Beat Champion mode on Champion difficulty in just under seven hours, but I swear 2-3 hours were spent just on the end fight alone, which was INSANELY difficult. There are a few achievements I didn't get that I might do on easy. They threw in some neat stuff to make fights interesting. Pretty fun to play through.
If anyone plays this, I can give pointers on winning the end fight.
Some more impressions:
I agree with the complaint that fights do not feel like a big event so much as an exhibition. The last fight does a much better job of this, but the lead-ins to the other fights are too brief, and you're sprung into the ring so fast. They do have custom fight commentary from the ESPN crew for each of the Champion mode fights, so they talk about your player and your opponent as if they're real fighters, and don't rehash all of the same quips from the generic legacy commentary. That's a nice touch, but there is still a certain excitement that's missing from a real championship fight. Maybe they need to make the crowd a bigger part of the fight, so a championship fight has a loud and electric atmosphere.
I really enjoy the mechanics of the game. Haven't played online yet, but the single-player fighting feels like you have to fight really smart.
Difficulty scaling seems more fair than in Round 4. You do not get stunned with every single punch when you put the difficulty up. The opponents are challenging, but not unfair. The final fight though ... oh my god. That is some old school gaming difficulty.
Here, in spoilers, is my strategy, in great detail, for winning the final fight on Champion difficulty
If anyone plays this, I can give pointers on winning the end fight.
Some more impressions:
I agree with the complaint that fights do not feel like a big event so much as an exhibition. The last fight does a much better job of this, but the lead-ins to the other fights are too brief, and you're sprung into the ring so fast. They do have custom fight commentary from the ESPN crew for each of the Champion mode fights, so they talk about your player and your opponent as if they're real fighters, and don't rehash all of the same quips from the generic legacy commentary. That's a nice touch, but there is still a certain excitement that's missing from a real championship fight. Maybe they need to make the crowd a bigger part of the fight, so a championship fight has a loud and electric atmosphere.
I really enjoy the mechanics of the game. Haven't played online yet, but the single-player fighting feels like you have to fight really smart.
Difficulty scaling seems more fair than in Round 4. You do not get stunned with every single punch when you put the difficulty up. The opponents are challenging, but not unfair. The final fight though ... oh my god. That is some old school gaming difficulty.
Here, in spoilers, is my strategy, in great detail, for winning the final fight on Champion difficulty
The fight is split into a number of checkpoints. If you select Rematch, you'll start the current checkpoint over. If you Throw In the Towel, you'll start from the beginning when you reload your game. I'd recommend starting over until you beat the first checkpoint without getting knocked down more than 1 time.
First checkpoint: Do what your trainer says. In the first two rounds, just run like a coward. DO NOT get pinned on the ropes, or you're dead meat. You can probably get through the whole fight if you're only knocked down once during this checkpoint. Get your track shoes on and don't even bother throwing punches. Frost will knock you down with one or two shots. He loads up and doesn't do much combination punching, so you can slip and move away. A big pointer is to not hold your guard up. If you keep your guard up, his power will break through on the second punch and you're in trouble. Also a full guard will slow you down, and he's good at cutting off the ring, so you need to be quick to get away from him. Since he telegraphs his shots, tap to block with timing, when you need to. That way he won't split your guard. If you happen to get stunned, tapping block is critical. For one, it won't slow you down as much, but it will also make your guard more effective. If he lands one shot after you're stunned, you're done.
Second checkpoint: Be prepared for one or two knockdowns during this segment. For rounds 3-5, you have to land 75 power body shots to slow him down. This is the hardest part of the fight, because he will counter you and you will get stunned. At first I thought you had to use the heavy punch modifier, but you don't, which is good because it would be impossible that way. You just need to land hooks and uppercuts to the body, which is hard enough. Try to stick to counters, and single shots only. If you throw combinations, he'll smoke you on the second punch. His body is open. If you get stunned, run like I told you to. Constant head-movement, timed blocks and good counters are the only way you can do this section. Once you've landed the 75 punches you can coast into round 5, but in round 5 he will cut your right eye severely. There's nothing you can do to avoid it.
