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[darscot]

I'm normally not a fan of EA games at all. I reluctantly picked this up because I love boxing. I'm stunned at how good this game really is. I played Knock Out Kings back in the N64 days thought it sucked and haven't touched the series.

I had my first title fight last night and what a fight it was. I was yelling at my TV, LOL. The dirty bastard opened up my eye with a head but and I was battle the cut the whole fight to finally drop him in the last round. It was epic.

 

[DarienA]

I read a review that said the biggest problem they see is that all fights either early or late in the rounds seem to end in knockouts... have you noticed that?

 

[Ristamar]

Gamespot also mentioned the online play was slightly laggy which was a nuisance when trying to quickly dodge/parry. Anyone take notice to this?

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I absolutely loved this game at first, but now I'm falling back to some of the failings of it's critics. Basically, they ruined the single player by making the AI a haymaker addict. The later opponents don't become "smarter" they just stick more reliably to very obvious routines...all of which rely heavily on going for a KO on every single punch. There were a lot of things I liked about this update, but since I've grown sick of it's problems faster than I did the first, I guess I don't like it enough.

 

[newsguy]

I enjoyed it. IMO it's a bit too easy. I finished my career 42-0 and I was 40+ years old and beating guys twice my size. I'm OK at the game, but I wouldn't consider myself great enough to be undefeated in a 22 year career.

 

[Dsal]

Basically, they ruined the single player by making the AI a haymaker addict. The later opponents don't become "smarter" they just stick more reliably to very obvious routines...all of which rely heavily on going for a KO on every single punch.

Yeah, and the winning strategy is often to land haymaykers of your own too. It does seem like the last version was a lot more strategic with out the power punches.

 

[Ristamar]

Is the haymaker abuse an issue when fighting human opponents, or does that usually require more diverse tactics (given they both don't suck, of course)?

 

[Shadax]

When Biff gets here he can supplement my impressions, but overall I think the haymakers, while definitely a big part of Round 2, do not ultimately unbalance the game. They are still high risk and tire your character out a hell of a lot faster than regualr punches. In addition, a parried haymaker leaves such a HUGE vulnerability that a good opponent will tear someone up who just continues to throw haymakers trying to land that KO.

Lag has not been a problem during gameplay at all in any of my matches.

As for DarienA's question: No, plenty of fights will end from refs stopping as well. Of course if everyone who plays is trying to KO each other with haymakers without trying to dodge or block, then yea, the fight will end in a KO.

Anyway, I agree with the title of the thread: this game definitely doesn't get enough love. Still the best boxing simulation out there and an improvement over last years' game.

 

[darscot]

Your early fights are just slug fest were you go in a drop bombs till you get the KO. The difficulty starts to kick and you go in dropping bombs the guy will parry and drop your sorry ass. I find I have to start out slow and really measure the guy up. Get my jab flowing, parry when he throws big shots and really unleash the combos. I'm starting to find it very hard to put guys down. I get them on the verge but it's hard to land as I do my best work when countering. I never played last years so the haymakers seem perfectly natural to me. The only thing I dont like is the standard EA 15 buttons presses to save. Even with auto save on there are 15 screens that appear. WHy can these guys not get the hint and just hide it away so I dont have to see it.

 

[Biff Hardbody]

When Biff gets here he can supplement my impressions, but overall I think the haymakers, while definitely a big part of Round 2, do not ultimately unbalance the game. They are still high risk and tire your character out a hell of a lot faster than regualr punches. In addition, a parried haymaker leaves such a HUGE vulnerability that a good opponent will tear someone up who just continues to throw haymakers trying to land that KO.

Lag has not been a problem during gameplay at all in any of my matches.

As for DarienA's question: No, plenty of fights will end from refs stopping as well. Of course if everyone who plays is trying to KO each other with haymakers without trying to dodge or block, then yea, the fight will end in a KO.

Anyway, I agree with the title of the thread: this game definitely doesn't get enough love. Still the best boxing simulation out there and an improvement over last years' game.

FN2 is a great game. I'll echo Shadax's statements and say that although I think the game is a bit to haymaker heavy at times, its not a game breaker between two skilled players. The jab plays a huge role in effectively getting off hits, and it can be used to interrupt very well. Range also plays a big part in this game, more so then any other boxing game I've ever played. Its true you can wreck the computer with a haymaker heavy gameplan for the most part, but again...against someone who can parry and jab well its a different story. I think they should be toned down, for sure. But, theres allot of boxing technique in this game tha simply doesn't exist in other titles.

Try the lighter weights for some real good boxing technique. Duran is a favorite of mine to use.

 

[Dsal]

I still think FN2 is one of the best boxing games ever, and it's not like the haymakers ruin the game or anything... it just gets a little out of hand. But do you guys really think FN2's flow of play is better than FN1?