Fight Night Champion is too good to stay dead
[ad_1] My shorts are stained red with blood, and most of it isn’t mine. I’m playing Fight Night Champion nearly a decade after its release. It can be a shockingly violent game, even given the subject matter. I deconstruct my opponent with body shots and side steps, throwing off his balance every time he tries to rush inside. But then one of my power punches leaves me open. The punch he sends into my chest drops my stamina-poor fighter to the mat. I extended myself too far and won nothing for my efforts, which isn’t a bad metaphor for the series itself. EA Canada/Electronic Arts Fight Night, as a franchise, should be dead. It was built on a messy web of individually negotiated contracts that often meant popular boxers were dropped from each game’s roster for various reasons. Then EA signed a deal with UFC one year after Fight Night Champion ’s release, transitioned the entire EA Canada team to develop UFC games, and extinguished the last unl...