Third checkpoint: Rounds 6-7 you'll spend doing a lot of running. You can only get hit in your right eye 7 times and survive the round without a stoppage. You can fight back a bit, but I don't think there's much point. Just run your ass off like in rounds 1 and 2. If you get hit a number of times on that eye, you'll see the tally increase in the bottom right. When you survive the round your corner will do some work and heal off 4 punches, I think. That means you'll start off round 7 with whatever total you were hit with in round 6 minus 4. Survive round 7 the same way.
Fourth checkpoint: Rounds 8-12. Now you have to finish Frost off. The secret to beating him is the way you're refreshed after each round during this checkpoint. Unlike the rest of the game, you will stop getting more tired after each round. You will start each round during this segment with the same stamina and health you had at the beginning of round 8. So you can increase your punch output massively. Since Frost is greatly weakened. His power is drastically reduced in these rounds as is his punch output, but his chin is absolutely insane. If you try to finish him with headshots it will be hard. The best strategy I could find, because you absolutely have to knock him out is to get right in his face and work the body. Cover up, pin him on the ropes, cut him off, and land a two punch combination to his body every time he throws a shot. He loads up on every single punch, so you can easily counter and land the combo. Just keep working away. He won't recover as much as you after each round. Once you see his gassed, which he will be after a couple of rounds, keep working the body, but land some power shots to the head when you can counter. Eventually you'll get a good one that stuns, and it's pretty much over from there. You'll get the awesome KO camera for this one, which is fun.
First checkpoint: Do what your trainer says. In the first two rounds, just run like a coward. DO NOT get pinned on the ropes, or you're dead meat. You can probably get through the whole fight if you're only knocked down once during this checkpoint. Get your track shoes on and don't even bother throwing punches. Frost will knock you down with one or two shots. He loads up and doesn't do much combination punching, so you can slip and move away. A big pointer is to not hold your guard up. If you keep your guard up, his power will break through on the second punch and you're in trouble. Also a full guard will slow you down, and he's good at cutting off the ring, so you need to be quick to get away from him. Since he telegraphs his shots, tap to block with timing, when you need to. That way he won't split your guard. If you happen to get stunned, tapping block is critical. For one, it won't slow you down as much, but it will also make your guard more effective. If he lands one shot after you're stunned, you're done.
Second checkpoint: Be prepared for one or two knockdowns during this segment. For rounds 3-5, you have to land 75 power body shots to slow him down. This is the hardest part of the fight, because he will counter you and you will get stunned. At first I thought you had to use the heavy punch modifier, but you don't, which is good because it would be impossible that way. You just need to land hooks and uppercuts to the body, which is hard enough. Try to stick to counters, and single shots only. If you throw combinations, he'll smoke you on the second punch. His body is open. If you get stunned, run like I told you to. Constant head-movement, timed blocks and good counters are the only way you can do this section. Once you've landed the 75 punches you can coast into round 5, but in round 5 he will cut your right eye severely. There's nothing you can do to avoid it.
Third checkpoint: Rounds 6-7 you'll spend doing a lot of running. You can only get hit in your right eye 7 times and survive the round without a stoppage. You can fight back a bit, but I don't think there's much point. Just run your ass off like in rounds 1 and 2. If you get hit a number of times on that eye, you'll see the tally increase in the bottom right. When you survive the round your corner will do some work and heal off 4 punches, I think. That means you'll start off round 7 with whatever total you were hit with in round 6 minus 4. Survive round 7 the same way.
Fourth checkpoint: Rounds 8-12. Now you have to finish Frost off. The secret to beating him is the way you're refreshed after each round during this checkpoint. Unlike the rest of the game, you will stop getting more tired after each round. You will start each round during this segment with the same stamina and health you had at the beginning of round 8. So you can increase your punch output massively. Since Frost is greatly weakened. His power is drastically reduced in these rounds as is his punch output, but his chin is absolutely insane. If you try to finish him with headshots it will be hard. The best strategy I could find, because you absolutely have to knock him out is to get right in his face and work the body. Cover up, pin him on the ropes, cut him off, and land a two punch combination to his body every time he throws a shot. He loads up on every single punch, so you can easily counter and land the combo. Just keep working away. He won't recover as much as you after each round. Once you see his gassed, which he will be after a couple of rounds, keep working the body, but land some power shots to the head when you can counter. Eventually you'll get a good one that stuns, and it's pretty much over from there. You'll get the awesome KO camera for this one, which is fun.
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