Gameplay
Gameplay
‘Adrian! Adrian!’ I bellowed at the screen, tears rolling down my cheeks. My opponent and I had been locked in battle for 30 minutes to decide who would be the new Welter-Weight Title Holder. I had been knocked down 3 times, the power was gone from my punches and my face had bloated up so much that I couldn’t distinguish my chin from my nose. But I’d won! ‘Adrian!!’
Pulling a Punch
The new control system brought in by its forerunner is still alive and kicking in Fight Night: Round 2, with a couple of new punches for you to get to grips with. What’s so special about the control system is that you use the right analog stick to throw your punches instead of the usual system of allocating low punches to the ‘x’ button, high punches to the ‘o’, and so on. If you want to throw a left jab, you flick the analog stick forward and a bit to the left, if you want to throw a jab right, you flick the control stick forward and a bit to the right. A hook can be achieved by pressing the analog stick in either direction (to choose your side of attack) and then rolling it round to the forward position. Uppercuts are done in a very similar way. It’s a very effective system and once you’ve spent a few hours getting used to it you’ll wonder how you ever did without it.
The new punches come predominately in the form of Haymakers which are big, energy expending punches that can severely damage your opponent. These beauties are available in hook and uppercut versions and are performed in a similar way. You press the analog stick either right or left as though you were doing a normal hook but you can then roll the stick back towards yourself to increase it’s power before you quickly roll the stick round to the front to unleash your offensive. It’s all very simple and yet very, very rewarding.
What’s also nice is that after you have wound yourself up for a jaw crunching uppercut, you don’t actually have to throw it. You can release your punches at any time (except jabs) and so if you missed your opportunity for that perfect hit you can simply drop your fist back without using up vital energy.
It’s a Knockout
If you’re uncertain of the rules of boxing, it goes something like this:
You have 3 Judges who score your performance each round. You win points for accurately punching the head and body of your opponent, provided it’s above the belt (Also the punch should be made with the knuckle part of your glove). You fight a 3 minute round and at the end of the round, the judges submit their scores and you win or lose the round accordingly. You have a 30 second rest before your next round and then the process starts again. The number of rounds in a fight is predetermined before the fight and is usually 12.To be the victor you must end the fight with the most points, or knock your opponent out during the fight. A Knock out is a punch which floors your opponent and prevents them from regaining their feet within 10 seconds, which are lovingly counted out by the referee.
You will know if a knockout is on its way because when your health bar drops to a low enough level, the edges of the screen go dark and the pounding of your heart drowns out the cheering of the crowd. When this happens you need to ensure you don’t get hit with any more punches because just one punch could lay you out on the floor like a dead dog. You have an opportunity to cling onto your opponent during this phase and if successful you will gain enough health to bring you back out of the blackness. Alternatively you can just avoid being punched for 20 seconds and eventually you will recover some health and come out of the blackness.
If you actually get knocked down, you have 10 seconds to get up again. This is done by means of lining up the left and right analog stick so that your vision of the referee is not blurred. This is slightly different than in Fight Night 2004, but it’s become more difficult and if you’ve been on the canvas more than twice, you may not be getting up again. Which make staying on your feet all that more rewarding.
Another new addition to the game, which coincides with the introduction of the haymaker, is the instant knockout. It is now possible to throw such a perfect punch that you knock your opponent straight down to the floor and bypass the whole knockout phase blackness. This is incredibly satisfying because it’s quite difficult to pull off. You need to catch your opponent off guard at the right moment and haymaker them in the head. An uppercut usually serves best. But you will almost certainly achieve this when you least expect it. Unfortunately this works both ways, so you might have your opponent on the ropes with their health rapidly depleting when all of a sudden – Boom! They knock you clean out.
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