Visually, Fight Night sees a few upgrades as well -- but they're so minimal when in motion that its hardly noticeable unless you're actively looking for them (re: the sweat looks more realistic and the lighting has been enhanced). Despite this better appearance, though, the PS3 version of Round 3 does suffer from slowdown (it gets particularly choppy during the close-up replays or fast multi-punch combos) and is has bizarrely-pixilated crowds as well. On the plus side, the amount of spaz-bounce (those random jittery reactions caused by a combination of rope and rag doll physics) has been minimized compared to other versions... but it's still there. Regardless, Round 3 is still a great looking game. Fighter animations, licensed faces, the physiques, and every single one of the fictional and actual areas are extremely well done (the Staples Center is spot on).

I do want to make it clear, though, that Fight Night Round 3 is still an entertaining game, and I don't want to overstate the negatives and underplay the positive ones. Unchallenging and less engaging that the career mode may be, there are still a number of ways to pass the time. The returning and popular Hard Hits "knockdown-only" action mode, for instance, is a fun alternative to the traditional boxing match (and in this context, is worth playing the CPU). The Rivalry mode is another little bonus worth mentioning too, as it recreates some of the greatest contentions in boxing history (Ali-Frazier, Robinson-Lamotta, etc). I will admit that I miss last year's legend Rocky Marciano, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for next year.