Reeds FNR4 Review

[S.G.]

Sounds good... I should be getting it tomorrow and I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve

Can you tweak the stats of the fighters that come with the game? Cos I think I could do a better job than EA in a few cases...

[TheSurgeonMDMPH]

Short Review: Unbelievable game, as close as it has ever gotten, even if you're not impressed with the graphics... the depth that this game has in unbelievable. Re-playable over and over and over. Every fight is literally different.

Note: Ive only haf 5 Am. fights and 5 pro fights, so this is based on my experience with the beginning of the game.

Long Review: The days of blowing the computer opponent out in the 1st round everytime is over. The days of retiring undefeated 62-0 with 62KOs, is over. The games realism is un-matched.

Entering Legacy mode, you get to make a choice, create your own boxer, or start a new one with an existing legend. I chose the latter, you can all guess who. After choosing an existing legend, it allows you to edit some details of even the existing legend before continuing and saving. Features like Gloves, Robe, Trunks, Mouth guards, Shoes can all be changed. Real companies like Grant, Everlast, Nike and many more are all available (No Jordan Brand). You can also change how your fighter approaches the ring (Confident, Focused...etc etc)

After completing your fighter, you get immediately thrown into an amateur tournament, which is either 4 or 5 fights to reach the winner... The 4 or 5 amateur fights consist of the boxers wearing groin protection and head gear... the difficulty of these fighters isn't too high, it is to get you the hang of fighting in the game. There is no training with the quick amateur career.

Once you win the tournament, you make the choice the turn pro. Legacy Mode is incredibly extensive. If you played FNR3, FNR4 will completely and utterly blow you away on how in depth legacy mode is..

-There is a message center, alerting you of awards you may be chosen for including: Fight of the year, round of the year, instant classic fight, prospect of the year etc etc. The message center also consists of your trainer giving you tips and also at random times someone will challenge you to step up and fight them, which is cool to mix and mixes it up.

-There is a calendar.. a real calendar, that starts in January of 2009... YOU decide WHENEVER you want to schedule a fight... Only 3 days a week you can schedule fight, which is Wednesdays Fridays and Saturdays, which makes sense. 4 Times a month you can see there is ESPN wednesday night fights and Friday night fights... Once you schedule a fight, it shows you a list of opponents available. It usually starts off with two guys that are 0-0.. and one guy that is like 5-16-3... and it goes from there. After your you've completed your fight, you are given a mandatory of one month of rest.

-Training.. Depending on how far away you choose your fight, which can either be only 3 days after your month of rest, or it can be up to 3 months away... the further away the fight, the more training you are allowed. This usually consists of one training session up to a month away... 2 sessions for 2 months... 3 sessions for 3 months, and it stops you going past 3 months (In the beginning anyway)

You have to decide, do you want to get extra training, but fight less? Or fight more, and not train as much... You have to take your age in to account, if you fight more, the level of competition will go up, and your stats may not due to lack of training... If you take 3 months in between figfhts, you build your stats, but you dont fight as much, so you dont build your record up, and you get do get older.Your age in this game is realistic, now that there is a calendar.

-Training Exercises: Theres a few different exercises, including 2 Heavybag routines, Double end Bag, Maize Bag, Sparring... each one builds up different stats. The games are much better, and more in depth.. and a little harder. The heavy bag consists of throwing the punches your trainer puts on the screen. Double end bag consists of you rotating around the bag to "hot spots" throwing punches before the hot spots disappears and a new one appears... quickly rotate to the new hot spots and let off a combo before you have to move again.. The maize bag consists of you slip, slip, slip, slip, slip Punch... theres a particular number of times you need to slip, and then it tells you when to punch, and it changes all the times... Sparring is what it is and builds Head and body toughness...

-Gameplay.. The game play is amazing, even if you thought the graphics weren't great... the physics are amazing, glancing punches... if you throw a punch at the same time your opponent leans in your arm will almost wrap around the back of his head pulling his head into you... if you both throw a hook at the same time your arms will hook into each other.. you can break through blocks, your punches will move the other guys gloves around as you pound on him.. it feels like the fighters are really in the ring together.

