I suppose it's kind of apt that a game about underground fighting has taken a bit of a beating in the reviews for it! 
Not without justification though, in all honesty; the game IS pretty flawed. The FMV is hilarious, which I'm not sure is intentional or not. From the outset the game appears to try and take itself seriously, yet at the same time you've got the angry bloke in the videos waving his two Move controllers while explaining the moves - Apparently you can do a lot of damage with these bad boys!!
GRRRR!!!!!!! They should add that to the pre-game warning screens!! 
The in-game visuals are okay. The characters are all rather uninspired and tend to look pretty similar, but you don't really notice too much once you've started smacking them around the face.
More problematic is that most of the camera options available are totally useless, the most silly one being the one that is directly behind your character's head. There's no option to change the opacity/transparency of your character so you literally can't see anything! The only one that I've found to be of any use is the overhead view, but even then it can be hard to judge distances. You move by holding the Action button on one controllers and tilting it in the direction you want to move in like it were a joystick. Didn't have any problems with this setup tbh. You have the option of using the DualShock and one Move controller but I haven't tried it like this.
Despite these flaws, I must admit that I'm liking the game. I've cleared the first two areas, each one with ten different oppenents. You can "nail" a fight by defeating your oppenent under specific criteria (e.g. attaning a high percentage of hits, before a cash reward timer gets below a certain limit). I'm not sure if it does anything, or at least I haven't noticed it does anything or not, but it gives you a little goal for each fight. Winning unlocks character poses, special "dirty" attacks you can use, and items you can buy to customise your character (haven't bothered with any of that, leaving my bloke looking pretty much default!). You also receive cash, which can be spent on healing more servere injuries sustained in fights, playing the mini games (heavybag, focus target training, sparring, etc.) in the "training" area, buying said unlockable items.
The training mini games are cool. I don't think they'll help you in the main game an awful lot, but you get a decent workout playing the heavy bag and target training it you know what you're doing. I can't do the speed ball game though. I;ve no idea how that one works! :P. Do well in the training games and you'll be rewarded with ability points that can upgrade your character's stats - I'd recommend working on Stamina and Technique first of all!
I've read that a lot of people seem to have problems actually making their punches make contact. I think this is partially due to the shoddy camera - a slightly lower overhead view with a semi-transparent character would make a lot of difference IMO. However I do believe that the way you punch also is a key factor. Typically I'm guessing most folk DON'T go about punching other folk out of habit. In real life it's pretty simple to punch something stationary, like a heavy bag or even someone with a pair of focus mitts - you make a fist with your hand of choice and push it forward towards your target using your arm, right?? - but it's a COMPLETELY different thing when you're sparring with a live target (who, more often than not, will be trying to smack you in the chops at the same time!). I'm not a boxer or anything, but I've trained a fair bit of martial arts (I'm currently learning Wing Chun kung fu, and prior to that I trained in Shotokan karate for flippin' ages - Still can't throw no Hadoukens, though!
).The game apparently uses 1:1 motion tracking; in real life you WON'T score 100% hits on some dude's face (unless you catch them unaware or they're really rubbish! ), so when you're up close with your opponent and all your arms are tangled up between your elbows and their jaw line, a straight punch wouldn't hit anyway. In that case, go for the body and do some damage with those PS Move "bad boys"! GRRRRR!!!!!
. I'd say that IF you can punch in real life, you can punch in this game. I suppose then that doesn't necessarily make for the most "fun" game for a lot of people, but there you go <shrug>. All the video reviews that are about, which show side-by-side footage of the reviewers flapping their arms about are rather telling IMHO...
Actually, I've found my Wing Chun-style "centre-line punch" is pretty effective in The Fight - it's faster than your regular boxing jab-cross malarky and goes through a weak guard easily... or at least it does if you can get your head around the camera and judge the distance correctly in the first place!
Not without justification though, in all honesty; the game IS pretty flawed. The FMV is hilarious, which I'm not sure is intentional or not. From the outset the game appears to try and take itself seriously, yet at the same time you've got the angry bloke in the videos waving his two Move controllers while explaining the moves - Apparently you can do a lot of damage with these bad boys!! GRRRR!!!!!!! They should add that to the pre-game warning screens!! The in-game visuals are okay. The characters are all rather uninspired and tend to look pretty similar, but you don't really notice too much once you've started smacking them around the face.More problematic is that most of the camera options available are totally useless, the most silly one being the one that is directly behind your character's head. There's no option to change the opacity/transparency of your character so you literally can't see anything! The only one that I've found to be of any use is the overhead view, but even then it can be hard to judge distances. You move by holding the Action button on one controllers and tilting it in the direction you want to move in like it were a joystick. Didn't have any problems with this setup tbh. You have the option of using the DualShock and one Move controller but I haven't tried it like this.
Despite these flaws, I must admit that I'm liking the game. I've cleared the first two areas, each one with ten different oppenents. You can "nail" a fight by defeating your oppenent under specific criteria (e.g. attaning a high percentage of hits, before a cash reward timer gets below a certain limit). I'm not sure if it does anything, or at least I haven't noticed it does anything or not, but it gives you a little goal for each fight. Winning unlocks character poses, special "dirty" attacks you can use, and items you can buy to customise your character (haven't bothered with any of that, leaving my bloke looking pretty much default!). You also receive cash, which can be spent on healing more servere injuries sustained in fights, playing the mini games (heavybag, focus target training, sparring, etc.) in the "training" area, buying said unlockable items.
The training mini games are cool. I don't think they'll help you in the main game an awful lot, but you get a decent workout playing the heavy bag and target training it you know what you're doing. I can't do the speed ball game though. I;ve no idea how that one works! :P. Do well in the training games and you'll be rewarded with ability points that can upgrade your character's stats - I'd recommend working on Stamina and Technique first of all!
I've read that a lot of people seem to have problems actually making their punches make contact. I think this is partially due to the shoddy camera - a slightly lower overhead view with a semi-transparent character would make a lot of difference IMO. However I do believe that the way you punch also is a key factor. Typically I'm guessing most folk DON'T go about punching other folk out of habit. In real life it's pretty simple to punch something stationary, like a heavy bag or even someone with a pair of focus mitts - you make a fist with your hand of choice and push it forward towards your target using your arm, right?? - but it's a COMPLETELY different thing when you're sparring with a live target (who, more often than not, will be trying to smack you in the chops at the same time!). I'm not a boxer or anything, but I've trained a fair bit of martial arts (I'm currently learning Wing Chun kung fu, and prior to that I trained in Shotokan karate for flippin' ages - Still can't throw no Hadoukens, though!
).The game apparently uses 1:1 motion tracking; in real life you WON'T score 100% hits on some dude's face (unless you catch them unaware or they're really rubbish! ), so when you're up close with your opponent and all your arms are tangled up between your elbows and their jaw line, a straight punch wouldn't hit anyway. In that case, go for the body and do some damage with those PS Move "bad boys"! GRRRRR!!!!!. I'd say that IF you can punch in real life, you can punch in this game. I suppose then that doesn't necessarily make for the most "fun" game for a lot of people, but there you go <shrug>. All the video reviews that are about, which show side-by-side footage of the reviewers flapping their arms about are rather telling IMHO...Actually, I've found my Wing Chun-style "centre-line punch" is pretty effective in The Fight - it's faster than your regular boxing jab-cross malarky and goes through a weak guard easily... or at least it does if you can get your head around the camera and judge the distance correctly in the first place!
Thanks!
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