For the past few months we’ve been seeing EA Sports toot their horns at the amazing new Fight Night engine coming this June in Fight Night Round 4.
The game boasts one of the most ambitious gameplay engines and attempts at realism in an up-close-and-personal sports game. Most fighting games and boxing titles, save Mike Tyson Punch Out, features characters with excessive rigid muscle renderings that would make artists like Rob Liefeld proud. Fight Night Round 4 bucks the trend by breaking the rule of “every character must be a chiseled Adonis.” Instead, EA Sports have made character definition more realistic right down to something as apparently basic as real time muscle flex and physics driven knockdowns.
But, the realism doesn’t end there. In EA’s latest gameplay trailer, the publisher shows that realism comes with premium product placement. Everything from the clothes to the ring floor will scream advertisements just like a real Prize Fight. Gamers shouldn’t be surprised by this trend. FIFA 09 uses the same marketing in its games, as well as extreme sports games like Skate 2.
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Does this take away from the gameplay? Not at all. It actually adds to it. And, if EA is going to make a few extra dollars in the process, I say, “Good for them.” I’m fully supportive of any development team that gives gamers as much value as possible for the same price. Attention to detail is important. It shows that both the publisher and the developer cares about not settling for making the quick buck at the gamer’s expense.
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