Things that have been Updated from Demo for Release/Final Build Updated June 18th

Update 6-15-2009 from Brian Hayes

Some players have said that the Bob and Weave is not responsive enough and takes to long to pull off.
It is somewhat of an advanced technique and not 100% in the demo. People were picking it up at E3 pretty quick.

However, here are some tips: it’s important to do the quarter circle movement relatively quickly and in one single motion. It doesn’t work if you are already holding the stick up or down and then roll it towards the opponent, or if you do it in two parts.

Straight Right Hands need a Haymaker Modifier and the current Straight Right Hands feels like it has no Pop to it. Visually, it does not look like the fighter leans into the punches.

We have tweaked the straight right hands in the final version to get more pop on them. The haymaker modifier only works on hooks and uppercuts though. That is something we will investigate for DLC.

When you import CABs that will be CPU controlled into legacy mode I hope their attributes do not change and you can set their record before you start the legacy. Ex. I create Margarito, can I make his record 37-6 and have it stay that way when I import him as a CPU controlled CAB? Fighters you create and import in Legacy Mode need to keep their Records and Attributes you give them.

Fighters you create keep their attributes but you cannot create their records for Legacy Mode. The CPU Boxer Retirement logic takes the boxer’s record into account, so if you were to enter the boxer’s true records they would almost always retire before you ever met them in the rankings. Furthermore, since all the boxers in Legacy Mode are fighting each other behind the scenes any record you enter for them would change after a period of time during Legacy Mode. But again, they do retain the Boxer Attributes you give them if you are importing them into Legacy Mode as opponents.[/i]

How about longer Ring Entrances
This is something we will investigate for DLC.

More suspense for Decision readings and reading the official score card before actually showing the winner.
The post fight flow has changed since the demo.


Update: 05-15-2009

Couple of quick things that I can speak about right away. First, for those interested timelines, the demo was locked down about 7 weeks ago in early, early April. As you might imagine, the final weeks of development is when a lot of the fine tuning and polishing gets completed. For example, off the top off my head:

1. Stamina. Stamina loss is a little higher and stamina regeneration is a little slower.

2. Punch connections. Landed punch collisions are cleaner and hit reactions have more intensity.

3. Cuts and Swelling. The onset is very fast in the demo. In the final version, depending on your susceptibility to damage you find that you might have several fights without incurring any significant damage - but then when it does happen, it really affects the way your fight plays out between rounds.

4. Punch Animations. Tweaks on many punches occurred after the demo was out the door to address performance/technique issues.

5. Gameplay Audio. The mix in the demo is not great and we know that. Lots of audio work was done in the final 6-7 weeks and it sounds much better.

6. Counter Punch Window. The counter window is roughly the same length, maybe a little shorter in the final version. But we tuned how often you can open it up. They don't happen as often overall.

7. AI Difficulty & Exploits. The final weeks were spent heavily invested in finding AI exploits like the hook spamming, body punch spamming, haymaker spamming, etc. It's tightened up quite a bit. Difficulty on the demo is pretty low, but we did that on purpose so people wouldn't get annihilated their first few fights.

8. Foot Speed & Locomotion. Little bit faster overall, but also behaves much better changing directions and maintaining distance to opponent when moving laterally.

9. HUD & Settings. There is an option to turn off HUD in final game. Options to change camera too. Gameplay sliders to adjust power, damage, speed and CPU behaviors.

10. Miscellaneous Hatton has his new tattoos. Shane Mosley's name is spelled correctly. As mentioned previously, several of the boxers overall ratings have been updated/balanced.

Hope that helps. More info to come when its available.

- Brizzo FN4 Gameplay Producer

Operation Sports: How long is the career mode? How many weight classes can you move up/down in one career?

Mike Mahar: The career mode length is really up to the user…If you’re an all time great it’s possible to fight into your late 30’s. If you’re a bum your career can be cut short. The user has the control via how well they train, how often they fight, and more importantly…how often they win or lose.
The user can move up a max of two weight divisions in Legacy Mode.

OS: Will there be any fictional boxers in career to add depth in each division? If not, how repetitive would match ups be? I.E. fighting the same fighters over and over.

Mike Mahar: Yes…each division has a max of 50 ranked fighters with three belt holders. That’s a max of 424 fighters...not to mention…as fighters retire or are forced to retire they’ll be replaced but young up and comers. The introduction of new boxers of the course of your career should help keep the mode fresh.


