OT: Fight Night 2004 shipped

[sabotai]

Has anyone got it? I read today on Gamespot that EA has shipped it, but I wanted to know if it's actually in stores yet.

[sabotai]

So I guess that's a no (or those who did are busy playing it)?

[Vince]

I saw a commercial for this for the first time the other night, and man does it look amazing.


Sorry that I have nothing to add, Sab

[SegRat]

I hope my copy is waiting at home for me.

[GrantDawg]

Someone give up the info. Is it any good?

[SegRat]

My copy should be here today, but I have to go into work. I will give you my feedback after I play a little bit of it.

[Eaglesfan27]

Gamespot gave it a very flattering review for both the PS2 and X-box.

[SegRat]

Well I managed to get in 3 games before work. Actually I got knocked out 3 times before work. The TPC is not something I am used to. It’s going to take some practice, but I refuse to switch and use the buttons. Getting knocked down the first few times was rough. Your vision is impaired. You see 3 refs, and they need to be lined up into one. Create a boxer is limited. They could have gone a whole lot deeper with that. While playing, don’t try and turn it into a slug fest. That definitely will not work. You need to use lots of defense. If there is anything else you want to know I can try and answer. So far I am impressed.

[Anthony]

wait - you can use the buttons instead? i hate the TPC! i've played 3 games and got knocked out in 2 and lost one by decision. you can't get into a slugfes, that's for sure. i actually was concentrating on not thrwoing many punches and was trying to land just basic jabs and straight punches, trying to set up my haymaker. i can't grasp the defensive blocking, which is a must, cuz if you want to score a knockout early on it's just not gonna happen. you need to try to win the cards too and fight realistically instead of mashing buttons.

it's fun, but the TPC is just too radical for me. i'm gonna try it online and get my ass handed to me before i go to bed.

[SegRat]

Yeah you can use the buttons. Go into controls. TPC is tough, but I will figure it out. In my Opinion, it seems to be a very tight game. Well worth the money.

[FloridaFringe]

The TPC is too easy. There are only 3 different moves to remember for each side. I played for about an hour last night and won each of my fights by way of knockout. Hopefully the career mode or some friends can add some challenge. So far it has been fun but the difficulty is lacking as far as I'm concerned.

BTW, defense is a must if you expect to win. It took me all of 1 round to figure out how to block and weave. After that it was just a matter of timing, which seemed easy to do as well.

Also, it seems that there is a natural tendency to use the side that is closest to you in so much as your fighters left hand will be more active if his left side of his body is visible. I found myself moving my fighter around a lot just to even out the use of both hands.

My final impression from my limited play is that the game still seems too much like a button masher but instead now it’s a thumbstick masher. There were times when I could land 5 straight punches with my left hand and them 5 straight with my right. Repeat and rinse just as long as I was quick about it. Therefore, 10 punch combos were all too easy to land all too often.

I will say that I had fun at least.

[GrantDawg]

I agree with HA. I hate the TPC. I'm using the buttons, but the only problem with that is no uppercut. Since that is the main punch I can't seem to get with the controller, I'm basically screwed.

[Hoya1]

I was messing around with the demo and pushed square and X at the same time to get the uppercut

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Hoya1

I was messing around with the demo and pushed square and X at the same time to get the uppercut

I'll try that, thanks.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by FloridaFringe

The TPC is too easy. There are only 3 different moves to remember for each side. I played for about an hour last night and won each of my fights by way of knockout. Hopefully the career mode or some friends can add some challenge. So far it has been fun but the difficulty is lacking as far as I'm concerned.

BTW, defense is a must if you expect to win. It took me all of 1 round to figure out how to block and weave. After that it was just a matter of timing, which seemed easy to do as well.

Also, it seems that there is a natural tendency to use the side that is closest to you in so much as your fighters left hand will be more active if his left side of his body is visible. I found myself moving my fighter around a lot just to even out the use of both hands.

My final impression from my limited play is that the game still seems too much like a button masher but instead now it’s a thumbstick masher. There were times when I could land 5 straight punches with my left hand and them 5 straight with my right. Repeat and rinse just as long as I was quick about it. Therefore, 10 punch combos were all too easy to land all too often.

