“The Top Reasons Fight Night Round 4 lost its Appeal so fast.” - SHAKYR's Blog

SHAKYR's Blog

“The Top Reasons Fight Night Round 4 lost its Appeal so fast.”

Posted on October 25, 2009 at 12:10 AM.

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Gameplay

Too arcadish for many players- Many fans were turned off by the stamina and ability to throw too many punches without consequences.

Presentation and depth to the game was limited and boring after a while.

Boxer AI showed no real representation of the boxers they were supposed to be. Boxer styles were mostly the same. A.I. made all CPU fighters the same.

Counter Freezes

Things that made fighters Champions and Legends are not present in the game. The Jab has no effectiveness, Clinching is useless, and Pure Boxers cannot use movement to get opponent's to walk into punch thus doing bigger damage. The game was "disproportionately skewed" to create in-fights no matter who you had.

The Haymakers. I got 4 words for them. They Need To Go. They got 3 strikes and they need to be out just like the parries had its 3 strikes and it was out. The haymakers in FN series need to go, and they need to focus on making every punch count like in FN 2004, and add more signature punch moves in the next game and make them more effective like they are in real boxing, and David Haye's signature punch the Hayemaker should be a signature punch move, instead of doin' a hadouken like Ken, Ryu & Akuma of Street Fighter.(Papinosis)

Presentation
Presentation was very limited

Short ring walks, lack of stats reported during introductions, lack of drama with decisions, awkward judging, and no replay coverage or broad cast camera.

Online
Online was too exploitable without the correct fixes added
Connectivity issues online prohibit some players from matching up (even by invite).
. Hidden records online with points given according to the level of opponents.

Legacy/Career
Legacy wasn't what it was hyped up to be and repetitive

You could not change anything about your fighter other than his clothing once you started his career, not his fighting style, not even his hair style! Also you never saw any awards once your name leaves the screen after you "win" one.

Customization and options
The Create A Boxer (CAB) Mode was a disappointment to many fans. The options for this mode were very limited. Many fans feel like it didn’t live up to the hype.

. Why are we doo-woppin' in FNR4 with the advance sliders were moving in unison like the Barbershop Quartet. And this is in my department/my neck off the woods, and when I was trying to make boxers, all I hear was doo-wopping, man I was hearing people in the background and I thought I was delusional but it started to happen to many fans around da globe when they were making a boxer in the game.(Papinosis)

Here's what FNR4 CABS advance sliders LIKE THE BARBERSHOP QUARTET: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-Bld4dBduk

Options and customization was limited

Not giving us enough sliders and settings for AI and CAB features etc.

The buttons not being available at launch. A lot of people chose other games (UFC) because of that . And the buttons were inferior because you can't throw body shots while moving.

EA need alot of depth and options to keep people interested, boxing is basically two guys throwing punches at each other, it's only when you break it down into the sweet science that it becomes so interesting. They need to give is the ability to do everything that can be done in the actual boxing world.

Many fans want to know the goals/vision of what the Producers. Are they after a Complete representation of the sport or are they still looking for a sweet spot between realism and "fun" aspects?

Fight Night should have been geared more toward the boxing fans and the hardcore after Facebreaker was released. If EA built a realistic boxing game people will play! Many of these casual and hardcore gamers like games so they will buy it anyway. The Sports gamer and boxing fan will play the game the longest if done right so they should be catered to.

I would like to thank my Fight Night Wishlist Squad(Reignmaka,Uncani Edgeshot,Papinosis,Anthony Lynn,MackMoon,WellLoved) for add ideas to this.

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Comments

# 1 Play2LearnKOS @ Mar 21

I agree with a lot of this. As one of the few people still playing FIght Night Round 4 in 2023, some of these criticisms still apply. Although the irony of Fight Night Round 4 being described as too arcadey is blaring in the face of the then future release of Fight Night Champion, the AI did show limitations despite being incredibly advanced for its time. REAL AI learns how you fight; it doesn't necessarily have a library of moves memorized that the licensed boxers create. However, if you create a fighter, REAL AI will correctly emulate your style using metrics gathered throughout your career. No other boxing game pulls this off, even until today.

I found some fighters did have similar mannerisms to themselves in game, including Mike Tyson and Muhammid Ali. I found no limitation with the jab, as mentioned, and have discovered plenty of strategies around clinching. In fact, many fighters in my stables have been effective outboxers. It's difficult and extremely fun when mastered. The game allows infighting and outfighting, but requires strategies to execute either.

Even though it was very different than Fight Night Champion, Fight Night Round 4 had issues; haymakers were scripted and counter punch windows were pretty exaggerated. But even today, Fight Night Round 4 is the most realistic boxing video game ever released.

If you want to read more about boxing video games check out Brilliant Boxing Media:
https://brilliantboxing.media/styles...g-video-games/