The good news is that Fight Night Round 3 is an outstanding boxing game. The bad news is that Fight Night Round 3 is still just a boxing game. This isn't a critique of boxing- you'd need more space than a magazine permits in order to do that. But Fight Night is limited by the rules of its genre: At its root it's always about two guys punching each other silly. While fighting games like the Dead or alive series can keep the action fresh by working in crazy gimmicks, Fight Night's realistic simulation of two boxers squaring off gets repetitious pretty quickly.
The career mode is straightforward. First you build your boxer. Virtually all aspects of appearance are configurable, and you set the boxer's attributes and fighting style to their initial levels. Once you've created your boxer, you get to choose fights from a list of prospective opponents who vary in skill and technique, as well as in the rewards that are obtained from defeating them. After you accept a fight, you train, meaning you play a mini-game to attempt to build up your fighter. (The mini-games are merely OK.) You can also buy gear that increases your fighter's attributes-or just makes him prettier. Then, you fight your opponent. Win or lose, you choose a new fighter to take on. Repeat... and then repeat again and again.
The simulation of the boxing seems realistic. You control all the movement of your fighter, including the direction of his punches and his defenses. This makes for pretty complex controls, but the learning curve isn't terrifically steep. There are multiple difficulty levels, so you should never feel frustrated by the action.
The production values are high, particularly the graphics and the fighting arenas that create a great retro feel. However, the animations and the fighting calls quickly become repetitious, as well. Watching a stream of blood fly out of a falling fighter's mouth was fascinating the first time I saw it-but by the 20th time, I found myself hitting the skip animation button repeatedly to advance to more action. The ring announcers' commentary lets you know how much damage your fighter is taking, but then they quickly run out of new things to say.
Unfortunately, the game is completely overrun with corporate logos. You might think that if you spend $60 on a game that you might be free from commercials, but you'd be wrong. Using the grimacing fast food mascot as a trainer was simply too much, and it undermined the retro ambiance of the game.
Even with single player matches against legends like Ali and Frazier, the game is best enjoyed against live competition. Smacking the sense out of an online opponent while taunting all the while is a pleasure all its own. Also, the challenge of human opponents reduces the repetition of the career mode. Ultimately, this game is still mostly for boxing junkies. If you can't remember the last time you watched boxing on TV, you'll probably get your fill of this title from a weekend rental.
