Boxing games sure have come a long way since the initial days of Punch-Out, yet in some ways the core game still resembles that long old classic. Back then it was all about dodging left or right at just the right time and then returning back with a counter punch of your own to knock the opponent flat across the ring. Since then boxing games have grown realistic to the point of almost looking like you’re watching something televised, yet as seen by Fight Night Round 3 on the Xbox 360, the gameplay aspects of the genre still remain heavily lodged in that classic title.

A Visual Knockout
Quite honestly, what’s going to sell gamers FNR3 isn’t the gameplay, but rather the incredible visuals of the title. Every boxer in the game is high detailed and features photo-realistic looking faces and skin. The faces themselves are extremely well modeled and deform properly when hit. Smacking someone in the check causes a flow motion ripple wave to soar across it, while hitting them in the lips causes their teeth to be shone in full view. Even the backs of the boxers shine just right under thin light, and the gloves look like they could reach out and hit you. During knockout replays and when in first person mode, the camera is right up in the boxers’ faces, causing the game to just look absolutely phenomenal. Between the characters and the incredible lighting system, FNR3’s visuals are almost at the point where they could be mistaken for real-life…well, besides the animation.

The Animation on the other hand is only decent. Punches do tend to look right, as do taunts as well, but the falling animations after a knock out tend to look pretty dreadful as bodies clip through each other (and the ring) and end up falling strangely in weird angles on the mat while their foot shakes and goes through the floor. Also a bit disappointing is the actual animation during knockouts. Though it’s the most impressive visual area of the game, sadly it seems as if every single boxer takes a hit to the face the exact same way with the small line of blood flying out in the exact same direction every time. After a few matches, the enjoyment of watching an opponent take the fall, slowly fades away as it’s just the same spectacle over and over.

The Evolution of Punch-Out
Gameplay in the title is very well done with a modern take on the classic Punch-Out formula. Just like in that game, fighting isn’t about running up to opponents and mashing buttons, but rather, the key lies in dodging and countering back during openings. FNR3 takes this a step forward with a parrying system that works quite similar to the counters of Dead or Alive. By blocking in one of the four directions (up-left, down-left, up-right, down-right) players can parry an attack coming in at the same direction. Parrying an attack then puts the attacking player in a sort of stun allowing the defensive player get a counter hit in. Stun length is determined by the strength of the punch, with the harder the punch, the longer the stun period if countered. This creates a good game of sticking to light attacks while throwing in the occasional risky medium or heavy punch. It’s a smart system and even the pre-knockout daze sections are well-balanced, giving players a few options to get out of a daze or quickly reverse the situation.

Also worth mentioning is how intuitive the controls feel. With total punch control on the right analogue players can perform any type of move by swinging their thumb around the stick just as if they were a boxer. It’s an excellent control scheme, but there is one catch. When playing against someone online who is using buttons to attack, the players using the analogue are at a disadvantage because button users can send quick non-stop rally of punches, while those using analogue are limited to about 3-4 hit combo bursts.