The first time anyone got a glimpse of Fight Night Round 3 was at last year's E3, with EA Chicago's Kudo Tsunoda demonstrating a PS3 proof of concept. Only nine months later, Fight Night Round 3 hits store shelves for just about every console available. The Xbox 360 version in particular is striking, in that it looks just as good as the demo that was shown at the Sony press event. Some may say that this shoots holes in Sony's claims that the PS3 is leaps and bounds ahead of the 360. That, however, is an argument best saved for the message boards. The real question is; is Fight Night Round 3 any good? The short answer is yes, it's a good game.

 

Fight Night Round 3 plays quite similarly to last year's game. The left analog stick still handles your boxer's movement, while the right analog stick handles the punching. The only significant addition this time around is the new Impact punches. Last year saw the addition of the Haymaker, a slow punch that packs a lot of power. This year there are two new punches that can change the complexion of a fight, and your opponent, rather quickly. The first is the Flash KO punch. This is similar to the Haymaker, though it's slower. Hitting this punch puts your opponent into a KO moment, just about ready to hit the canvas. You'll have to follow up with a few more good shots to get them to drop. Then there's the Stun punch. This one is similar to the Flash KO punch, but you have to follow through with the analog stick. Connecting with this punch puts you into a first person mini-game from your opponent's point of view. This seems like a cool idea, but in practice, it's not all that great. It feels awkward and interrupts the flow of the fight. Since both of the two new punches are very slow to wind up, they're easy to see coming and thus counter. Between the two new punches, the Flash KO punch is the more useful of the two. It doesn't interrupt the fight with an awkward mini-game.

 

The main single player component of Fight Night Round 3 is the Career Mode. You'll begin by creating your own boxer, and competing against other fighters in order to win fame and fortune. Once you sign a contract, you'll have to train for the upcoming fight. The game offers you three training mini-games, as well as a sparring mode. Not much has changed since last year's game in that area. Unlike last year's game, there is no real clear cut ranking system, but rather, a popularity rating. This makes it a bit more difficult to figure out how you're progressing in the Career mode. In general, as you win fights, you'll face harder and harder opponents. They've also added the element of boxing rivalries into the game. Though this is a great idea in theory, its implementation isn't as good as it could have been. Rivalry matches don't feel much different than normal matches, other than the weigh-in theatrics that occasionally ensue. That said, having rivalries in the game, despite how shallow they are, is better than not having them at all.

 

Aside from the Career mode, Fight Night Round 3 has the ESPN branded Classic matches. These chronicle ten of boxing's greatest rivalries. So now you can take control of Ali as he takes on Joe Frazier. What's more, the match is in black and white, which is a nice touch. The ESPN history that proceeds the match is also a very welcome addition, as it sets up the fight very well. Fight Night Round 3 also lets you play a two player match, or play any of the training mode mini-games.

 

Playing a boxing game against the AI, no matter how competent it may be, can get old. You can play against your friends for a while, but sooner or later, they'll get tired of taking the beatings that you'll dish out. Thankfully, Fight Night Round 3 has a good online mode. The game plays quite well online. There wasn't any terrible lag issues, though your mileage may vary. The online mode is easy to get into, and keeps some pretty detailed records for those people that want to track fight stats.

 

Fight Night Round 3 is a very nice looking game. The character models are very detailed, as are the arenas you'll be fighting in. What stands out about the Xbox 360 version is the fact that it has no HUD by default. You have to look at the boxer's body language and facial expression to gauge their status. This wasn't possible in the previous generation of consoles. The current-gen consoles all have their HUDs default to on, since they don't have the same graphical capabilities of the Xbox 360.