Fight Night Round 3 was one of the first games to really show what the next generation of consoles was capable of doing. The graphics were mind-blowing, the gameplay was easy and accessible, and above all else, it was an extremely fun boxing game. Now, we have finally got a sequel to this bombshell, and for the most part, it does a great job of refining and improving on the already very polished formula of Fight Night.

The main difference between Fight Night Round 4 and its predecessor is that now, fighting styles are more relevant than ever. So for example, if you’re playing an outside boxer like Muhammad Ali, you’re going to want to keep your opponent at the end of your jab and whittle away at them from a distance. But on the other hand, if you’re an inside fighter like Mike Tyson, you’re going to want to corner your opponent and get up close so you can throw some heavy uppercuts and hooks. The different fighting styles are a fantastic addition to the formula and give the game much more depth than before.

The new emphasis on fighting styles would undoubtedly have been enough to satisfy people’s appetite for change, but instead of stopping there, a new countering system was added. The basic idea for this is that if you’re able to perfectly time a block or dodge, your opponent will then be vulnerable for a second or two at which point you can throw an extra damaging blow that catches then off-guard. This feature feels fantastic while playing against another human opponent, but when fighting the AI, it’s extremely frustrating to watch your opponent pull off these rather tough maneuvers over and over again. This was easily my least favorite aspect of the game, but only while playing against the computer opponents.

The main single player element of the game is called Legacy mode. This is about what you would expect to see from a boxing game, starting you out as a chump with low stats as you fight your way to the top to become the greatest of all time. The mode is fun and functional, but things like the mail system and training that were added in to try to make the game feel more realistic end up feeling a bit tacked on and stale. For training, you’re able to schedule your fights accordingly to how much time you want to spend in the gym to prepare for the fight, but after trying out each training mini-game a couple times, I realized that I was worthless at them and that auto-training was a much more effective way to boost my stats.

And as in pretty much every game made in the past six years, Fight Night Round 4 lets you create your custom character to take into the ring. You’ll be able to screw around with sliders and presets to your heart’s content, or you can take advantage of the ability to import pictures and take pictures with the Xbox Vision Camera, using them to let the game generate a face with the given picture. While using the vision camera, I found that for the most part this worked really well. But my picture ended up being a bit dark, so my character ended up looking like a black man with a bit of an afro. The facial features looked pretty accurate, though. Also, in case you didn’t realize, this feature gives you a much easier way to create accurate models of your favorite celebrities. My Jeff Goldblum is stellar.

Aside from the single player, Fight Night Round 4 has plenty of multiplayer options as well. And this is where you’re going to find the best boxing experience in the game. The game offers your standard ranked and unranked fights, and it also offers a mode called World Championship where you take your created fighter online and try to work your way up the leaderboards and eventually end up fighting in belt matches. The online works great, and brawling it out with human opponents is very refreshing after getting beat to a pulp by the AI’s constant countering.

Lastly, and what most will notice first, is that this game presents itself very well. The graphics are among the best there is with great character models, fluid animations, and even sweat drops flying through the air with every punch. The best part? It does all of this while maintaining a solid 60 frames per second. Also, things such as when your opponent is blocking and you throw a punch, if placed properly, you’ll even be able to break through his defenses and do a bit of damage. All of these things come together to really give this game a great sense of polish.

Fight Night Round 4 is the best boxing game available, but that in no way means it’s perfect. Many great additions to the fighting system have been implemented, but there are also some new ones that seem to hurt the game more than they help it. But if you have any interest at all in boxing, Fight Night Round 4 is a must have game that will keep you busy for a long time to come.

Verdict: 8/10