Let’s face it: played on your own, most sports games get dull after an hour or two. The atmosphere is electric, with brilliant use of ringside commentary and between-match TV coverage, and the urge to just see what happens next is ridiculously strong.

Champion mode also mixes things up a little, with scenarios that see you unable to punch with your right hand or suffering from a cut that dramatically effects your performance. You don’t have to worry about training, scheduling fights or looking after your boxer all you need to think about is getting through the cutscene to the next bout and putting the other guy on the canvas. What’s more, Champion mode works perfectly as a way into Fight Night for the casual player. Get unbelievable prices on digital games like FIFA 22 at Gamivo It’s a story that’s got it all: the early wins, the corrupt promoters, the late-night warning about what happens if you don’t play ball, the frame-up, the jail years and the comeback. The game’s major new addition - the Champion mode of the title - is a classic yarn of life inside and outside the ring, following a rising star, Andre Bishop, on his journey from young contender to heavyweight champ. Why? Because EA has gone back to the cinema for inspiration, and realised that boxing is the perfect sport for a more narrative-led approach. It’s not only the best in the series, but a sports game that’s potentially just as revolutionary as its predecessors. It’s impressive, then, that the quality hasn’t dropped off with Round 5, or as EA has decided to call it, Fight Night Champion. With Round 4, they could just have rolled out the traditional lazy update, but instead they streamlined the gameplay even further, worked on the analogue controls, and threw in classic bouts that came packed with genuine Raging Bull and When We Were Kings atmosphere. With Round 3 it created a game that helped define sports games for the current console generation, with pretty damn close to photorealistic graphics, literally hard-hitting action and some smart ideas - particularly dropping the health gauge and letting the visuals tell the story - that made the experience incredibly immersive. (Pocket-lint) - Whether you’re a boxing fan or not, you have to admire what EA Sports has done with the Fight Night series.

Fight night champion review