Fight Night Round 3

"Best one yet...THE MUST OWN!"

EA Sports has definitely been a juggernaut of sports games with its many franchises, and at first Fight Night wasn't necessarily the best. Then Round 2 came out and blew everyone away. Now we're up to the third one and Round 3 delivers on every cylinder, guns blazing! Er...gloves blazing!

GRAPHICS: 10/10
You can tell from most of the previews and demos of this game that one of the big focal points of the game is the graphics. EA went into an incredible amount of detail about the boxers and how they look. And of course, the infamous EA "sweat" is back. Also, the ring girls don't look like robots anymore. The boxers looks also change as the fights go on. They can get tired, they can get cut, bruised, and they can be fast and quick. Each one of these motions is very realistic and you can tell they made sure that this game looked great. And it does. Kudos.

SOUND: 9/10
I've never been fully convinced of the sound department in the series, but this time I only have a minor gripe. But let's start with the pluses shall we? The commentary is great when they actually talk, but that's okay that they don't talk much, because it lets the fantastic sound effects of the punches kick in and be noticed. The music, well that's the gripe. I think that EA should stop trying to cash in on these guys no one's even heard of to do their music. A few big names are in there, but mostly it's newbies. All in all, this game finally makes me believe that we're also listening to a boxing game, except for the music.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10
I...WET...MY...PANTS...AT...HOW...FUN...THIS...GAME...IS! They brought back most of the controls from Round 2, including Total Punch Control (using the analog sticks for punches instead of buttons), haymakers, clinches, and illegal punches. Now they've added two new kinds of punches: The Flash KO, and the Stun Punch. The Flash KO, if hit, will set your opponent up for one big punch to knock them out. However, you better know the right time to do it, because if you miss, you're wide open. The Stun Punch will stun your opponent a little bit (go figure), but it also zooms you into a first-person camera to let you see what punches you throw while your opponent's stunned up close and personal. Both of these help make this one of the most realistic boxing games ever made. Not only that, but there is NO HUD! Not only does this make it more realistic, but it also makes it a little more challenging, as you have to pay attention to body language to make it through. Everything put together in this game is great, and is definitely a big step up for the series.

OVERALL:
This game with everything put together is one of the best games out on the Xbox 360. This game is a MUST OWN!
Buy or rent? What are you waiting for? Get this sucker!
FINAL SCORE: 10/10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/01/06