Please leave this year until monday night, then move it to the video game forum. I want people to see this.

Fight Night 2004. I picked it up today for the x-box. Boxing games have always had a hard time emulating actual boxing. They are either too stiff or too ''acardadey'' with each fighter standing in front of the other and throwing nothing but hooks and uppercuts.

Fight Night 2004 is the greatest boxing game to ever be released. Bobbing and weaving is now as easy to do as throwing a jab. Total punch control, although a little awkward at first lets you do something you could never do in any boxing game before. Fake your opponent out. Fake throwing a jab and catch him with an overhand right. Bob left, bob right then throw a left hook knocking your foe out cold.

The standard modes are all here. Exhibition, career ect. ect
One mode I really enjoy is the my corner option. This lets you create your boxers, but it lets you do so without having go to threw the career mode if you choose not too. Your favorite boxer not in the game? No problem. You can put him in there right away without having to wait. Also, they appear right in the list with the pre made fighters. Your fighter is a heavyweight? We will be in the list along with the other fighters. His actual 3-d model also appears, not just a shadow or a wireframe. Nice touch for sure.

This game is simply awesome. Roy Jones Jr looks especially good in this game. Roy looks exactly, like Roy does in real life. Some fighters don't look as good as other (Holyfield is a prime example of this) but as a whole everything looks and sounds great. The play by play is ok. Its not great, but it gets the job done. I would of liked to hear Tony Atlus or Max Kellerman but I am not gonna dwell on that.

There are lots of little things to unlock. Lots of different gloves, trunks, boots and music. It will keep you coming back fore more.

One thing I would like to see added is maybe an HBO license. Having your fighter fight on HBO afterdark would be awesome. ESPN would be great also. Friday Night fights, hearing Tony Atlus and Max Kellerman talk about your fighter as he climbs to the top.

Its a shame that EA signed a deal with Sony to only have on-line play for the playstation. The game would of become the greatest sports game ever if it did. Too bad

Anyone that has even a passing interest in boxing NEEDS to get this game! You will not be able to put it down!

Just came out, right?

Thanks for the review.....I was hoping this would be good.

Yeah, its a great game. I use the buttons to throw my actual punches but I just the total punch control system to throw some fakes in there

Overrated big time.

Originally posted by Lei Tong
Overrated big time.



http://home.cogeco.ca/~lnickerson3/nodog.jpg

I really like the game.

will it be out for Snes?

thought this was gonna be an announcement for a global fight night for 2004, heh.

Looks like a cool game, i'll have to rent it and check it out :)

Yo Bub, move this fools thread for me....

Great game.

Okay, perhaps the best boxing game in the US, but still inferior to the greatness that is Victorious Boxers 2.

Some notes:
- The analog punching was a severe letdown. In reality, all it does is give you a more elaborate way of throwing punches. The system works well for defense (one area greatly improved), but is overall not all it was hyped up to be.
- The presentation is a huge letdown. As opposed to the KOK series, FN seems to try and infuse itself some kind of cheap "attitude," ranging from Big Tigger on the stick and an emphasis to trying to make your entrance more elaborate.
- The career mode is a bust, totalling up to nothing more than a series of fights with little but window dressing changing from bout to bout, with some mini-games thrown in.
- On the note of mini-games and stats: stats are way too easily gained, and the training is done in a way that nigh forces you to build up evenely, as opposed to being able to focus your boxer's strengths in one areas (avoidable only by skipping training at all)
- Also doing boxer's styles and stats: in reality, most fighters can be used most anyway you want to based solely on their stats and height.
- The animations for punches like jabs & straights are downright awkward looking, and the ragdoll physics, though cool, are flawe themselves, with boxers going down to body shots the same way as from headshots, going into seizures when "hitting" the ropes, and yet somehow still able to get up on a 6 count.

I like fight night 2004 a lot better then the original VB(a game I loved/still love), and I'm wondering, what did they improve in the second game that makes it even better then this Fight night?

Thanks.

The gameplay improvements aren't that big (it was great in the first place, so a change wasn't needed), with some added defensive maneauvers like the side-step sway, and a lot of new special punches/moves.

The biggest change is the inclusion of a Create-a-Boxer and Boxer's Road, otherwise known as a career mode.

The CAB is even more in depth than FN's, allowing you to modify your gear and everything else about your boxer to a MUCH greater degree (IE- length of everything from arms to boots, color of nigh everything). Also, the selcted style for a fighter will actually make a difference aside from a cosmetic stance change. For example, a boxer with the "Hitman" style will stand in an upright position to maximize his reach and throw good jabs and straights at the cost of less effective in-fighting abilities.

In the career mode, you will have to raise your boxer from his pro test to the end of his career, while worrying about such things as good dieting (the effects of amino acids, glucose, fat, etc., will all play roles), training (stuff like leaf catching, road work, weight training, heavy bag, etc.), and weight management (rehydrating before a fight could make or break you). Also, you can choose to switch around the divisions when you choose (IE- from the WBO to WBC). All these factors weigh in to make it a very in-depth mode, with plenty of challenge.

