Fight Night Champion: Champion Mode Trailer

The Fight Night series has never delivered a truly satisfying career mode, but EA Canada is hoping to change that with the fifth entry in the series. Fight Night Champion offers not one, but two ways to enjoy a character's rise from nobody to the greatest fighter to ever step into the ring. Legacy Mode improves on the career mode in Fight Night 4 and Champions Mode offers the story of one specific boxer's rise to fame. We spoke with Brian Hayes, Lead Gameplay Designer of Fight Night Champion, to get some details on these two modes. Watch the Champion Mode Trailer Legacy Mode Hayes promises Legacy Mode is greatly improved. "Legacy Mode is the only place you can go to create a boxer and fight your way through the division rankings, trying to become a champion, a Hall-of-Famer or potentially the Greatest Of All Time," he told IGN. You'll notice the difference the moment you step into the ring as an amateur. There's now authentic amateur gear and scoring, which should help that first year of development fell less like the beginning of a Karate Kid movie and more like the real deal. Once you leave the amateur ranks, you'll start taking notice of the fight purse – the moolah you earn for a bout. Money is used to pay for training at different facilities around the world, each with its own specializations. All of your training tools from the last game return – the heavy, maize, and double-end bags as well as sparring. "We have added some depth and addressed some difficulty issues that were called out by users in Round 4," Hayes said. The bigger news is that every fight can have a lasting impact on your career, a change that totally alters how you'll approach each and every contest in the ring. As with a real boxer, the damages from punches don't stop when the final bell rings. "Persistent damage that has long-term effects over the course of your boxer's career means you need to be mindful of the punches you take and the opponents you take on," Hayes said. Until we see this in action, it's hard to know how quickly heavy blows will impact your fighter, but his longevity is no longer completely up to the user. You could be reckless at times in Fight Night 4 and still survive. If Champion does its job, haphazard swings that leave your fighter open for big hits is going to lead to a short career. Champion Mode Unlike Legacy Mode, which has you create your own fighter from scratch and guide his career and development, Champion Mode is a scripted story. Following the career of up-and-comer Andre Bishop, Champion Mode offers something totally new for the Fight Night franchise – a character with a personality, a background, a family, and believable emotions. Hayes described the story for IGN: "Andre is an outstanding boxing talent. He and his younger brother Raymond are trained by Gus Carisi. Gus used to train their father, who was also a promising boxer at one time. Andre has tremendous potential and DL McQueen, a promoter, is bent on controlling his career. Andre and Gus aren't interested in working with McQueen and the story centers around the struggles Andre faces trying to reach his potential with a variety of obstacles thrown in his way." It's a linear story without branching paths. So don't expect to be faced with moral choices or to have the game change dynamically based on your performance in the ring. However, Hayes said, "The challenges will play out differently for each user depending on their skill level and playing style." The story isn't the only thing separating the Champion and Legacy modes. Because of the narrative in Champion Mode, there will be some unique events and challenges. It's not just Legacy Mode with cut-scenes added in for the hell of it. The story is expected to drive the action and not just be fluff in the background. For those with flashbacks to the Def Jam series and its wild and crazy stories, expect something "more somber and serious." The Raging Bull of video games? We can get behind that. Fight Night Champion steps into the ring on March 1, 2011 for PS3 and Xbox 360.