Fight Night Champion for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

Not much difference between last time out.

The Look

The story mode is the new addition here. The cinematic cut scenes are excellent. The story itself is familiar if you watch boxing movies. The supporting characters are great in terms of voice acting and the motion capture. After each fight you watch real life footage of the ESPN anchor commentating and the difference between that and the animated scenes is subtle.
The in-ring action is the same as Round 4 which may be good or bad. I found that darker colors look plain. For instance when you fight a darker black dude than the Champion character, you can see the difference in clarity on their faces and bodies.

The Game-play

I liked the original Fight Night for the ease of movement. Remember when you could trap a guy in the corner and land 7 punches before he hit the mat? Starting with Round 4 and now Champion, the avatars move like the ring is filled with mud. It is frustrating to hear the sound indicating a knockout is close only to lose the moment chasing him around the ring. In fact every aspect of the flow in this game is clunky. They've added the importance of footwork to the fights but the feet, fists and dodging seem delayed. You flick the Left stick forward to sneak in for a jab but your fighter takes a second to respond. It is difficult to find any momentum anywhere.

The full range punching is still hard to master. The Right stick offers more punches than the buttons. However it's easy to go for a left hook and accidentally hit a jab. They want you to shuffle and jive with the Left stick but it's the same problem.

Better/Worse

The countering has more impact after dodging a punch. Slightly more boxer choices, you don't need DLC to use Pacquiao or Klitschko. Create a boxer is back in Legacy Mode. Still hard to get up when knocked down. Ref gets in the way of default camera.

Verdict: They've improved the graphics through the years but sacrificed game-play. Not Bad Not Great.

I don't take gaming to seriously and to have any fun with this game you have to really work at it. I will never work hard to play a game for any reason. The story mode is cool but the final fight is just to much hassle and their are no shortcuts anywhere in the game regardless of what mode you are playing. Even on the easiest level during story mode I get knocked out every time in the final fight and had a heck of a time getting there. It's not worth the time or effort in my opinion.

In my opinion fight games should have levels for all skill levels, this game does not. It assumes that you have great hand eye coordination and timing and most people don't. I am shocked the game got as high a rating as it did. A total waste of my time and energy, not to mention frustration.