When the punches do land flush with force the other areas of gameplay shine. Watching punches deflect off of gloves and land squarely is always a great sight and its realism can’t be ignored.
Sometimes the arm will wrap around the back of the intended target’s head and other times it’ll come barreling full force through an attempted block. There are very realistic responses and variations in each punch. This is one area that Fight Night truly excels at. Punches can land with devastating results or miss their target completely. The core gameplay is what you’d expect from Fight Night. The lean function and body punch modifier have doubled up on L1/LB to create faster reflexes and overall flow of the matches. In order to modify your punches to their powerful versions all that needs to be done is hold R2/RT. Full Spectrum Punch Control also changed power shots. This will certainly give players more of a choice in how they play the game. In order to perform an uppercut it requires that two buttons be pressed simultaneously. The right and left straight punches and hooks are dedicated to each button. Face buttons have been assigned different punches. The stick is no longer the only way to throw a punch. While that does simplify things a bit it isn’t the only option at the player’s disposal. So in order to perform the same right hook action all that has to be done is flicking the stick to the right. Instead of making specific motions on the analog stick to execute punches flicking the stick in a certain direction will have the same effect. For Fight Night Champion the new fight system is called Full Spectrum Punch Control. For example, to perform a right hook the player had to push the right analog to the right and rotate it upwards till it was facing straight up. This required the exclusive use of the right analog for throwing various punches.
Followers of the series will remember the Total Punch Control mechanics of the previous title.
While the overall presentation of the gameplay looks very similar to what we’ve seen before it has undergone some changes. Are the new tweaks and additions enough to keep the series holding their title proudly or is it time they retired Fight Night? HOT Fight Now, Legacy mode, Online all make a return in addition to the new Champion mode. Players can expect the same hard hitting formula that the developers have been crafting with a few updates. Fight Night Champion is the latest entry in EA Sports’ ongoing series. The Fight Night series returns to maintain its title as king of the ring.