Some fights have to be fought… this isn’t one of them
Format: PS3 Dev: Coldwood Interactive Pub: Sony Out: 05/11/10 Players: 1-2, 2 online
From the moment you boot up The Fight, it wants you to know that this is a game with freaking attitude. Yo, you listening, homie? That’s attitude. And this macho Fight Club war paint seems to have consumed developer Coldwood Interactive, who have in turn not spent nearly enough time honing the controls to make this motion sensitive fighter live up to its own hyperbole.
Gameplay is where it all falls to pieces for The Fight, and it all starts when Duke, your grim-faced coach, screams at you: “Quit moving your feet, you’ll break the game!” Guess what? He ain’t kidding. You throw punches by jamming the Move controller forwards, as you would expect. Using two Move controllers should, in theory, give you even greater control, yet I found the configuration less than stellar while using Move and Sixaxis. Heading tracking can also be enabled, though adequate light is needed, as well as space to shift your torso.
So I ran through the necessary tutorial with the beleaguering coach barking orders at me like he was suffering from a really bad case of haemorrhoids. In the ring, I immediately found the punches to be sporadic and, worst, the power just wasn’t there. Chasing my opponent around felt like tedious game of cat and mouse and my fighter was slow to defend against attacks. At this point the similarities to Wii Boxing are clear, it’s teetering on the edge of indifference, but perhaps it will all come together when you face-off in a full match. Nope.
Fistfights rapidly dissolve from a struggle to get your punches in range to hammy scraps that leave you totally exhausted. You’re told not to flail your arms like your swatting flies, yet you’ll be throwing punches left and right until you find a combination that appears to work. That’s because the game doesn’t respond well to where you’re aiming your arms. Wind up for a swing, moving the controller even a touch out of view of the PS Eye and the effect is abysmal, as your stringy limbs fly forward into thin air like soggy weights. With such poor tracking, executing special moves happens by fluke and connecting successive hooks to stun is laughable.
There are some 120 battles to play, but if you managed to survive just one, the chances are you’ll be so shattered you’ll pop the disc out in favour of something more soothing. I can’t begin to imagine the torture of making it to the end. These issues leave the online mode in a poor state too. The grainy visuals give up not even a hint of character, serving to make this a forgettable title all the more.
For The Fight, things are as bad as they sound. It’s brash, street attitude comes off as a joke, it’s single-player mode is a bitter, thankless slog and it’s stodgy controls will leave you more tired than going 10 rounds with Mr Blobby. This fight isn’t worth your time, so save your strength – and your cash.
Aaron Lee
Tags: action, fight, fighting, playstation move, sony
