Fight Night Round 2

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• All-new Punch Control mechanics for throwing multiple punches - Block, bob and weave with complete precision and control
• Create and train the ultimate champion by transforming his skills and physique
• Total control of your boxer with 360-degree sticking and moving - punch and block while dancing around the ring
• Unleash the power of the Haymaker - a crushing blow that will knock your opponent out, if you can connect

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00075GLW4
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 4.5 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 1, 2005
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,736 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Xbox

Amazon.com

As much as certain events have made gamers a little bitter at EA's business tactics, Fight Night: Round 2 does illustrate what the company is very good at: taking a good thing and making it even better.

It's obvious that the developers, while continuing to fine-tune the all-analog gameplay, have placed a focus on creating a more compelling career mode. Largely, they've been very successful. The new create-a-boxer is very comprehensive, allowing you to morph almost every aspect of your pugilist's appearance on the fly. A new type of match mode, available as a standalone option called Hard Hit Mode, makes an appearance on your schedule as special events. In these events, a round doesn't end until someone is knocked down, lending a more brutal, over-the-top feel to the contest. Thankfully, these are optional and, while they can unlock new items in the store, they don't usually count against your ranking. For hardcore fans, you'll be pleased to note that you can now change weight classes mid-career as you age and that each pro's career is made so you're fighting era-appropriate foes.

On the gameplay side, the most important new aspect is the Haymakers – powerful blows that allow you to pre-load a punch for extra impact. Of course, using them is risky, but their power makes them an important tool in winning the belt. Although the initial matches are a bit easier than in last year's, the difficulty stiffened once my rank climbed to the mid-30s. The AI seems a bit savvier, and opponents will grapple when you've got them nearly knocked out to buy for time. I find it a little strange that rival boxers have an almost Jason Vorhees-like ability to rise from the mat, sometimes recovering from as many as four knockdowns in two rounds, but that's a minor quibble.

Another nice addition is the "woozy" camera angles that appear when you or an opponent is nearly knocked down. It's a small touch, but a very dramatic one, just one more of the many little things that EA did right in making Fight Night: Round 2. The sum of these is a game that might just be the best boxing video game to date.

Concept:
After revolutionizing the genre, EA makes an effort to give boxing fans a more well-rounded experience

Graphics:
Improves on last year's already great visuals – the facial injuries and sweat are eerily real

Sound:
Great selection of rough n' ready rap, including the reunited Geto Boys (Yay!)

Playability:
If anything, the all-analog control is even more fluid this time around

Entertainment:
A better career mode and more depth make for a better overall game

Replay:
High

Rated: 9.25 out of 10
Editor: Matt Helgeson
Issue: March 2005

2nd Opinion:
With my right and left hands (one is "Sorrow," the other "Pity") I have brutalized flesh and shortened the lives of men. This is my career. This is Fight Night Round 2. Footwork, punches, and your defense are now all seamlessly integrated into an irresistibly fluid dance of timely parries and devastating counter-blows. It looks so real you can feel your brain slapping against the inside of your skull. Also more lifelike is the career mode, in which your fighter will actually age, necessitating training and the best equipment. But, nothing makes you feel quite as alive as being in the ring, where sweat and bloody spray are the champagne of victory. Absolutely glorious.

Rated: 9 out of 10
Editor: Matthew Kato


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Product Description

ALL-NEW EA SPORTS™ HAYMAKERControl the power of your punch and end the fight with a one-punch knockout.TOTAL BOXER CONTROLBlock and punch on the move using EA SPORTS Fight Night's revolutionary analog control system.TAKE CHARGE IN THE CORNERCounter the effects of damage using the EA SPORTS Cutman's bucket of tools.BECOME BOXING'S GREATEST CHAMPIONCreate a fighter who looks like you with the new analog body and facial sculpting controls.TRAIN FOR THE BIG FIGHTBulk up for power slim down for speed-customize your physique to dominate your next opponent.Format: XBOX Genre: SPORTS/GAMES Rating: T - Teen UPC: 014633148961 Manufacturer No: 14896

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful! The best game ever made!, March 8, 2005

By 

Bob Smith "Bob" (California LA, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Fight Night Round 2 (Video Game)

This game is wonderful and its just amazing how such a game can ever be made. Sticking and Jabbing Eventually wears down ur opponent letting u do a crazy KO punch or a haymaker. The controls are easy to maneuver and learn although throwing a haymaker requires correct timing. Tending to cuts and swelling between rounds really brings out the realism of boxing in the game. Sparring lets u harness ur skills and learn the controls. Sticking and moving lets u easily avoid hooks or deadly punches and lets u throw a stinging jab to the face. Counterpunching just makes u feel so good. For example your opponent throws a deadly hook, you can immediately counterpunch and hit your opponent right back in his face, and this could distabilize him because he wasnt prepared for it, letting you throw a flurry of punches and even giving the opportunity to go for a haymaker, which could send them straight to the canvas. Animation is excellent and is very funny too. Rings are beautifully created and lighted and the way the boxers are introduced makes the whole thing awesome. So, what are u waiting for??? Get your copy right now and you wont regret it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Improvement Over first one, November 14, 2005

By 

J. Montank "Tank" (McGuire AFB, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Fight Night Round 2 (Video Game)

I purchased this game because I enjoyed the first. The only problem I had with the first one was that it was very difficult to get high in the ranks before you were forced to retire. In this installment of the game you can just keep fighting, although with the slow loss of stats biting at your heals. The mini games to build your stats are easier. If you try to take the easy way out and to the auto train, you get lower results and can potentially hurt yourself, which in turn lowers stats. The gameplay itself is practially identical, with the addition of the haymaker. This is a more powerful hook or uppercut that takes more energy. A few well timed haymakers can turn the tides in almost any fight.
Changing weightclasses and unifying belts is a great addition as well.
Really nothing to say bad about this game other than it only has so much replayability. After you retire one fighter, making another is kinda fun, but you can only do that so many times.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More realistic than the first, but less fun..., September 4, 2005

By 

Aaron Creagh "siamus" (Albany, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Fight Night Round 2 (Video Game)

..Let me explain. The first Fight Night game introduced a new realism in boxing video games. It had realistic characters boxing styles stances, and a setup in which you could choose to fight a faster paced style, or one dedicated to more power. In Round 2 you see an improvement in detail, especially in the faces of the boxers. You are also introduced to something new which is the haymaker...which is both good and bad.

The haymaker, as you probably already know, is a punch where you put all of your might in order to try to score a knockout. The problem with this game is that it is very much focused around that one particular punch...and power in general. Your bob and weave doesn't seem to be as effective this time around...and if one of your punches is paried...your arms fall for 2 or 3 seconds, pretty much guaranteeing the opponent will get a haymaker in. This makes the game feel very cheap..unlike in the first Fight Night game, where a parry leaves you open for a split second..which seems more realistic. Also, the movements of the characters seem choppier than last time.

There are other new additions, such as playing a cornerman, and tending to cuts and swelling between the rounds and the ability to chose between two types of training before fights.

In closing..if the gameplay was more like the first fight this game would be absolutely perfect. I grew tired of getting a punch blocked and standing there like an idiot until I got busted by a haymaker

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