'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.

The sweet and just plain fun? Classic rivalries spice things up (Ali vs. Frazier being the most heated), and, as your career progresses, feel free to create rivalries of your own (trash-talking included). Want to brush up on your combinations before stepping into the ring with Sugar Ray Leonard? Try sparring instead of the insufferable training modes, which should be removed in an effort to cut down on loading times elsewhere in the game. Once the bell rings however, be prepared for a smarting ballet.