT!! the only thing that's good about this game is that it is co-op

I really enjoyed playing this game while it lasted. Unfortionatly this game has A TON OF BUGS THAT WILL SCREW UP YOUR SAVE FILE. it seems like most people are having this problem and EA still refuses to fix them. I got about two hours into the game and it keeps freezing on the same cutscene.

Being an avid fan of boxing and Fight Night Round 3 and 4, I was eager to play FNC. Unfortunately, EA has continued their "mainstreamification" of the series to the point where Champion is barely a boxing game, and even less a Fight Night title.

I am going to avoid the typical graphics, sound, etc. because all that is good (as usual). Also, it should be noted that Champion (read: story) mode is pretty interesting, and I would have continued playing it were the gameplay itself not so painful.

Anyway, to the gameplay, the reason why I find this entry of the series to be so terrible. EA has stripped away just about everything that made the Fight Night games require strategy.

In Round 3, you could block high/low, left/right, and high right/left or low right/left. Blocking in those precise locations rewarded an accurate player with the opportunity to counter. Then came Round 4 which stripped it down to blocking high/low, and counters were based on hitting block at the moment of impact.

In Champion, now all you can do is block. That's it. The only way to get a counter punch now is to dodge out of the way, which is pretty stupid in my opinion because all that's left is block then punch, punch then block. If you are reaching KO, all you have to do is hold down that block button and your opponent usually won't be able to do anything. Lame.

Even with the horrid, horrid blocking system things would still be ok if your punches actually landed. They introduced all these ridiculous new "punches" such as the "flared jab" and "upperhook" which really just boils down to making your fighter perform a move you did NOT want. I can't tell you how many times I would weave under a punch, try to counter with a STRAIGHT only to have my character decide he wanted to throw a "flared straight / overhand" mess, which basically means he wiffs with a hook. Again, lame.

I'm running out of space so I'll leave you with this: save your time and money. This is no champ.

So while I usually read reviews I rarely write them as I usually don't have anything new to add to the conversation. But in this case I figured I should make an exception, first off I would have to say 90% of the reviews of this game are misleading.

Fight Night Champion is actually the best boxing game made period and I have played and owned each and every one that has ever been made...(yeah I'm THAT GUY) FNC is the first of the FN series to actually force you to learn how to apply the "sweet science" of boxing, FNR2 & FNR3 came close but you still could get away with those by doing rock'em sock'em robots with a fighter who had a decent chin. FNR4 was an arcade boxing game very reminicent of Super Punch Out.

Not only do you have to apply boxing principles (meaning you have to learn an actual style i.e. boxer, puncher, or brawler) you then have to know how to apply that style to the physical makeup of a particular fighter, and the differences in weight classes and how this impacts the style and pace of the fight.

This means you can't just pick Tyson and throw hooks and uppercuts all day and this you'll be king of the ring. It's this fact that pisses most players who have grown up in the MMA/Ultimate Fighting era who don't really know the history, legacy of boxing when it was truly in its "golden age".

If you want to just enjoy pounding opponents then this is not the game for you but if you want to actually appreciate the science of boxing (similar to Madden on All Madden and 15 min quarters) then pick up FNC, invest some time, and I believe you won't be disapointed.

Champion is all about matchups. every body online plays with heavy hitters. if thats your style go with it. you need to have skills to step up in the ring when it comes down to it. if you've been playing fight night since round 1 Try challenging yourself and match up a light middle weight like miguel cotto (147lb) and fight a heavy middle weight like Sugar ray Robinson (160lb). Sugar ray packs a mean punch and is faster than you, but if you can put him on his back, you get show people whose boss. It's the best simulation sports game out right now, take the camera view off of cinematic, take away those dizzy special effects and you have one of the most solid sports titles ever made. and if you got skills come see me on the 360. Gamertag: ImaWinIt

Horrible game. Same graphics and gameplay as the previous title. Ridiculously frustrating champion mode. And the career mode seems like an afterthought. Why did they make the main character such a moron? By the time I got to the end of the story I wanted to be the other guy punching my character in the face. What a pathetic moron. I mean really I have to spend two rounds walking in a circle? Than I have to spend 3 rounds punching him in the stomach? Yeah that is a realistic fight. What a pathetic and frustrating game. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!

i Have played ever fight night and for this one i had high hopes, the demo was really good but as fast as i got the game i returned it.
The story of Andrey is well its so so. i dont like how ever fight is some thing different in one case you have to fight with one hand and for 8 rounds i did counter punches after counter hay-maker punches and the man didn't even get hurt. If you want to make a good boxing game..make it like really boxing not 400 hits to the face with out going down.

And as i gave up on the champion mode i went to legacy mode it was as bad as the legacy mode from UFC 2009. For me this game was a disappointed and lack of fighting game. Only thing i can say good about it was the graphic and the blood flow of the cuts from fighters. hope this helps out with my fellow gamers.