EA unveils Fight Night 2004

EA this week announced a new boxing game, Fight Night 2004, which should be released in spring 2004 on PS2 and Xbox. Obviously this being EA it's decked out with a suitably recognisable cast - Roy Jones Jr., Lennox Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard will amongst the rank and file fighters - and like EA's other sports franchises of late the game aims to make clever use of analogue sticks.

Although the "Total Punch Control" mechanic that uses the analogue sticks is still something of an unknown quantity, in our heads it sounds like the sort of thing that lets you move both fists independently and sling them around in convincing fashion. That said, we can also see downsides (mostly to do the balance between realism and responsiveness), but then designing games in our heads is always fraught with difficulty.

Fight Night 2004 will also include the requisite create-a-player and career modes, and apparently customisable ring entrances too - with theme music, entourage and pyrotechnics all up for modification. It's nice to see that Yuke's SmackDown series finally has some competition in this area.

With the game due in spring 2004, it shouldn't be too long before EA sends out playable code for Fight Night 2004, at which point we can put their claims to the test. If it is genuinely a game where "no two knockdowns will ever be alike", then it should be well worth the effort.