The Sterling Stage, 6134 E. Hwy. 290
'Fight Night Round 3' for the PlayStation2
The beauty of boxing is its simplicity. It's a sport of man vs. man with nothing but some barely forgiving gloves and only-somewhat concerting low-blow protection. This focus on the human form – one of the toughest challenges for game designers – makes boxing video games a struggle to perfect, kinda like trying to make a ballet video game. Nintendo's Punch Out severely lacked the finer aspects of what is known as the "sweet science." Fight Night Round 3 takes some great strides toward capturing the technical grace of pugilism.
First the science, or technical aspects: Even for the increasingly dated PlayStation2, the visuals are impressive; the controls are tried, true, and intuitive; and the character creation options are respectable. That alone makes Fight Night a winner. Not quite a KO, the soundtrack consists of too few hip-hop tracks – many with infuriating fighting imagery ("Mama Said Knock You Out" is thankfully absent). The sound effects are unobtrusive until a blood-/spit-misted knockdown punch is replayed in slow motion and the Foley artist gets a bit overzealous.
First the science, or technical aspects: Even for the increasingly dated PlayStation2, the visuals are impressive; the controls are tried, true, and intuitive; and the character creation options are respectable. That alone makes Fight Night a winner. Not quite a KO, the soundtrack consists of too few hip-hop tracks – many with infuriating fighting imagery ("Mama Said Knock You Out" is thankfully absent). The sound effects are unobtrusive until a blood-/spit-misted knockdown punch is replayed in slow motion and the Foley artist gets a bit overzealous.