I will say that I had fun at least.

you're supposed to beat up on the sucky lower quality guys. try doing that in a championship match.

btw, i've sort have got used to TPC. it's just hard to pull off combo's though. i find myself wishing there was an auto-combo button like in the last Knockout Kings game.

i played 2 games online. i DQ's in the 1st game and in the 2nd i kicked the guy's ass so silly with Commander Evander that he dq'd himself. i'm usually not good in online games, i was proud of myself.

[FloridaFringe]

I haven't tried the career mode so I don't know about beating up on the sucky guys. All of my fights have been single bouts against quality opponents. Unless of course Ali, Frazier, Trinidad and Lewis don't qualify. Maybe it's just me but I found TPC rather intuitive and simple to learn. Maybe it was just beginners luck. It also might have something to do with the fact that this is my first experience with an arcade style boxing game since the original Punch Out back in the old arcade days. Therefore, I don't have any expectations or inhibitions in regards to the controls.

[sabotai]

Is it on the easiest difficulty level?

[MizzouRah]

I THOUGHT I cancelled my order, but it showed up anyway. (I'm done ordering through the eastore). You can talk to someone to order a game, but you can't talk to someone to cancel an order, only send an email. Wonder why that is?

Anyhow, I'm going to try this one out.


Todd

[FloridaFringe]

My first bout was set on the default medium level while my other 3 were set to hard. I actually started 5 bouts but was disqualified in the first round of my 1st fight for head butting so I didn't count that one since I was only testing the various controls and it didn't even last a full round.

I bought Gladius as well yesterday and have found myself playing and wanting to play that more than Fight Night. I think that it will have more appeal for me once some friends visit and I can go toe to toe with them. Hopefully that will make more of a difference but it seems that that might be the best use of the game. Again, I haven't tried the career mode yet so maybe that will spark more interest as well.

It most certainly is not the end all of boxing games and is most certainly not a simulation by any stretch of the imagination. If you like arcade style games then this should work out just fine for those intensions.

I'm not complaining by any means but rather simply stating my own personal experiences with the game so far.

[Hoya1]

I think the game is great. I played last night for hours. It is easily the best boxing game ever. The TPC feature is a nice idea, unfortunately I must be oldskool because I prefer the buttons. Career mode is pretty fun and involving. The only thing I don’t like is the knockdown controls. The old way of button mashing to get up is long gone. I’ve gotten up once in 4 times that I’ve been knocked down…………..and that was at the count of 9. I’m sure it’ll take some practice using the analog sticks.


Anyway, I highly recommend this game for anyone who likes boxing

[tucker342]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

can't grasp the defensive blocking, which is a must, cuz if you want to score a knockout early on it's just not gonna happen. you need to try to win the cards too and fight realistically instead of mashing buttons.

FINALLY! I've been waiting for so long for a boxing game where there wasn't always a knockout every single time to get the win. I might have to check this out...

[Ragone]

yea. don't count on eastore to cancel anything.. i cancelled ncaa 2004 football after i got it in a store and eastore hadn't shipped it yet.. 3 weeks later it showed up at my door even though i cancelled it.. (the plus side is though they didn't charge me for it

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Ragone

yea. don't count on eastore to cancel anything.. i cancelled ncaa 2004 football after i got it in a store and eastore hadn't shipped it yet.. 3 weeks later it showed up at my door even though i cancelled it.. (the plus side is though they didn't charge me for it

Shoot, they charged me.

Seriously though, possbily the biggest game maker/licenser in the world doesn't have people answering phones at their own stores? They probably have a bunch of kids making $3.00/hr to stick shipping labels on boxes.


Todd

[Desnudo]

How's the career mode?

[SegRat]

Career mode is decent. Remeinds me of Holyfields real deal boxing for the genisis. The more money you earn, the more you can purchase, such as shorts, gloves, tatoo's, music for you entrance, power punches, and so forth. It could have been better, but I am very happy with the game overall.

[Ragone]

When i called mizzou.. i got some lady with a pakistani accent.. so i imagine they farmed out all their cs to india/pakistan as well..

She hung up on me after i asked her to ship me a slurpee.. no idea why

[FloridaFringe]

Ok, in all fairness to the games difficulty I checked it out again today and noticed that the setting was on medium. Now I'm not sure if in fact I had actually changed it to hard as I had thought or if it just defaulted back to medium. I'm leaning towards the former since I just had my ass handed to me in both of my fights on the hard setting. I will also say that the knockdown situation takes a bit of getting used to and I really like how it gets harder to handle the more times that you've been knocked down in a fight.