In regards to the roster, they have all the fighters from the previous games, plus quite a few more from the Manga series, some based on real fighters (but with different names, as to avoid copyright issues), others based on characters from Punch-Out (like Soda Popinski), and of course, tons of randomly made boxers.

VC2 has more options than FIght NIght 2004, but the in ring gameplay isn't even close. TPC (or in reality just total control, as its used for defence too) is the most innovative new control system to in intoduced in any game. The bob and weaving abilities are great also, and rag doll physics make each knockdown uquine. Sure, some of them look really strange (espically a knockdown from a body blow against the ropes) but the majority of them look great.

I'll stick with FN2004

The thing is that the total control system, although innovative, does not really add that much that couldn't be done before or can't be done w/o the use of the analog sticks. Also, the parrying system is a bit weak, as an auto parry position can be held indefinitely, thus negating the give and take of actually parrying, whereby if you try and miss, the person throwing is going to make you pay.

Also, the bobbing and weaving system is far inferior to the one found in VB2, with limited movement and angles that the punches come out at. And on the note punching, although FN does take counter punching into consideration, it only counts counters that com after a block or parry, when much greater emphasis should be put on actual counter-punches, IE- those that land before an opponent's oncoming blow. Instead, you'll often find each blow landing, instead of one being cancelled by the force of the counter-blow.

Also, the ragdoll physics are another simply cosmetic feature, and as I previously stated, another overhyped one at that. I mean, having no bodyblow animations is bad enough, but most of the animations tend to be rather similar, all having the same arms-at the sides, "Please Get Some Freebies On Me," with a lot of the difference being what direction they fall in and how fast they fall. I'll actually take VB2's pre-canned knockdowns, as although preset from a finite set of animations, they still seem to have a greater variety than those in FN, from a guy doubling over and assuming a fetal postion for a body blow, to a guy momentarily kocked off balance by a good shot yet still okay enough to spring to his feet and try to show the punch was no big deal, and the like.

Right now I don't block period, just bob and weave then anticipate the punches coming and counter. The stats always have me marked down for many counter punches a round. Also, I find the bobbing and weaving to be more fluid, accurate and realistic then VB. I can't compare it to vb2, but fight night, to me, is easily a step above vb's gameplay.

i don't even use TPC to throw actual punches unless its part of a fake. Maybe feint a jab, and then throw a left hook to the body.

Its a great game, an knit picking the few things wrong with it won't change that

I like total punch control for throwing punches, I'm starting to get really fluid with it. One thing I really like about it is how I can save stamina by not throwing punches that have no chance of landing. Like if your fighting in close and just as you start to throw an uppercut he quickly backs off. Pressing a button it would have been a bad miss, but with the stick I can cut the punch off. Over the course of a fight it's bound to make a difference. Small thing but a good thing.

I prefer using the buttons as the punches seem to get off faster.Espically bobbing and weaving and then throwing a short left hook. Its amazing

It's definitely a good game (wouldn't call it great), but in comparison to what, IMO is a better game of the same genre, there are quite a few things to nitpick.

The one thing better about FN's bobbing & weaving system is the ability to stay in one position indefinitely, as opposed to VB's slight movements while in a sway, but I prefer VB's aiblity to sawy and duck at greater angles, the ability to transition into/from them with movements (even dashes, another thing lacking in FN), and the fact that the movements and momentum have a big impact on the force of punches thrown and/or taken.

I'll also give FN the fact that you can hold your arms ready for certain punches, although I think a damage penalty should be given, as a punch thrown from said position wouldn't have force of one thrown from a full motion. I don't have much use for feinting, so I can't give a fair opinion on that.

Anyways, I guess I'm jsut a VB2 mark, and think it's a shame that most gamers I know will never get to try it out, especially since it's, once again IMO, superior to a game many are calling GOTY.

Well, I have found something I don't like about this game. Big Tigger is starting to get on my nerves. This guy makes Chris Rock look like Dick Cheny. He is such a black stereotype in this game, including making several references to fried chicken

I got this game today...if I don't like it, I am coming after you Creed

Ok, after a solid friday night of playing it, I have decided that yes, I do like this very much, Creed is safe for now.

Have altered controls so I use the buttons for punches, but can still use R stick for TPC, am going through the lower ranks of the heavyweight division and am currently ranked around 30 with a 19-5 record (I got schooled early), 19 KO's.
Am going to create a lightweight or middleweight guy next, work on speed, he will definitely be a mexican

I hated this game at first but now i like it alot

I just bought this game over the weekend. At first, i hated it. I'm finally starting to get into the career mode and the game is great. The only 2 cons about the game are:

1. Opponents tned to run away the entire fight
2. Opponents get up at 8 every time

I borrowed this one last weekend. I agree with Creed that the game play has somewhat improved, but it still has the serious flaw of the subsequent KOK series: the lack of depth in the career mode. After a while, it gets repetitive and boring.
VB is a much better buy just for this reason.