Latest Update on FNR4
by 
With the demo for Fight Night Round 4 out (to Gamestop preorders) and with decidedly mixed reaction, producer Brian Hayes made sure to address some of the common complaints being made in a posting on the EA Sports forum. If these issues were addressed as stated than most will probably be satisfied with the difference between demo and final version. Generally though the demo is fairly representative of the final product.
Also of note is that while the demo will be out for everyone else on the 360 come Thursday the 28th (as planned) the PS3 will not be seeing the demo until a week later. No explanation has been given why the PS3 demo will be out on June 4th instead. This whole situation with the preorders getting early access and each system now rolling it out fully on different dates is confusing and troublesome.
Continue on for the list of improvements that have been made to the game since the demo was created.
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.
May 16, 2009 at 11:40 pm
More 360 dick-sucking for EA to release the demo much earlier than the PS3 version instead of them both being released at the same time.
May 17, 2009 at 7:49 am
Sony I believe charges the company for the bandwidth the use so its Sony's fault that they don't get some demos before the 360. So its not dick sucking that get you the demo is not charging the publisher for providing the content.
Here is the link if you want to read. http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/03/someon...
May 17, 2009 at 1:01 am
oh man is UFC is ever gonna be awesome – thanks EA
May 17, 2009 at 1:01 am
This could serve as a warning to other companies who are thinking about taking the same approach with the pre-order/early demo thing.
All of these sound like stupid mistakes that are easily fixable, but since EA had to put the demo out before they could finish them, the only thing they've accomplished now is creating negative talk leading up to the game's release.
May 17, 2009 at 1:03 am
This could serve as a warning to other companies who are thinking about taking the same approach with the whole pre-order/early demo thing.
All of these sound like stupid mistakes that are easily fixable, but since EA had to put the demo out before they could finish them, the only thing they've accomplished now is creating negative talk leading up to the game's release.
May 17, 2009 at 1:45 am
everything is addressed except 4 da button mashing dammit… i need some fucking buttons b4 i decide not 2 buy this motherfucker
May 17, 2009 at 1:47 am
why dont they put buttons as optional? somebody let me know please?
May 17, 2009 at 1:48 am
im not buying fight night… dey dnt have buttons n i need them 2 beat my friends up
May 17, 2009 at 1:49 am
fnr4 is gay… they take off buttons like that wasnt a part of the gameplay… fuckin dumbasses
May 17, 2009 at 1:50 am
fnr4 w/o button mashing is gay like come on now they really didnt think dis through… take off button mashing 4 sht like da wii yu dumb assholes
May 17, 2009 at 1:52 am
This made me feel MUCH better aboiut this game. *whew*
May 17, 2009 at 1:54 am
fnr4 dudes r gay… they never explained why they took offf the buttons
May 17, 2009 at 2:23 am
Good information….I agree that this whole pre-order to get the demo early is weak. I know other companies have done this but definitely not a fan. Hopefully, these shananagans go away…
Pasta, any word on why EA took this route with the demo and if they are planning the same process for NCAA 10 and Madden 10 demos? Ludicrous….
Also, I have no problem with the demo. I know demos are a close representation of the game but I have never seen a demo where the difficulty is jacked. I think EA should have put in a difficulty option so veterans of the FN series could get a real feel for the game….
May 17, 2009 at 3:18 am
Well no indication of that with NCAA. The preorder from Gamestop gets additional Teambuilder slots. No mention of demo.
May 17, 2009 at 4:57 am
additional teambuilder slots? of what kind ???
May 17, 2009 at 2:24 am
Having played the demo alot i cant use the right stick man reason sometimes u cant throw the punch u want buttons would be better seeing that every game we play uses the buttons u cant throw uppercuts when u want or hooks it a waste trying to get thedirection right on the stick EA NEXT TIME TAKE A POLL ON CERTAIN THINGS WE THE BUYER WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE IN THE GAME THEN GO FROM THERE THX BY THE WAY UFC IS TRUE TO THE SPORT
May 17, 2009 at 2:26 am
SORRY IN A HURRY TO COMMENT IF EA CAN MESS UP ON A GAME I CAN MESS UP A FEW WORDS AT LEAST IT'S NOT COSTING 60 DOLLARS
May 16, 2009 at 7:54 pm
What do you mean by “EXTRA” slots? Ive allready pre-ordered both games( kinda early) but does this mean i can have 5-8 created teams instead of 3?
