Fight Night Round 4

The new physics engine is probably at its most immediately noticeable in the new facial deformation system - Richards absolutely promised me that the team had filmed people being hit in the face just to make sure the game's flabby rippling effect was accurate enough - but it's sending bigger shockwaves through the game when it comes to the way the bouts turn out this time around. Even after a few minutes of playing, it's clear that Round 4's a lot more tactical than the previous game ever was. Ali towers above Tyson, and, in the hands of a skilled player, is more than capable of picking the shorter man off from afar.

Tyson's only hope, then, comes in working Ali into a corner and getting in close. For a fighter with a longer reach, most of the power of the blow comes in the final snap of the wrist (I'm not saying this from experience, however, and I doubt it's much of a picnic for the punchee whatever distance away you are), so a tactical shorty can take the force out of oncoming blows by stepping into them, where they'll also be able to fight back more effectively. In a single move, then, Round 4 now allows for both inside and outside fighting styles, and the result is that there's a lot more to the game than just pummelling away at your rival until he goes cross-eyed: placement is crucial, and making the most of the attributes of your boxer really will give you an advantage.

And if it's a more tactical game, it's also a faster one. Round 3 was essentially a digital boxing title: any single punch's animation had to finish completely before the next could be thrown, and the results of each impact were largely predictable. This time, faster combos are there for whoever can move quick enough, with a whole additional range of glancing blows and feints adding to your options, as the fighters move in and the game builds in claustrophobic intensity.

Beyond such basic changes, there's that traditional range of additional tweaks rounding things out. The corner game has been revised for the better, with your performance in each round winning you points you can invest in recovering either damage, stamina or health, while the knockdown challenge has been altered to mirror the experience of steadying yourself on your feet. It didn't look as much fun as Round 3's option in this case, to be honest, but Richards has a habit of demonstrating game changes by mock-swinging at you to illustrate every nuance, so it's possible I was a little flustered by the time we'd reached this level of granularity. Alongside a fleshed-out campaign mode, there's also forty-eight boxers to choose from on the disk, with additions planned for DLC after EA's had a chance to see what the community wants. Start asking for Henry Cooper now, in other words - and maybe Tommy Cooper while you're at it? You know, as a wild card.