Fight Night Round 3

Fight Night Round 3 brought the Total Punch Control system to the boxing series, translating punches and blocks into movements of the right analog stick instead of button presses, giving the game a smoother, more physical feel to its fights, where the player had to genuinely feel the rhythm of the match rather than just mash button combos. EA Chicago added to this an emphasis on real-time facial damage, visible swelling and cuts, and a more noticeable difference between the fighters' individual weight classes, who differed in punch speed and power. The career mode also tracked a fighter's gradual rise from lower weight classes to title bouts, with training minigames developing specific character attributes and gradually unlocking new boxers and training equipment.

The PlayStation 3 version was among the console's launch titles in November 2006, arriving several months after the original on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2. Content-wise it was the same game with the same roster of boxers and game modes, but thanks to the PS3's power it offered sharper textures and smoother rendering of swelling and bruises on fighters' faces, which gradually appeared during the fight and remained visible until the match's end. The analog stick controls stayed the same as on Xbox 360, so players switching between consoles didn't need to change their habits or learn a new control scheme.

For owners of the new console, this was one of the few sports titles available right at launch, which earned the game attention, even though as a purely graphical upgrade over the older version it didn't feel particularly groundbreaking. Anyone who already knew the game from Xbox 360 found nothing fundamentally new on PS3 besides a nicer picture and somewhat smoother animations in densely populated fights, with the boxer roster and career mode remaining identical to the version players knew from Xbox 360, with no exclusive extra content for the new console, so the difference between the two versions remained purely technical.

Why play it: As one of the few sports titles available right at PlayStation 3's launch, it's worth attention more for historical reasons — content-wise it's the same fight as on Xbox 360, just with a nicer picture.