May 17, 2009 at 4:05 am
EA BRING BACK BUTTON PUNCHING! NOT GIVING US AN OPTION ON HOW WE WANT TO PLAY WAS THE DUMBEST THING YOU COULD'VE EVER DONE! WHAT THE HELL IS THE BIG DEAL ABOUT GIVING US AN OPTION ON HOW WE WANT TO PLAY? FN3 HAD AN OPTION. IN FACT FN3 HAD 6 DIFFERENT OPTIONS FOR CONTROLS! PLEASE SEND A PATCH & BRING BACK BUTTON PUNCHING! I HATE USING THE RIGHT STICK FOR PUNCHING! I KNOW SOME PEOPLE PREFER THE RIGHT STICK & THAT'S FINE BUT FOR THOSE OF US WHO DON'T AT LEAST GIVE US THE OPTION. THIS IS GOING TO REALLY DAMPEN WHAT IS OTHERWISE A GREAT GAME! I'M WRITING THIS WITH THE HOPE THAT SOMEONE CLOSE TO EA READS THIS!
May 17, 2009 at 11:40 am
This is what EA does… I bet when FNR5 comes out they'll introduce the "all new" button punching layout as a feature. Personally I'm going to rent this game because of the buttons being taken away. I'm not a fan of the punch analog controls and for that reason I'm saving $60 and just picking up UFC.
May 17, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Button punching is weak as hell step yo game up button punching makes it unreal if you want to button mash buy punchout
May 17, 2009 at 9:37 pm
then what the hell are the buttons there for?? People play games differently maybe they get more of a feel of the game by hitting the buttons than by moving a "joy stick" on way or the other.
May 17, 2009 at 5:33 pm
hahahah that one dude who button mashes posting under 5 different names. Good shit.
Also you suck if you can't use the stick.
May 17, 2009 at 9:35 pm
if the game gave you the option of using either buttons or the stick why would they suck if they chose to use the buttons. Not like it the Wii were you can actually punch so your comment makes not sense. You use whatever the game allows you to use, buttons or the stick and plus if online how would you know anyways
May 17, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Hopefully Manny Pacquiao's rating goes up from 87. His rating should not be close to Ricky Hatton's after he DESTROYED him in 2 rounds. Also i don't understand why Jermaine Taylor is a Light Heavyweight, he made his mark as a Middle Weight. And finally does anyone know if Paul Williams will be a Downloadable Character?
May 17, 2009 at 6:43 pm
fuck fight night round 4… im back to playing fight night round 3
1) they took off button mashing
2) where da fuck are da good fighters? mayweathers not in here…. neither is b-hop or wladimir w/e his last name is
motherfuckers quick to put in shitty ppl like eddie chambers… who da fuck is eddie chamber?
May 17, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Spoken like a true boxing fan—Not.
May 17, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I'm either buying this game, or UFC Undisputed. They both look pretty good, but i think UFC will come out on top.
May 17, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Ditto.
May 17, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Why is Pacquiao slow?
May 19, 2009 at 9:11 am
All these ppl complaining about no buttons make me laugh….Get used to the new controls or don't buy the game. It took me 2 fights before I was fully comfortable with the stick. I like it now, it feels more natural and "sim". Button mashing is for amateurs.
May 25, 2009 at 7:57 pm
I wont be buying fight night round 4 cause of the button issues and i don't think that EASPORTS did a good job with fight night round 4 i truelly think that round 3 is all around a much better game the only thing i found about round that i didn't like was the parry blocking because went you do the parry the fighter stays kinda frosen and that not boxing,other than that i thought that the game was the best boxing game ever . I even i like the graphics on round 3 better than round 4 and the game play is much better all around i'm sorry but round 4 was a big downfall for me i got me mad that i thought that the U F C game was much better than round 4 please EA please i know that you guys can do much better than that and please make that game much better than round 3…for know i will be playing round 3 till you guys put back the button and make the game more real..
June 4, 2009 at 4:01 am
all the button mashers can go circle jerk or all I care. This game will still sell big, and it will finally be fair online.
June 10, 2009 at 11:53 am
I've played all fight nights so far with only the buttons because the stick thing just didn't seem quick enough. But not having the option to go with the buttons this time, and forcing you to learn something new that maybe we should have all learned before, i see as a good thing. I tried fnr3 after and automatically started using the sticks even tho i set it to config 3. And lets face it online a stick player couldn't beat a button masher in a fair fight so the analog players were forced to play in (the optional but not main feature) analog only matches. Get used to the sticks. And if EA decide to bring back the buttons may be there should be a button only match option thats not the main feature. Oh and UFC is a good demo but has nobody really noticed that it has really bad collision detection, and just not very accurate. Good atmosphere though. Fnr4 needed the tale of the tape and the touching of gloves…
June 24, 2009 at 10:38 pm
u can still mash the analog control. limiting punching to a toggle button is dumb. Are you insisting that ea creates a game that purposely limits the amount of control a fighter has? You are.