19.3.2005

EA Sports made a huge change to boxings games last year when they released Fight Night. A revolutionary control scheme named 'Total Punch Control' being the major change. The game was highly rated by boxing fans and of course a sequel was bound to happen. Then the question was asked, How do you improve this game any more?Well amazingly for an EA Sports game it hasn't just had a roster update and a graphics polish. The gameplay has seen the most work in this sequel. Fight Night did get some critics, most people complained that the TPC control wasn't as useful as punching with Face buttons, seemed sluggish and inconsistant. Well the developers have taken that and re-done the TPC to make it more user friendly.It is now possible to buffer punches with the TPC and then release them as a combo. This now makes punching with TPC as fast if not faster then punching with the Face Buttons.Another critism was that punches seemingly lacked power and did the same damage. The developers now include the Haymaker feature. This is only available to TPC users, so button uses are at a disadvantage. EA obviously wants more people to use the revolutionary control method over simply button-mashing. Basically the Haymaker feature allows you to determine the power you put into hooks and uppercuts. This now allows you to perform those one punch knockdowns and one punch knockouts missing from last years game. The Haymaker feature also adds realism in the way that whilst setting up the punch your open to being hit, so trying to land the heavy shots all the time will make you easy prey for a counter-punch, as a parry will leave you exposed for a good two or three seconds. Also using the Haymaker feature will effect your Fighter's stamina, much like throwing the signature punches in the first game, they use more more stamina and tire you out faster. One downside to Haymaker is that the CPU will use it excessively so you will get beat quickly if you don't master the defence. The CPUs tactic also means fight soon degenerate into a slug fest which the last game didn't suffer from.Fight Night Round 2 sees the inclusion of clinching in this years title. A major part of boxing (No matter how annyoing you might find it) makes it in this year. Now if you or your opponent is getting mauled you can grab onto your opponent to buy yourself time to recover and break the momentum. Not too keen on this feature myself because just as your setting up a knockdown/knockout your opponent clinches and after it does this about 50 times you tend to get annoyed. No penalty points or disqualification occurs if you clinch too much, so this can be over used and make playing a little frustrating.The damage model has also been revamped to make cuts and swelling more realistic and the inclusion of body damage also effects the game this year. Getting a bad cut in this game will now potentially cause a Lewis/Klitschko TKO stoppage. Because of this EA have added the Cutman feature, where between rounds you'll take control of the cutman and try to reduce your fighters swelling and close cuts. Taking shots to the body will bruise and break ribs (Can't wait to do this with Ricky Hatton) which will slow the fighter down, sap stamina and weaken his punches.The meat and gravy of the game will be the career mode which has been totally overhauled in this release. The 40 year repetitive career mode from last year has gone and a now endless career mode which features you starting as an amateur and having to progress to the pros, select your trainers, cutmen, training strategy, number of fights each year and which weight class to fight in. Yes in this years game you can move up and down weight classes. Also fighters no longer can be trained to have perfect stats, each fighter has a stat cap based on weight class, fighting style etc and these stats will decrease as you get older and if you neglect areas with your training. This is the most in depth boxing career mode in any game. You also have to employ training staff in this years game, so spend the money you make on fights. Also buying attire and ring gear is important as trunks, gloves, guards etc all have in impact on your fighter's stats. You also schedule your fights throughout the year and each fight takes a certain number of weeks. You can therefore in the early part of your career take a lot of 3-6 week breaks between fights to get experience and better ranking. Then later schedule longer breaks between fights to make the most of training and heal your fighter. This will become more important when you get to top of the rankings where the fights become harder and you'll take more punishment. Certainly when you fighter gets into his mid-thirties taking lots of fights in quick sucession will speed up his stat decrease.The roster this year features 36 boxers, this probably is the weak area of the game as by now you'd have thought EA would have signed up more fighters. This year they have signed up guys like Ricky Hatton (Yay for British Fight Fans) and Miguel Cotto plus a few others, yet they have also lost fighters a big name being Lennox Lewis. The roster also avoids putting in big names like Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladamir. Leaving out the current WBC Heavyweight champion is not a good idea. Still legends like George Foreman and Mike Tyson are not in the game. In other divisions guys like Oscar De La Hoya and Kosta Tszyu are missing. How can EA release a game and leave out all the World Champions? Also the fighters haven't really got their trademark attires, entrances, stances and styles so the fighters lack a certain idividuality.Another negative point would be yet again EA punishes European Users by removing the online feature. Why does EA continue to remove online from its games? Fifa is about the only game online why? More people would be tempted to play a beat em' up online then a football game. EA tries to make up for this by putting our own Ricky Hatton on the European cover and I wish they hadn't. The EA Coverboy Curse strikes down all who get featured. Last years Fight Night had Roy Jones on the cover and look what happened to him. I worry now for Ricky Hatton who may be the next fighter struck down by the curse.All in all a great game that Fight Night players will lap up, for people who never played Fight Night you need to get this as your missing the greatest boxing game every made. The control will take time to adjust to for novices but it is easily the best way to play a boxing game.

