Oh dear EA, how could you create such a great story mode and botch it so badly at the end?
Fight Night Champion is the first in the franchise to feature a custom built story mode to supplement what has now become the standard Legacy and Fight Now modes from last year. You play as Andre Bishop a former amateur boxing champion turned pro who was framed by a corrupt boxing promoter and sent to prison for assaulting a police officer and carrying an unlicensed weapon.
The problem I have with this game isn't anything to do with character development or scripting, all of which is top notch and a real credit to the guys at EA Canada. The reason that the story mode falls down is that the path it forces you to take makes no sense whatsoever.
EA Canada are at great pains to develop a bond between the player and Andre Bishop. His back story is classic underdog stuff. Framed for assaulting a police officer he's locked away in prison only four years into a promising career, through flashbacks you play through Andre's rise to prominence and learn all the techniques needed to succeed in professional boxing. you face the nine time amateur boxing champion and defeat him in what is presented as a real upset, you learn how to take down a man quickly in sparring sessions, you witness the relationship between Gus, your trainer and adoptive father, and the Bishop brothers.
When Andre is framed and sent to prison you're right there with him. After several vicious fights you both emerge from the state prison more ruthless and hungry than ever. Andre, having put on several extra pounds of muscle in order to survive in jail, is now a legit heavyweight but is left mopping floors after brother Raymond gets him a job at the gym. Embarking on Andre's comeback you're faced with new challenges. In one match Andre breaks his right hand, meaning that you have to box the majority of the match one handed and still win. This raises the stakes but is also a great way for the game to teach you how to box behind a jab rather than swing for the fences in the vain hope that you catch the opponent with a lucky shot.
Eventually, through hard work you reach the top and a possible face off with current Heavyweight champion Isaac Frost, and unfortunately this is where things take a turn for EA Canada's story mode.
I have no trouble with the idea that the Bishop brothers would fight each other for a shot at the title, and while i can also understand why Andre would take a fall to let his brother have a shot at the title, it makes no sense for me as a gamer to play a game just to lose on purpose.
Worse still, when Raymond gets his shot at the champion you find that you're in control of the Champ and not your brother! Why on earth would i want to control the champion at this stage? Surely if the idea is to impress on the player just how strong Frost is it would be better that you play as Raymond and get obliterated?
Never the less Raymond loses and is brutally knocked out, setting up the fight that everyone wanted. And now it's personal.
Having set all of this up it would make sense to let me go hell for leather against this guy wouldn't it? Surely i can swing for the fences and get sweet revenge for my fallen brother?
nope.
For the first three rounds of the title fight you're instructed by your corner to run away. Yes, that's right, in the grudge match of the century, a blood feud where the older brother is gunning for vengeance in his brothers name, you have to spend the first three rounds RUNNING AWAY from your opponent! at least when you complete this ridiculous task the corner then tell you to start putting in body shots, unfortunately this is ruined by a counter which is placed in the corner of the screen to tell you when you've hit him 75 times. I thought this was a game about realism? oh well.
At least after another three rounds of body punching I could look forward to being able to let loose on the bastard that brutalised my brother, oh wait, I have to run away for another two rounds?
great.
Finally, in round 8, you can fight Frost like he's a regular human being and not some kind of Omnipotent Greek God carved out of granite.
It would have been so much nicer if i could ignore the corner and box my own match, but they've overpowered Frost so much that it is literally impossible to beat him until round 8 when they normalise his stamina and punching power. If you even attempt to stand your ground before then you're toast. I didn't buy a Superman game, why am I fighting him?
Why spend all that time building up a great story only to completely gimp it at the end with totally nonsensical game play choices and almost impossible endgame fights? EA had a gem of a game here for 90% of the play through, it's such a shame they blew it with the last three fights...
/Rant
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