Career Mode
Continued from page 1The main single player mode in Round 2 is a career mode where you can choose to create a custom fighter or rebuild the legend of one of the real fighters in the game. You’ll start off in the amateur ranks and then work your way up to the pros. The difficulty gradually increases as you fight higher and higher ranked fighters and it is surprising but realistic what a big difference there is between the bottom tier of boxers and the top. In order to keep pace with the rising difficulty, you can enter a training mode in order to improve your boxer’s skills. As you win fights you win money that you can use for new ring gear as well as new trainers and cut men. You can also get special entrance music and special effects as well as girls to accompany you to the ring. The career mode is long and intense and satisfying thanks to its difficulty. You really feel like a champion when you win a belt and that is what its all about.
Other single player modes include Quick Fight where you can mix and match weight classes and pick from any fighter in the game as well as a surprisingly good create a fighter mode. You can also do training as well as a minigame where you try to see how many knockdowns you can get.
Multiplayer and Xbox Live
You can also play on Xbox Live and the experience is great on there as well. Taking your custom fighter online and seeing what other people have created is fun. A slight drawback is that there seems to be a tiny bit of lag when playing online and in a game where you have to rely on precise controls and timing, it hurts the overall experience just a bit. You get used to it eventually, and it is still a lot of fun to fight online, but it could have been a little smoother.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, Fight Night Round 2 is very impressive. The boxers look absolutely amazing and the animation is very smooth and well done. When you land a knockout blow, you get to see a slow motion replay from several angles that show your opponent’s face deforming from the punch and blood and sweat fly everywhere. It is seriously cool looking. The arena you fight in and the crowd don’t look as good, but it doesn’t really matter because you are so focused on the action.The sound is also well done. Punches sound just like they should and the crowd reacts to the ebb and flow of the fight. Boxing analyst Joe Tessitore handles the announcing and he does a good job of calling the fight with an infectious level of enthusiasm. The soundtrack is made up of hip-hop tracks that fit the boxing them and sound just fine, but a custom soundtrack option would have been appreciated.
Bottom Line
