After about a dozen plays of the Fight Night Round 4 preorder bonus demo I've decided to examine how it measures up against the young contender UFC Undisputed. First off let me explain that while the argument can be made that the two sports are different that doesn't change the fact that many gamers will choose to purchase only one of the two. Similar to someone choosing Burnout Paradise over Forza 2, while the two aren't the same they share enough to be competitors. So let's take a look.



Its been clear from the beginning how vastly different the stature of the two products is. EA's product has been shrouded in mystery with the marketing department slowly releasing information while fans chomped at the bit. Yuke's on the other hand has unleashed a torrent of info and screenshots, leaving little to the imagination. Some of this has to do with the earlier release date of UFC but also the fact that it needs to show what it has to offer to compensate for the lack of reputation.



The UFC demo does a number of things great. It allows the user to change difficulty, slowly increasing their confidence and challenge and getting a real feel for what the game offers. It also provides a similar experience to what the actual game will have. The demo includes three rounds while most fights will be three or five in the full game. There's a sense of tension since a flash knockout could occur at any moment ending the match as early as two seconds in. (There's a video of this on youtube, how impressive is that?) A few problems exist though and shouldn't be overlooked. The menu system irks me, why must everything be slanted is it simply more ultimate that way? The collision detection also shows some flaws as a few knockdown or knockout punches don't even seem to connect in replays. Lastly, the tutorial while relatively comprehensive is just too damn long for a demo. I haven't clocked it but it can easily eat up twenty minutes of your time which is just a bit too daunting for a demo regardless of the complexity of the game. But the whole experience is outstanding. Fights can end abruptly and the numerous layers of combat mean even a dozen fights between the same two guys could end a different way each time. For a product I was apprehensive about initially it did a great job of selling me.



Fight Night has a much different situation than its competitor. Boxing isn't as compressed as MMA due to shorter rounds and more of them. This means the nature of the very game isn't as suited for a demo. But preorder it and you are granted two weeks early access to a preliminary taste of what's to come. A few things become evident from the get go. The tutorial is much more approachable and clocks in under five minutes, letting you jump right into the action. It also shows how drastically things have changed from Round 3. Punches have been sped up and the changes to the corner game should certainly lead to some impressive strategies in the future. While the demo is certainly a fun experience and a godsend for any anxious fan though it still raises some concerns, though not all about the game but rather some of EA's decisions. While the dev team has assured fans that a number of things will be changed (ratings of boxers for example) it still leaves me curious about others. For example, one major point for the career mode is uploading your custom music for ring walks. But in the demo each fighter gets almost 15 seconds, hardly enough time to even comprehend which tune is playing in the arena. And the way the decision is announced is laughable. The camera pans to the victor, he smiles, and then his arm is raised by the referee. Very suspenseful stuff there guys. Another problem is the choice of rounds provided. While EA would be hard pressed to give a full twelve rounds to players it still seems odd that we've only been provided with three. In many of my fights I've preferred to avoid slugfests and actually just boxed but its met with only an anticlimatic decision and no knockdowns. So this leads to a rematch where my friends and I rabidly go for haymakers in the hope of a round finisher.



EA was likely taken by surprise when UFC's demo dropped to almost universal praise. But rather than squelch many of the fears of their biggest fans they released a product that only raised more concerns. While many rants and raves are coming from those who pick the tiniest of nits it can't be ignored that EA made a mistake with this opportunity. No difficulty options or button configurations have turned more people off than they've soothed. So while I'll likely be picking them both up when they drop I do think FNR4 only scored a glancing blow while UFC Undisputed submitted its opposition. Like I could avoid a fighting pun this whole blog.