I picked Roy and played a few play it nows before jumping into legacy mode... so it was Roy vs Tyson... He knocked me out in 3 rounds because I thought I could stand toe to toe with this guy and slug it out. Roy wouldnt do that in real life, and he certainly wouldnt do it in this game either. ... I did a rematch, and this one went the full distance... The rounds were ALWAYS different, I started off jabbing and boxing and moving... he knocked me down in the 2nd and in the 5th... some rounds he would pressure me hard and used a LOT of lateral movement, so punches were hard too land... and he pulled me into a slugfest.. other rounds I kept him on the ends of my punches and kept moving... Jab jab jab, right hand left hook to the body.. move, move move... jab jab body shot... move move, body shot body shot uppercut, move move move... these rounds i completely dominated... in the 10th round, I caught him with a counter punch that threw him into stun mode, I knocked him down 3 times in a row in the 10th round... He got up.... that bastard knocked me out with 20 seconds to go I was pissed... but it was FUN! it was realistic!

I played as Tyson and I fought Hagler (I know)... and I pummeled him knocking him out in the 1st... the size disparity definitely mattered, Hagler looked like a child measured up to Tyson.

-Opponent Styles.. In legacy mode you come across A LOT of different styles... guys that like to pressure you, and they are good at slipping and countering, and no matter what you try to do, you cant seem to get them off of you and you are almost forced to fight them... other guys Ive encountered are incredibly quick... almost like a timothy bradley... real quick movements, quick punches... they dont stalk you, they stand there and they out box you, they block, they slip, they jab... Some guys fight with their hands down, they are more easy to hit in the face, but they are dangerous with counter punches.. other guys keep a high guard and make it very difficult to land clean punches on, but you can use your workrate to outscore them...

The days of knocking every opponent out is over.. some guys present a style to you that allows you to take them out... other guys present a style that will make endure a hard fought CLOSE 10 rounds... Some guys are bigger than you, they look wider, they are taller.. some guys are shorter, but incredibly quick and incredibly slick... with the new physics, the punches can be hard to land clean on slick fighters just like in real life..

When you hurt a guy, some guys dont know how to hold on and they try blocking to keep from being knocked out... sometimes they are good at blocking and they whether the storm, sometimes they arent and you knock them out... other guys grab you immediately until they are either ok or you catch them coming in quickly... Some guys present a style that certain punches work on... some guys have the ear muff defense and Ive noticed the uppercuts seem to work on these guys very well... other guys have the foreman defense and uppercuts almost do nothing...

Ive only had 5 pro fights... and IM SURE I missed a lot of stuff, but thats a pretty long review as it is, I could go on and on... The gameplay is amazing, very realistic, you literally have to outsmart your opponent, realize what you need to do to win the fight, and do it.

Also the announcers are awesome, I like Joe Tessitore and Teddy Atlas... sometimes their announcing goes in depth... they have had 30 second convos(which is pretty long)... they talk about the fight, they talk about the styles, they talk about the fighters... what you should be doing... how good the fight is.. whats landing what isnt.. They also talk about what kind of training is good, almost telling you how to train in the game... The announcing is definitely aweomse, and the Big stages like Las Vegas definitely have a more DEEP feel to them... you feel like there are really all these people watching you and you need to put on a show to increase your popularity...


Wow, I could keep going but Im going to stop here feel free to ask any questions... normally I go back and check spelling errors.. however I will not. lol.

not that it would have mattered, but the review was nice and i can't wait to scoop it up. there should be a poll to see what system all the posters are on b4 i decide to buy for ps3 or 360! It would take the flaming to a whole new level. And we could have our own p4p list!

[!! Shawn]

My mom gave me genital herpes.

Keep that to yourself brah.

[THE REED]

Sounds good... I should be getting it tomorrow and I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve

Can you tweak the stats of the fighters that come with the game? Cos I think I could do a better job than EA in a few cases...

No you cannot... if you wish to tweak them... you need to start a legacy mode, and build your stats accordingly to train...

"Play it now" they are how they are.

Although you can always create a 2nd version of your fighter with gameface, and edit his stats.....sooooo MAYBE!

[Nick Fury]

Im picking this up in about 2 hours, can't wait to dance around with Emmanuel Augustus.

[MELLY-MEL...]

guess i gotta get out the bed with the honey and go buy this game, and a 360 or ps3 huh? till now i have had no reason to bother with a system.

[BOLLOCKS]

I have both 360 & PS3.

[rizkybizness]

guess i gotta get out the bed with the honey and go buy this game, and a 360 or ps3 huh? till now i have had no reason to bother with a system.

mel, if i was you id get the PS3

only reason i got the 360 was because i got it back in 06 - when there wasnt much comp.

[Home town hero]

cheers for the review, can i ask is the gameplay exactly the same as the demo or has it been tweaked?

[The Surgeon]

I NEED this game!

360 all the way!