A three-round demo of Fight Night Round 4 will be available today to all Xbox Live Gold Members PlayStation Network users and Xbox Silver members on June 4th. The full release is June 30th.


The good:

-It is more difficult to score a knockout, even once you get the opponent dazed

-The Total Punch Control allows for fast (but not unrealistically fast) combination punching that can easily go from head to body and vice versa

-Collision detection is beautiful, both in terms of punches and in terms of inside fighting. Seeing an arm get caught on the back of the opponent's head after missing a hook, exposing that side of his body, is great. Glancing blows are also really well done.

-Push (when used within the limits of an actual boxing match) is a very nice addition, allowing you to create space for yourself if you are being swarmed, or to force an opponent against the ropes or into a corner.


The bad:

-Footwork/footspeed is sluggish. Pacquiao and Hatton feel like heavyweights, trudging along rather than being able to pop in and out. Makes it very difficult to box, which promotes brawling on the inside.

-The animation and effect of straight punches make them look like arm punches that lack any pop. The fighters don't turn into them at all, which means you can spam 5 in a row. The dev team has said they have already addressed this in the time since the demo came out.

-The punch tracking that adjusts to target the opponent even if he is moving or swaying is too powerful. Punch connects were often in the 60-75% range for both fighter

The producers have posted on EA's forum fixing majority of the problems. I cannot freaking wait for this game!