14 DAY TRIAL // Electronic Arts' brand new boxing game, Fight Night Champion, will introduce a whole new control scheme, called Full Spectrum Punch, which will allow players to use the thumbsticks in order to send punches into their opponents.
EA's Fight Night boxing franchise has allowed players to step into the fighting shoes of the most famous boxers of all time, and the new Fight Night Champion aims at adding more features to the whole experience, as well as making it accessible to those that aren't familiar with the series, or who arrive from other fighting games like EA Sports MMA or UFC Undisputed.
With the Full Spectrum Punch control scheme, EA Sports hopes to implement a simpler method of fighting, in order to make sure that players experience every move or control to the best of their abilities the on-screen character.
“We went back to the drawing board, literally, with Full Spectrum Punch control,” producer Brian Hayes revealed.
“Based on a lot of user feedback and telemetry, we were finding that the previous implementations of TPC had fundamental ergonomic challenges. Basically, it was a lot easier to extend the thumb outwards and throw left handed punches, than it was to cram the thumb inwards and throw right handed punches."
“So the first thing we decided to do was remove the need for all the quarter-circle or half circle gestures on the analog stick,” Hayes continued.
“Now it’s a lot easier to throw punches. It’s also gentler on your thumbs and nicer on your controller. A lot of people tell us all the time about how many controllers they have worn out, hopefully that will be a thing of the past too.”
In case veteran Fight Night fans worry, the development also added the classic control scheme that use the face buttons (triangle, circle, X and square on the PlayStation 3, A, B, X and Y on the Xbox 360).
In addition to the new gameplay and the improved Legacy Mode, the new title will also have Champion Mode, where players experience the story of Andre Bishop and how he became a boxing champ.
Fight Night Champion is set to appear on March 1, in North America, and March 4, in Europe.
Check out a video showcasing the Full Spectrum Punch in the new game below, courtesy of the PlayStation Blog.