OS: Are the ring entrances, fight introductions and decision announcements identical to the demo in the retail version?

Brian Hayes: The ring entrances and introductions are similar, but there is a little more variety when you are using different boxers and fighting at different venues. The flow of the post-fight decision announcements have been changed in the final version.

OS: Can you max out stats for created boxers? I wouldn't want to but I'd like the flexibility for offline.

Brian Hayes: No. You can make very, very talented created boxers that can hang in the ring with the greatest champions of all time, but you can’t make 99-in-everything superhumans
OS: Will judges have different personalities, i.e. some like ring generalship, others like power punching, etc. Would like to see different scoring from the judges, not identical scores, from each judge, on every fight.

Brian Hayes: The judges scoring logic was not finished in the demo, so the final version is a different. All judges score the bouts on the same criteria (clean punching, effective aggressivess, etc) we just simulate judges having differences of opinion. We don’t have judges who weight ring generalship over clean punching, we have judges that don’t agree on how clean the punches are.

OS: When a fighter is cut will a ringside doctor decide whether to call a halt or let him continue?

Brian Hayes: No, only the referee can stop the fight.


OS: In legacy mode, are you forced to retire at a certain age, or can you fight until your attributes erode and you actually want to retire?

Mike Mahar: The retirement logic is pretty true to life in that we look at your age and your record…when a boxer is in their mid 20’s they can lose several fights in a row and bounce back based on how they train and if they start winning. As a fighter ages it becomes harder for them to bounce back, losing several fights in a row in your mid 30’s usually means it’s time to consider hanging them up. But…in both scenarios the user is warned several times by his trainers and doctors via email that he’ll have to step it up or they’ll pull the plug on his career. We have a pretty big window over which a boxer’s attributes erode. If the User trains intelligently and keeps winning they’ll be the masters of their own destiny and can choose when to retire.

OS: There is a glitch in the demo, where the ref will actually count to 10 on a knockdown, but since the fighter rose to his feet at the very last second, the fight continues. Has this been fixed, and if not, can it be patched?

Brian Hayes: Yes, that has been fixed in the final version.

OS: When you create your fighter, will there be a name database? I got so sick of having my character being nicknamed "Mad Dog" and having to fight a "Mad Dog." What about cities your fighter hails from?

Brian Hayes: Yes, there is a Last Name database in Create Boxer. So both the ring announcer and the Commentators will say your name.

OS: Will we see boxers throw in the towel?

Brian Hayes: Not at this time. But it is something we are looking at possibly for DLC.

OS: In legacy mode, when a fighter move up and down weight classes, does the body of the boxer change?

Mike Mahar: No. Body morphing between weights wasn’t something we were able to get in for Fight Night 4… but we’re looking at it for DLC and Fight Night 5.


OS: Do the CPU fighters retire? If so, are they replaced with new fighters?

Mike Mahar: Yes. CPU fighters do retire and they are replaced by new fighters over the course of the Legacy Mode. This will occur for all boxers in every weight class their record and their age.

OS: Can you give us some detailed information on the Online World Championship mode?

Mike Mahar: Some key highlights of the Online Championship Mode are;
- 3 Weight Classes (Light Weight, Middle Weight, Heavy Weight). We did this to ensure there was always a critical mass of users to fight against.
- Region-less game play…Each user can be matched up against boxers from regions around the world (U.S.A., Canada, UK, France…etc).
- 1 Championship Belt per weight Class. The person holding the belt is truly the champion of the world for their weight class.
- Created Characters only. We want user’s to be representing with their virtual selves.
- All boxers will have their ratings leveled based on their key attributes. Everyone is on a level playing field, your success will be measure based on how good you are at the sweet science of boxing and not how good your characters ratings are.
- User can be awarded sub titles other than the belt…for example;
o Highest Ranked in Region
o Most Wins
o Most KO’s
o Highest Win %
o Fastest Win
o Etc
- Each of these awards will handed out per region. For example, we’ll award ‘Most KO Wins’ for Canada, France...based on every region.
All in all the mode if focused on delivering a platform for users to fight head to head with similar ratings in similar weight classes to determine who is truly the best of the best .. and who earns the right to be called the Champion of World.