Most importantly, it was still a lot of fun even losing twice in a row.

[ice4277]

Originally Posted by Ragone

When i called mizzou.. i got some lady with a pakistani accent..

Now I can see why Ardent spends so much time hanging out with him...her...

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Ragone

When i called mizzou.. i got some lady with a pakistani accent.. so i imagine they farmed out all their cs to india/pakistan as well..

She hung up on me after i asked her to ship me a slurpee.. no idea why

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by ice4277

Now I can see why Ardent spends so much time hanging out with him...her...

I think it should read, When I called EA, mizzou....


Todd

[MizzouRah]

I toyed with the game for a few last night. The TPC is hard and can anyone get up after a knockdown??


Todd

[FloridaFringe]

Focus on the eyes.

[SegRat]

I focus on the ea patch on the refs shirt.

[Anthony]

yup. just do one thumstick at a time. if you do them both at the same time it's so much harder.

i use confguration #6 - you use the buttons to punch AND the thumbstick for uppercutting. awesome.

[HornedFrog Purple]

I just rented it today and am starting a career. The TPC is cool. I suggest doing the trainings, because it helped me bob and weave and I am getting better at counterpunching. I finally won my first fight after 4 bouts. It takes some getting used to but the control is great. You just have to be patient and wait for your opening and pounce on it.

Edit: the guy I made has a low cut rating (I haven't added any points to his 30 to start with) and after every fight his face looks like it went through a meat grinder

[MizzouRah]

Some excellent tips!! I'm going to delve into it this weekend and see what's under the hood.

I figure ootp6 will be out very soon, so I'd better get some boxing in.



Todd

[sabotai]

I finally got this game today. I like the TPC, but because of the way it's set up (thumstick to the left of your right hand), it's so much easier to throw left punches than it is the throw right punches. I find it very hard to throw a right uppercut in a fight because it takes so long for me to do it, but left uppercuts and hooks are pretty easy. I'll probably create a south paw fighter to compensate.

Got my ass handed to me (James Toney) by Roy Jones Jr. Then went into career mode. Decent set up for creating a new boxer, but could have put more work into it. And the career is pretty decent. The only thing I hate is that they should give you an option to train using the Heavy Bag, Sparring, Punching Gloves and Combo Dummy. Instead it just goes down the list of 4 and then repeats. It would be so much better if I could just choose which one I wanted to do.

So far my fighters is 11-3 with 11 KOs. Lost my first two fights as I learned it isn't a slugfest in there. Spent a lot of time fighting the low rank guys (which is why I have a good record). First time I tried moving up to fight the 40th rank guy, got my ass kicked. Then after a few more push ups, I have now beat ranked 39 and 38 fighters.

I don't use the block shots in a fight, though. But I lean like a mother fucker.

[Anthony]

after tooling around with a practice career, i made myself and am now 15-0 with 14 KO's. i've won the "Hands of Stone" award every year (i'm in 2007). you might say "15-0, shouldn't you increase the difficulty setting?", but i'm still having fun. no fight lasts beyond the 3rd round for me, my guy is ranked in the lower 20's. making a ton of money. believe it or not my record is pretty realistic, most every champion only has about 4 or 5 losses their entire career. my guy is gonna be a contenda.

[HornedFrog Purple]

Well I have managed to get to a 14-3 record with 9 KO's and ranked 37.

I had a hilarious knockout. I nailed a guy with my signature bomb from hell and as he bounced off the ropes and was falling I belted him with a headbutt. The other one that looked brutal was in this other fight, my opponent missed with a hook and I weaved to the side and basically clobbered him in the back of the head. He went flying and didnt get up.

Also I suck at the heavy bag with the TPC so I switched to buttons for that.

[ahbrady]

I'm trying to keep from buying this because I've been spending too much on games recently, but you guys are making it difficult. I'm basically only interested in the career mode. I have xbox, so no online play. Would those of you who have played it say that it is worth it for career mode only or not?

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by ahbrady

I'm trying to keep from buying this because I've been spending too much on games recently, but you guys are making it difficult. I'm basically only interested in the career mode. I have xbox, so no online play. Would those of you who have played it say that it is worth it for career mode only or not?

