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In addition to using real past and present boxers, a player creation feature allows you to create uniquely designed fighters. Along the lines of the Tiger Woods "gameface", you're given carte blanche to make your boxer as pretty or as grotesque as your warped mind can accomplish. I've seen some pretty amazing things when battling some of these creatures online, from Street Fighter characters to Michael Jackson look-alikes. There's really no limit to the tweaking that can be done to individuals.
Why can't we be friends?
The game's sublime controls are best on display when playing online against an opponent at or near your level. Be warned – the folks out on Xbox Live are serious about their boxing. If you're not prepared to get beaten to a bloody pulp a few times, you're in the wrong arena. But if you and a friend or a well-matched random opponent get to square off against each other, the result will be a combination of many laughs and grimaces. You're never truly down and out in Fight Night Round 3 until you're counted out and/or the last bell has rung. The best way to get flattened is to let your guard down even if you're dominating, as a well-timed haymaker can turn a win into a loss in an instant.
The biggest weakness of the game is that the career mode is almost criminally easy to tear through, even on the hardest difficulty setting. To be blunt, the single player part of the game serves best as a decent training mode to prepare you for the trials and tribulations of multiplayer matches. For some reason, EA decided for the career more to forgo having your boxer rise up through the ranks, instead getting to championship fights by increasing your popularity meter. A strange choice, to be sure.
The other featured mode, ESPN Classics, is a nice temporary diversion, but it feels a little shallow. The plethora of in-game Dodge and Burger King advertisements – unnecessary and very annoying anywhere in a $60 title - is completely out of place, especially when attempting to relive the "Thrilla in Manilla". It is fun to go toe to toe as Hagler vs. Hearns or Frazier vs. Ali, but it adds little to the overall experience.
Undisputed heavyweight champion of the world
Despite some curious choices in the career mode, an egregious amount of ads, and a sadly lacking computer AI quotient, Fight Night Round 3 is still a tremendous accomplishment that is a worthy game for any Xbox 360 owner to enjoy. Its lush visuals and immersive experience are a watershed moment for the next generation of consoles, and is a harbinger of more amazing things to come down the 360 pipeline.
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