I'll be honest, my idea of fun does not involve watching grown men bash the crap out of each other in an ostensibly 'supervised' environment. As a 'sport', boxing generally receives my uninterested derision, yet as a game I find myself strangely captivated and, dare I say it, converted. Firstly, it must be stated that Fight Night Round 3 is not an arcade game; it is a deeply rewarding and complex simulation of a sport requiring skill and cunning, not just brute force or aggressive button mashing.

While I get over how quickly my opinion of the sport has changed, let me introduce the nuances of the controls. To say that the controls take a bit to get used to is somewhat of an understatement, but once you gain mastery you will never want another control scheme for a boxing game (unless they can somehow give you electronic gloves and track your punch movement – but that sounds too much like exercise). Basically, EA's Total Punch Control means that player movement and punches are mapped to the left and right thumb sticks, respectively. A combination of specific directions and half-circle stick combos allow for various boxing moves, including hooks, uppercuts, haymakers and the new stun punch. Special signature punches are mapped to the A button and if you're lucky you may even sneak in an illegal move with the B button.

If you're a Fight Night newbie, you may find this control scheme strange, but after a learning curve of an hour or two it actually becomes very intuitive and responsive and, much like a seasoned ladies man, you'll rarely pull a move that you did not intend. At first, fights are a fairly straight forward affair and will see you landing quite a few hard hits and maybe even knocking out your opponent or causing so much damage that the ref calls the match off, but once you climb the popularity ranks in career mode you'll find that fights turn into something quite different. Tactics become paramount and many cat-and-mouse games ensue. Here, the victor can be decided with a single well-timed blow. Drain opponents' health and a window of opportunity opens up for a knockdown. Mind you, they will be blocking most of this time and may even counterattack with a vicious punch of their own.

To facilitate the tactical side of this game, the L trigger is used to move your player's upper body around to avoid punches, allowing for counterattacks when your opponent misses. You also hold down L to perform mid-rift punches. The R trigger is used to block and is direction-sensitive. Both can be used together, so that you can block and weave around or stand still and tease your opponent. An extra tease is also provided by taunts, via the X button, and these, along with almost everything else, can be upgraded as you earn money throughout the career challenge. Time your blocking just right and you may just brush the punch aside, leaving your opponent open to a devastating counterattack.

Further tactics come in the form of energy and health bars. Health depletes when you are knocked about the head and upper body, whereas energy (or stamina) depletes when you use special moves or haymakers, as well as if excessively pummeled in the mid section. You may choose to deplete the energy of a very fast fighter, as they tend to run rings around slow, powerful types, by constantly targeting their body or forcing them to expend energy on risky punches. Alternatively, you may like to go for the quick KO and simply beat the crap out of your opponents face and head. Go down this path, and it won't be long before bruises, cuts and bleeding sores open up all over his face. And in realistic boxing fashion, if you pick on an injury (accompanied by some very disgusting squelch effect), you opponent will suffer; punches will go wide or miss the mark and they will get dazed and slightly confused.

After you've created a boxer - and the create-a-boxer feature is quite good in itself - you can choose your weight division and what type of boxer you want to be. Several stats are involved, including health, speed, stamina and defensive areas, which you can upgrade between career matches by training. Training is accomplished via mini-games, which range from punching a dummy for speed increases to pumping weights for a strength increase. Opt to train in strength and you will experience a slight degradation to your speed and vice versa if you opt to be Speedy Gonzales. You can also auto-train, though you are only guaranteed half the available training points if you take that option. After this, you take on contracts for fights and move up the ranks to gain fame and more moola. The difference between a beginning boxer and one who is 'built up' is vast. In fact, some players may be put off at first because the controls may seem sluggish and unresponsive. However, play as Ali, available through ESPN Classic mode, and the controls feel smoother than a baby's behind. You'll really feel like you can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee!

Fight Night Round 3 is a damn good looking game, but is let down in a couple of areas. Firstly, player models look and move realistically and you can almost imagine that you're watching a real boxing match. Sweat glistens on their bodies under indoor lights and as fights progress they really start to look beleaguered and about to drop. Replays look bloody painful too and are coupled with perhaps the most wince-worthy sound effects I've ever heard as gloves meet flesh in slow motion.

Unfortunately, the crowds at the venues look, to be quite frank, like crap. So much so that as the camera focuses in on the fighters getting ready pre-fight, you'll constantly be drawn to Mr. Pixelly Arm and a crowd that seem to be comprised of four stilted animations set on a different time continuum to the boxers. To be fair though, when you're fighting, your attention will be solely on your opponent. Commentary is generally quite good; score a three-hit combo and they'll comment on it, as well as let you know when your opponent has a cut eye or if you're dominating the round.

The soundtrack, whilst admittedly appealing to many players who will buy this game, ticked me off no end. I do not understand why boxing is so closely equated with hip-hop. Surely, just a few rock tunes or a more varied soundtrack would have been a good idea. And with no custom soundtrack option, if you hate hip-hop you may be skipping through the menus as quick as possible.

The two new moves, Flash KO and Stun Punch, are pretty cool. Flash KO drains your opponent's health fully and leaves him open for a one-punch knockdown. The Stun Punch brings the game into a reverse-first-person view, as you witness yourself punching your opponent from their perspective; it is a little unwieldy and difficult to pull off though. All special moves and haymakers take a while to wind up and are practically impossible to land on more difficult opponents, and trust me there are some difficult fights. That said, the satisfaction and "&%$k yeah!" moments are pretty sweet when they do connect!

Perhaps the only other negative thing about this game is the in-game advertisement. I realise that most sports rely on corporate bucks for their survival, but really when the commentator in the game says "Let's check that replay on the Burger King Knock Down Replay Cam" it seems a little too much. Also, you'll notice Burger King emblems all over the place, not that it has any cultural significance to us Aussies. Perhaps they should have changed it to Hungry Jacks or at least something we can identify with!