GRAPHICS
Fight Night Round 3 is the best looking boxing games to date. EA is billing the graphics as Film-Quality Graphics in EA/HD. There is no HUD in the game to show damage to the fighters. Instead, you can gauge your opponent’s health by their facial expressions and body language. The detail is so amazing that you will be able to see the pain and anguish in your opponent’s face, as well as any swelling and bleeding the boxers do. And when crack your opponent’s face you’ll see it contort around the glove in a way that makes your mouth drop. You’ll even see blood trickling down the boxers face in real-time as rounds go on, and as you’re sitting in the corner with your cutman. You will also notice when your opponent is becoming fatigued by his body language so that you can prepare to go in for the kill.
The game looks absolutely amazing, and this is what you would expect a next-gen game to look like. The boxers are extremely detailed and look real. The effects are what will blow you way. The way a boxer’s face reacts to getting hit, and the spit and blood that occasionally flies when you take a hard shot makes the game look very realistic. EA added more sweat effects to the PS3 version as opposed to the 360 counterpart. These sweat effects look really lifelike and not added there for the fact to say they added new effects.
The default camera angle is zoomed in to put you right in the middle of action, and the environments are photo realistic. The crowd is great looking; they are total and complete polygon models. My only complaint is that for some reason, the crowd has taken a hit in graphic quality and their not up to par with the 360 crowd. You can even see that more when the boxers are introduced at the beginning of the bout. When the boxers enter the ring, you’ll see fans at ringside appear faded in color. The arenas look very nice on the PS3 version, but they do lack some of the finer details that the 360 version offers. When I mean details, you can look in the rafters and scaffolding that is apparent on the 360, but kinda washed out on the PS3.
Boxers look exactly like their real-life counterparts. EA also spent some time with the visuals of the boxers on the PS3 and they look like they are crisp with a bit greater detail than the 360 version. Finally the boxers have lost that plastic action figure look due to I believe some of the lighting. Where the PS3 version suffers in lower lighting like in the 360 version, it is a benefit to me as finally the boxers don’t look like a GI Joe action figure. Their faces are perfect, and their body styles are equally impressive. While you’re taking punches, you’ll see the damage done on the boxer’s faces, including swelling and blood. You’ll see blood spit out of the boxer’s mouth when a hot blow is landed. You just don’t get the neat facial contortions, but you will still get a very VERY good visual presentation out of the game. Visually the way that both versions work is that if one is lacking in one area graphically, it makes up for it in another area.
