Fight Night Champion

Fight Night Champion so far is the last game in the Fight Night series that EA has released! This game is the better part of 10 years old; you have to wonder if getting the UFC license was what made EA decide that they were done with boxing. This is a real shame as even before this series, EA’s Knockout Kings which came before this was a great series too. Does the series go out a champ or is it knocked out in the final round?

So Real It Hurts!

The presentation of Fight Night Champion is amazing stuff. EA went in a different direction with the visuals in this game and it is a darker, grittier and more hard-hitting looking game. If you read anything about this game you will read about how EA wanted to capture how brutal boxing can be, well this game does just that.

The actual boxers and the many different locations all look great, as does the TV-style presentation. However, it is the damage that appears on the boxers, the blood, cuts, bumps, and bruises that are really well done. The destruction looks so realistic that the game had to be rated M for mature!

Take Control

While you can play Fight Night Champion with the buttons if you like. They added in a new control method to this game where you perform your strikes with the right analog stick. It may sound a bit odd, but it works much better and gives you freer control over your boxer. You can still dish out more devastating moves with various combinations, but overall, I would say the controls are much more accessible this time around. It is a real shame that this was the last game as the controls here are really perfect and I would love to have seen how they implemented new things to this control scheme.

I Am The Greatest!

There are various game modes on offer in Fight Night Champion. You have your quick fights where you can just jump in and fight the AI or a buddy which is a lot of fun. You also have a career mode where you can take your favorite boxer and try to make them the champion of the world, but the real star here in terms of game modes is the Champion Mode.

This is a cinematic story mode where Andre Bishop has been incarcerated, starts boxing in jail, and works his way up to becoming one hell of a fighter. There is a betrayal, lots of fights, lots of blood, and tons of cussing as well as he tries to prove he is the best. This mode is just fantastic! EA has gotten tons of credit for their story modes in stuff like Madden and FIFA, but this is really well done.

It is like you are in a movie and at around five hours or so it is pretty substantial. The various fights you have to do all have something “different” about them. For example, you might have an injury or you might have the odds well and truly stacked against you.

Pros:

• A nice selection of boxers to choose from
• The story mode is amazing
• The violence is brutal
• The game is much easier to get into thanks to the new control scheme
• It is a really fun game to play

Cons:

• The language might be a bit “salty” for some people
• They were not able to get the license for certain boxers such as Floyd Mayweather

EA Sports' latest boxing game, Fight Night Champion, elevates the genre to unprecedented heights. Unlike past Fight Night iterations that reveled in boxing's pomp and flair, Champion examines the sport's unvarnished brutality and tumultuous backdrop. From the engrossing story mode to the refined gameplay, Champion delivers a dynamic and hard-hitting experience.

Story Mode Rivals Acclaimed Dramas

At the core of Champion lies perhaps the most gripping sports game story produced. You control Andre Bishop, a promising boxer who finds his career shattered after being falsely imprisoned. Andre battles his way out in illicit prison fights, struggling to clear his name and support his family, hungry for redemption.

The story comparable favorably to celebrated boxing dramas like Creed or Million Dollar Baby in emotion and drama atypical of the genre. SmackDown's story feels trite, even silly by comparison concerning cartoonish rivalries over championship belts. Meanwhile, Champion tackles weighty themes like injustice, family, and honor with nuance and maturity.

Gameplay Refinements Up the Intensity

Expanding on Fight Night Round 4's superlative physics-based gameplay, Champion introduces more responsive controls, refined counterattacking, combo opportunities and precision punching mechanics. These improvements lend fights an unprecedented fluidity and intensity, surpassing SmackDown's arcade-style combat. Every blow in Champion carries a visceral impact thanks to the excellent visual feedback of fighters reeling from hits and faces smeared with blood.

This physicality makes bouts feel less like sluggish turn-based affairs of SmackDown and more like frenetic scraps with boxers constantly on their toes to attack, evade and retaliate. As Andre, you feel each of his desperate hits during his gritty prison yard brawls, where one misstep means defeat and lost honor.

The Pinnacle of Boxing Gameplay Depth

Beyond just throwing different kinds of arm punches, Champion integrates essential boxing maneuvers like shoulder rolls, parries, clinches and footwork into its deep, yet accessible fighting system. Mastering these techniques alongside strategies of targeting opponent vulnerabilities, conserving stamina, and analyzing mid-match statistics separates good players from the great.

This fusion of breadth, depth and accessibility in mechanics is unmatched even by fighting series luminaries like Street Fighter 4 or Tekken 6. WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 feels excessively shallow by comparison with its iterative gameplay improvements barely skin-deep rather than the refined mechanics Champion boasts underneath.

Review: 9/10

By capturing the anticipation before matches, the unforgiving physicality within the ring, and emotional highs and lows after final bells, Champion encapsulates boxing's essence more wholly than any game before it. Small touches like referees intervening when rules are broken or reactive ringside audiences make bouts feel authentic.

Pros:

• Arresting mature story mode exploring meaningful themes
• Nuanced and fluid physics-based fighting mechanics
• Jaw-dropping graphics and damage effects

Cons:

• Steep initial learning curve

The best fights and the most realistic of fictional stories await you in the best rings of the sports game - Fight Night Champion. Get energized to support the champions and for the most realistic fights the game has to offer.

The brutal world of boxing

The story immerses the player in the life and career of a young boxer, Andre Bishop. Talent often faces challenges on the road to his dreams, but in boxing, corrupt fights, betrayals by managers, and best friends hit much harder than a strong opponent's fist.

How to take rejection right?

Some people just don't understand rejection and that's exactly what promoter D.L. Mukkuin was. The promoter offered Andre Bishop a career and fame in exchange for signing a contract. On being rejected, Mookkuin pulled all his connections and made sure that Andre could only fight in a prison cage. How will Andre Bishop's fate pan out after prison and will he be able to return to the big sport after this? Find out in Fight Night Champion history mode and help Andre Bishop reach his greatest title. There will be friends and enemies alike on the road to victory, and it's best to know them all by sight:

• D.L. McQueen is a corrupt man and promoter. A man who can easily stab even the closest person in the back.
• Gus Carisi - a coach who completely understands the athlete - the best coach.
• Raymond Bishop - the brother of the main character, who became a fighter for the organization that put Andre in prison.

Megan McQueen - D.L. McQueen's daughter and the only one who was able to walk away from her father's business unhindered.

Legends come alive in the ring

In free mode, the player will have the opportunity to create his own fighter and step into the ring against famous boxers of the past and present. More than fifty fighters in different weight classes can test the skill of your character and easily take away such a coveted title of winner. Train and fight, learn the special behavior of your opponents, and never give up halfway.