Fight Night: Round 3

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Fight Night: Round 3

Developer(s)	EA Chicago
Publisher(s)	EA Sports
Release date(s)	February 22, 2006 (US), March 10, 2006 (UK)
Genre(s)	Sports game
Mode(s)	Single-player, Ad hoc, Infrastructure
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen PEGI: 16+
Platform(s)	Xbox 360, Xbox, PSP, PS2, PS3

Fight Night: Round 3 is a boxing video game developed by EA Sports. It is the sequel to EA Sports' previous boxing title, Fight Night: Round 2, which was released in 2005. Round 3 was released on February 22, 2006 for the Xbox, Xbox 360, PSP and PlayStation 2. The cover art features Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward, except the Xbox 360 and PSP versions which feature a photo of Oscar de la Hoya instead.

1 About the game
2 Xbox 360
3 PlayStation 3
4 Critical reception
5 Criticism
6 Boxers of Fight Night: Round 3
7 References
8 External links

[edit] About the game

Fight Night: Round 3 is the third boxing title to carry the Fight Night name from EA Sports. It features the usual improvements such as better graphics and gameplay. "Impact Punches" is one of the most drastic changes, along with ESPN Classic fights and a new career mode, in which the player fights to gain popularity in order to reach sponsored fights, or to be featured on ESPN. Unlike in older versions, Round 3 (or at least the 360 version) defaults without a heads-up display (HUD), allowing a player to judge the status of their stamina and energy based on their stance, movements, and facial features.

[edit] Xbox 360

While available for the Xbox and PlayStation 2, the primary popularity for Fight Night: Round 3 has been for the Xbox 360 version, primarily because the device is a next generation console with improved graphical features.

[edit] PlayStation 3

The PlayStation 3 version of the game was released on December 6th, 2006. The PS3 version includes "...a number of PS3-exclusive gameplay features—including a first-person mode called 'Get in the Ring', and a new damage system that wasn't present in the Xbox 360 version".^[1]

[edit] Critical reception

Official Xbox Magazine awarded Fight Night: Round 3 with a 10, the highest score ever given by the magazine.

G4 TechTV's Reviews on the Run's Victor Lucas stated that Round 3 had the best graphics he has ever seen on a video game.^[2]

[edit] Criticism

The game has been criticized for its highly intrusive product placement. While brands for boxing apparel like Everlast are expected, "sponsorship" by Dodge and Burger King, including having as an unlockable the Burger King king as a ring second, is regarded as excessive.

The career mode also lacks reality to boxing with a simplistic ladder to the top, taking on present and historic characters as well as made up boxers. The intelligence is also limited as for example, the game automates a rival during your path as an amateur boxer and throughout the career of your boxer. The problem is that the player's computerized rival leapfrogs the player's progress despite being beaten in the amateur final and early in the player's career; regardless, the rival could be the boxer whom the player fights for the world title. The player's fighter does not have a world ranking and world titles cannot be won, lost or unified, unless the player follows the automated progress.

Furthermore, the minigames are the same from the previous version, with the only alteration being the perspective from which they are viewed. Additionally, the Xbox 360 version has several glaring flaws on what is essentially a modified version 2 that include a cutman who warns of cuts before they can be remedied by the player; and issues with characters falling after being knocked out, such as the common glitch where a character's limbs are thrown around randomly after he hits the ground.

Another problem with the game is its low level of challenge from the AI. Various gaming websites (and other critics) that have reviewed the game thought that the AI was too easy. Reportedly, gamers would crank the difficulty to the 'hard' setting, wildly swinging at the opponent, and blocking most of its punches and throwing the same punch over and over would allow you knockdowns and KO's without much effort of the computer opponent fighting back.

[edit] Boxers of Fight Night: Round 3

Some of the boxers that are represented in Fight Night: Round 3 are as listed, but this list does not include some of the boxers that can be unlocked as the player's boxer progresses through his professional boxing career.