Fight Night 2004

"One word: Knock Out!"

I rented this game at blockbuster, and within one day, I've decided this game is a definite buy! I'm not really into boxing, but I find that this game will find a great home in my PS2 for a long time.

Graphics 10/10
No complaints... Graphics rock. Blood fly's through the air when the opponent is injured, spit/sweat fly's when just hit. A lot of neat effects keep things interesting enough to keep you ''Ooo..''ing and ''Aahh...''ing. Another neat graphical feature is when your boxer is injured, he develops visible wounds (such as a busted lip) and he will bleed... Not only that, but when your boxer is getting tired, he will actually sweat, and you can see the sweat dripping down his face... Nice touch.

Music 10/10
Well... Rap and Hip Hop isn't my thing... but I still find the music pretty good. It suits the game very well, and I have no complaints... A feature of this game is to select a special track for your boxer, which I think is a very nice touch. During fights, music is turned off. I think this is very important because it allows you to concentrate, and I think they did a very good job implementing it that way.

Sounds 9/10
The sounds in this game rock. You hear the grunts of the boxers when their faces are smashed in, or when they are hit in the stomach. When you hit someone, it really sounds like it hurts, great sound... Gotta love it. To improve upon the greatness even further, you get a trainer to help you in fights... he will give you helpful hints and sometimes they can REALLY help you, and even make you come from many points down to victory! The only reason this scores a 9/10 is because of Tigger, which I found kind of repetitive... if you turn off voices, you lose Tigger... but you also lose the helpful hints from your trainer as well... I dislike that very much. It'd get a perfect score from me if in the 2005 version they allow you to select which voices to turn off... I'm not gonna kill the score for that though.

Gameplay 10/10 (If I could go higher I would)
This is where this game shines the most. The gameplay of this game is one of the best I've seen in years. This is mostly due to the TPC system (Total Punch Control) which allows you to use the right analog stick to control your fists, and your left (with combination of L1) to dodge your opponent's. I believe this is one of the best things since they first invented fighting games. It makes the game challenging without making it unbelievably frustrating (like most other games). You can also ''Create a Boxer'' which is extremely in-depth. You can nearly create any kind of character you want... One word: Excellent.

Replay Value 10/10
One word: Online. If you get bored of single player, then go online and get your butt handed to you by thousands of the greatest players in the world. Absolutely excellent.

Overall: 10/10
It has (few) shortcomings, but they are easily overlooked because of the fact this game kicks so much butt. I have no doubt this is one of the best fighting games I have ever played... period. Don't even bother renting it, it is a must buy for any fighting game enthusiast (whether you like boxing or not).

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/10/04