When I’m in cars that are pulled over, I make sure my hands are always in sight. A black man running down the street inspires questions, if not gunshots. It’s hard to describe how much of my life feels actively dangerous. I didn’t find the crunch of restrained pain and force of will that crossed his digital face until I recognized how often it had crossed my own. He’s attacked for his talent, his race, his commitments sometimes, he’s attacked for the bare fact that he exists. Andre faces a barrage of indignities throughout the campaign. However, the further I progressed, the more I realized that what I initially took to be a nature of calm was in fact a constant practice of self control. Emphasis on “seems.” Image: EA Canada/Electronic Arts When your very existence feels like a threatĪndre Bishop seems to be a quiet guy. I also found a kindred spirit in Andre Bishop himself. There hasn’t been a Fight Night release in over eight years, and somehow, I still see a contender. And Fight Night Champion, graphically and mechanically, holds up really damn well. The game is backward compatible on Xbox One, extending the series’ lifetime into the next console generation due to Microsoft’s focus on creating a single, contiguous library of games for its users. Yet nearly two thousand people are still using the Fight Night Champion servers when I log in on a random Thursday afternoon. Then EA signed a deal with UFC one year after Fight Night Champion’s release, transitioned the entire EA Canada team to develop UFC games, and extinguished the last unlicensed EA Sports series. It was built on a messy web of individually negotiated contracts that often meant popular boxers were dropped from each game’s roster for various reasons. EA Canada/Electronic Artsįight Night, as a franchise, should be dead. I extended myself too far and won nothing for my efforts, which isn’t a bad metaphor for the series itself. The punch he sends into my chest drops my stamina-poor fighter to the mat. But then one of my power punches leaves me open. I deconstruct my opponent with body shots and side steps, throwing off his balance every time he tries to rush inside.
It can be a shockingly violent game, even given the subject matter.
I’m playing Fight Night Champion nearly a decade after its release. My shorts are stained red with blood, and most of it isn’t mine.
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