May 18, 2005 - The general consensus among most of us here in the IGN war room, is that Sony's 2005 E3 press conference was the best of the bunch. Boasting a ton of in-game, out-of-game, and tech demo footage, the PlayStation 3 unveiling was a roaring success. One of the biggest reasons for that reception was the excellent in-game demo of the upcoming EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 boxing title. Developed once again by the team at EA Chicago, Fight Night Round 3 is already the best looking boxing game in history -- and it's not even close to finished yet.
To get a better idea of what the editors here at IGN thought about Fight Night's appearance at the conference, we asked IGN's resident boxing fans Jeremy Dunham and Hilary Goldstein for their impressions of the demo. Here's what they had to say.
Jeremy's Take
I can't wait to sit down and play Fight Night Round 3. As a big fan of the first two games and a huge follower of boxing in general, the idea of slugging it out with character models that look just like the real thing is a dream comes true. Just imagine taking a realistic "Winky" Wright and jabbing the hell out of a similarly realistic Felix Trinidad for 12-odd rounds. Or better yet, think about how cool it would be to take a photo-realistic recreation of Roy Jones and pit him up against Glen Johnson to avenge his devastating knockout loss. If Fight Night Round 3 is any indication of what's to come, then you'll be able to do just that.
Obviously we still have to wait and see what kind of gameplay Round 3 is ultimately going to offer. But if you look at the short series of the history so far, it's safe to assume that the dual analog fighting scheme will be back once again. And even if you were to assume that the mechanics remained identical to last year's version (with a better balancing of the haymaker, of course), the end result is already enough to sell me on the PlayStation 3 edition.
But looking a little closer to now and not so far into the future, Fight Night is still an impressive experience (albeit a visual one). The way that both of the two fighters showed emotions such as anger, fear, and confusion really does add another level to the boxing illusion, and the level of detail on the skin (broken or otherwise) was awesome.
Hopefully we'll get to see a lot more of Fight Night Round 3 in the next couple of months (or better yet, before the end of E3). But in the meantime, check out the game's amazing in-game demo for your yourself.
Hil's Take
Sony's Press Conference had smoke, mirrors and Fight Night Round 3. There were plenty of amazing tech demos and certainly the potential of PS3 looked great in the various trailers, but the most impressive 100% real demo came from EA. If this is the future of gaming, I'm going to be very broke.
There's nothing that wasn't impressive about Fight Night 3, especially considering this title is at least a year away from release. EA's new facial expression technology is phenomenal. Those varied facial animations will play a key role in Fight Night more so than most sports titles. The emotion of boxing will be worn on every face and the power of each punch felt with every blow. I can't wait.
That's why I'm building a time machine. If I can build it by the end of the year, I'll be able to leap forward in time to the launch of PS3. Why should I be shown the brilliance of the future then be forced to sit and wait. What do I do now -- play Fight Night Round 2? That no longer seems appealing. The incredible level of detail in the PS3 demo makes this generation suddenly feel obsolete.
At first, I was blown away. Floored. I disbelief. So I decided to give it a day then look at the demo again with fresh eyes. It really was a repeat of the day before. What more can I say? Holy crap.
Okay, so there is more I can say. While the graphics are incredible, I am curious how much customization will be available. And, of course, there is a little thing called gameplay. But then, Fight Night 2's was the best sim boxing game ever made. 'Natch.