Hard to tell yet, but I am glad I didn't send it back (Xbox). Started my career with Todd "The ladies Man" V. Lost my first match by decision, although I'm getting much better at TPC.

I'm really surprised at all the options you have at your disposal when creating a player for career mode, very nice!

Thus far, it's an addicting game. I've been practicing a ton with TPC and I really like it better than button mashing.


Todd

[SegRat]

What little extra time I have had, has been spent with fight night. I love the game.

[ice4277]

This sounds like a pretty interesting game, if only I had more time to play them.

One question, how long does it seem like it will take to play through a career? Does career advancement seem pretty realistic, ie, first dozen fights or so are at smaller arenas against lesser opponents?

[Havok]

i bought it last night and i have to say that im very impressed. I've always been a huge boxing fan and almost every boxing game ever made up until this point has been a disappointment to me (except Evander Holyfield boxing ). But this game is definitly a step in the right direction.... if EA can continue to build on this i'll be a very happy EA customer(something i havent been in years).

But PLEASE get ride of "Tigger" and the whole "Hip Hop" thing they got going on. A few good "Hip Hop" songs on the soundtrack is fine, but i think they got carried away here.

[SegRat]

Ice: from what I see you fight about 4 fights a year. Also when you first start your career you fight the lower ranked guys in the smaller clubs.

I actually thought Tigger would be deccent announcing at the clubs, but once you fight at Ceasers's and what not, it would be a better having real announcers.

Also for those who have the game here is a cheat if you use TPC. When going into training switch your controls to the buttons. Then go back to TPC for your fights. I do ok in fights with TPC, but was having a hell of a time in training with TPC.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by ice4277

This sounds like a pretty interesting game, if only I had more time to play them.

One question, how long does it seem like it will take to play through a career? Does career advancement seem pretty realistic, ie, first dozen fights or so are at smaller arenas against lesser opponents?

well, i'm in the year 2007, and with 4 fights a year and being 15-0 i'm still only ranked in the 20's. so it's slow. you can only fight people no more than like 5 rankings above you. if this were real boxing i'm sure someone with a 15-0 record would have been a #1 contenda by now cuz that sport is so corrupt they can make anyone a contenda whenever they want. look at Mike Tyson the last 5 or 6 years - you honestly think with the bums he fought he deserved to box Lennox Lewis?

so if the sport wasn't corrupt then yes the game would be very realistic. right now i find it might be going a little slow. i think i'm ready for the big boys.

[ice4277]

So, what you're saying is, Don King needs to be signed as a consultant for the next version

[condors]

i spent alot of time with the game this weekend(xbox version)

I played a full career until i was told to retire.

I was a heavyweight and was able to beat Sonny Liston and Rocky Marcianio(sp). I fought Ali and i had no chance.

I auto trained and my ratings were not up to par with these guys. I have not had the required success training myself in order to get the ratings high enough.

All in all i will be trying the career again although i am not sure i have what it takes to become champ at the medium difficulty level.

I find i am able to beat sluggers but boxers who use the ring seem to get very favorable decsions from the judges after i chase them around for 12 rounds landing more punches

[sabotai]

I have almost made it through a whole career. I have been pretty successful at the training, and my stats are almost completely maxed out. Which is probably why I've been able to beat almost everyone I faced.

I beat Liston and Marciano pretty easily, knocking them both out in round 2. Jones Jr. and Byrd were the two that gave me the most trouble, because they keep their distance and use the ring, but I was able to wear them down with my 100 Speed and 100 Power to eventually knock them out in late rounds.

I think my record (haven't played since yesterday afternoon) is 29-1-0 (29 KO). My one lose came when I tried moving up a little too soon and got out pointed in a 6 round fight. I got my revenge on that guy...twice.

I might consider dropping the round time to 2 minutes. I got to thinking that the fights all end too early, but I see that some of you have gone the distance and won several times so I'm not sure it is that or that I should bump it up to Hard. I'll probably bump it up to Hard after this career is done and see how that works.

[condors]

i need lots more practice on the heavy bag

sabotai any insights or suggestions would be helpfull

when you need to switch quickly between head/body kills me and timing my punch so the bag is even with my shoulders works if only i throw the proper punch every time i wanted (i need 12 buttons for all the legal punches)

i have been making my living doing the tpc and throwing 99% straights/jabs