13.4.2005

Boxing games have appeared in many guises from the earliest days of consoles, some titles have delivered a lame punch and some have missed the mark completley, but Fight Night round two delivers a jaw shattering uppercut to shake the gaming world and become the undisputed champion and possibly a future classic. The graphics look great and just as importantly run smoothly, combining with a well designed control system which enables you to pull off the moves you want early in the game so you can then master the strategic intracacies of the sport, giving you the feeling that you are in the ring. There are also 3 side games which you can participate in to improve your fighters stats which are a welcome diversion,

12.1.2008

Interactive Entertainment is a medium that can deliver us unparalleled levels of character involvement, epic (often variable) storylines, and complex difficult mental challenges and we all love that. But every so often everyone likes to just let rip and destroy something, and for stress-relief purposes there are few video games this good.Not that FN2 is totally brain-dead, in fact the boxing matches are often pretty tricky (at least once you hit the top 15 or so opponents) and you can easily find yourself really getting immersed in the fight. The controls operate around the two sticks, left being movement and right being punches. To jab you just flick the right analogue stick,

23.3.2006

After having seen the recent success of british boxers such as Joe Calzaghe, Amir Khan, and Ricky Hatton i was compelled to push the boat out and buy a boxing game. Having never encountered one before i was unsure what to expect, be it good sound quality (as your opponents get KO'd), precise graphics (as you land a Haymaker) or just all-round gameplay. Having played it for around 20 mins i was already hooked. Everything and more was there, from customising a boxer to look like you to deciding whether or not to become a professional and fight the big boys. This game also includes mini features such as a gym to tone up your skills as the controls are quite hard to immediately grasp,

28.4.2005

I had this game on hire for 3 days and enjoyed it emensley. The controls are excellent, but i did find the haymaker punch a bit lame. In career mode this is all some computer opponents throw at you, which then turns the fight into a rocky style slugfest, which is a bit annoying as i like the technical aspects of boxing. But this is the best boxing game out there, no question. I also liked the option you have of moving up the weights in career mode. But fight night always insists on having only 1 championship belt when i think they should have the big 4(WBC, IBF, WBA, WBO,) They do give most KO trophys etc but to unify world titles is the ultimate career defining moment for any boxer,

18.3.2005

Although the main advertised feature of this game is the haymaker which does work pretty well although it now seems that a normal punch has no real effect on your oponent, the main additions are to the carrer mode. With a great amateur mode and belt its a perfect way to get to grips with the game. A great training mode with the ability to change weights, retire at any time and a clinching system makes this easily the best boxing game there has ever been. A bit of a shame there are not many current heavy weight boxers but a must have game none the less.

16.8.2005

I am only 12 but thoroughlly enjoy this game i have rented it many times and have just 2nite ordered it off the internet.Those ppl who have sed it is boring i must say u are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO wrong it simply cant get boring smacking someone in the face to make money on a games console how can tht be boring, u also get to move up a weight and fight more competitive boxers so there is actually a wide range to keep u playing including the hard hits mode and play now where u can play your mates so overall i think a gd game.!! cheers x

23.3.2007

I bought Fight Night 2004 when it was released and it was a good game but since then i had forgotten about the fight night series.I read that fight night round 2 was better than the newly released round 3, so i purchased it.What a game.Its amazing.great haymaker punches,excellent career mode, brilliant multiplayer.Great game.If you love boxing you will LOVE this

13.2.2015

amazing game so addictive. carrer mode brilliant you can switch weight class too. replays are so fun to watch. landing a haymaker is satisfying. best boxing game on ps2 proberly everBUY NOW

4.5.2013

This item arrived on time and plays perfectly, box is slightly damaged but only aesthetically and does not affect gameplay- no worries here.

29.9.2017

Fantastic game, gameplay as good as anything current even though over 10 years old !

16.2.2015

Go d game for price !!!

13.7.2019

Sick???

6.7.2017

Great

Fight Night Round 2 (PS2) - Reviews

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