Unexpectedly Fun
The last Fight Night game, for me, was the real beginning of the next generation. And with the studio behind the epic last game no longer in business (gee, thanks Def Jam: Icon!), there was some concern that the fourth game would be less impressive.
EA definitely turned it over to competent hands as this game is still an eminently playable boxing game. The single player storyline is fairly lengthy and, well, devoid of story as you are an anonymous boxer who is trying to punch his way from the amateur ranks up to becoming the G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time). The story really won't keep you going, but the boxing gameplay definitely will keep you active. You have to fight some legends --- including some really borderline ones like Tommy Morrison. How the fuck is HE a legend? You also get to fight Joe Frazier, Lennox Lewis, George Foreman --- and, yes, Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. I will give them credit in actually making Tyson and Ali really difficult fighters but in utterly different ways. Tyson really will stalk you and pound the crap out of you while Ali will hit you several times, take some steps back, and wait for you to come to him for him to knock the crap out of you.
The training mini-games are necessary evils. You will do OK if you auto-train, but to really get good results, you'll have to actually go through the trouble of doing them. They do provide a lot of information on how to play the game. You learn combos by doing them. You learn how to move. How to survive being stunned. And you improve your skills while you learn how to play the game.
