Fight Night Round 3

Feb 24, 2006

Fight Night, EA's fabled boxing franchise, has been releasing across virtually all platforms to rave reviews. The flagship Xbox 360 version has been touted as one of the first Xbox 360 games to truly feel next-gen, and the consoles versions are no slouches, either. Naturally, as EA has done with most of their console releases over the last six months, the publisher has taken the action to the PSP. However, like many of the PSP ports of their console titles, this one feels like an anticlimactic second round KO. And you're betting on the guy who lost.

Round 3 is something of a weird hybrid of Fight Night Round 2 with the presentation of the console versions of Round 3 and some cool, innovative modes. It's also got Infrastructure mode implemented, which is a very pleasant first for a PSP franchise debut. The roster reflects the boxers who are in the newest version of the series, including new additions such as Marvelous Marvin Hagler and Oscar De La Hoya although boxers with differentiations in weight classes new to the console games, such as Roy Jones Jr. as a middleweight, have not made the cut, likely thanks to space limitations on the UMD format; after all, it seems like everything is already taxing the PSP hardware, judging by the long load times, not only between matches, but in the process of simply picking a boxer..

Visually, the graphics look decent for the PSP, but the simplest way to describe them is to say that EA's done a marvelous job importing last year's game to PSP rather than genuinely emulating the current games. Not that it's really bad; it's just a little disappointing to see the console Round 3 and then play what is essentially a handheld port of Round 2 with a fresh paint job. All of the in-game presentation is carried over from last year's game, which is admittedly impressive, from the cutman minigame to the arenas. They've all been replicated in their PS2 glory on the PSP, which is no small feat.

It wouldn't be fair to call the controls that old clichéd term of a bag that's, ahem, blended. No. They're completely unwieldy for most Fight Night veterans to grasp and play. The Cutman minigame takes after Round 2's facial quadrant rather than Round 3's halves of a face. It's just tough to maneuver the analog stick to rub cold steel on the boxer's face without constantly missing. Therefore, it's a detriment to manually assist your fighter. Also, defensive maneuvers are entirely too difficult to pull off as the parrying system has such an awkward and steep learning curve that it's going to possibly feel tougher to pick up than the first time most gamers picked up Fight Night 2004.

Not only it tough to defend, it's not fun to move around the ring thanks to the dependence on the PSP's uncomfortable analog stick, and throwing a Haymaker feels weird, as there's no second stick to charge the move. Because of the strange Haymaker system that involves a directional lean, it ends up being accidentally easier to throw them, which makes a bout even more imbalanced than Fight Night Round 2. As a result, this adaptation of a console boxing game that attempts to simulate the in-ring experience ends up feeling more like a game of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots than anything close to a real experience.

Although the controls are a wonky mess, the PSP-exclusive modes are still kind of fun and innovative. Rival Challenges are a cool feature that pay tribute to boxing's rich history and the greatest bouts between some of the finest pugilists of the last fifty years. There's Repeat History, in which players live out classic rivalries such as Ali/Frazier and more current battles such as Taylor/Hopkins. If you didn't like the way fate smiled upon the outcome of a classic bout, you can rewrite it with Change History, in which you can turn the tide in a classic fight. The best of all, however, is My History, which is a group of challenge modes. Jake LaMotta's tough to knock down. Winky Wright has amazing defense. Roy Jones, Jr. has KOed 38 opponents throughout his storied career. Your challenge is to put the Raging Bull on his back, or nail as many combos as you can on Winky, or survive as long as possible against Jones. They're nice novelties that lend to the pick up and play nature of the PSP.

The career mode isn't too terrible, either, in regard to its layout. If you can get past the lengthy load times, the breakdown of fight contracts are an element missing from the console games, and mercifully, training feels more like the sort of conditioning exercises found in other sports games like NBA 2K, in which you manage how hard you want to push your fighter against the risk of exhaustion to get results. The training minigames found in the console versions would have likely exhausted a game that's already plagued by long load times.

Ultimately, however, where Fight Night Round 3 falls most flat is in the realm of multiplayer. The Ad Hoc isn't bad during a fight, but during anything else, well, it feels more like an equation. Two players + long loads during menu selections = lag. It feels like eternity to pick a boxer because the disc is furiously streaming to load them up. And that's the better of the two modes.

It's great that EA incorporated Infrastructure into the game, as they've always seemed hesitant to do so when they deliver the first PSP version of a franchise (except Madden, but that's a whole 'nother situation). Too many publishers mention that their games have Wi-Fi multiplayer while dodging the question of whether that's Ad Hoc or Infrastructure. EA has taken it head on, which is admirable. What's not admirable is the implementation, which is a mess. Not a single game played over Infrastructure lasted until the end of the fight, thanks to drops. When they did play, they were about as laggy as the PS2 version, which was disgracefully slow. Suffice it to say, the idea of Infrastructure on this PSP game is a wonderful one. The execution of it is poor.

Fight Night Round 3 is essentially a clone of Fight Night Round 2, but rather dumbed-down for the PSP. EA tried to port a console game that's completely dependent on a second analog stick to the PSP, which is an admirable endeavor, but unfortunately, they mostly failed. However, all isn't completely lost. For those willing to endure the poorly-translated control scheme, the career mode is rather well done, as are the Rival Challenges, which really lend themselves to the short burst gameplay that's crucial to handheld. Also, the game looks exceptionally impressive, even if it's a port of last year's game. However, it's doubtful that anyone who's truly a fan of Fight Night's gameplay will find much to cheer about here.