(continued from previous page) ...replays, you'll be squirming with delight as your powerful hook lands and the sound of skin rippling passes through your head.

Grumbles in the jungle

The game suffers quite a few slowdowns. You will notice some frame rate drop in first person modes and even the standard third person mode when the action gets frantic. This is disappointing considering EA has had extra time to work on the PS3 version.

Also, while the amount of customization you are allowed when creating your boxer is stellar, don't expect anything you choose to load anytime soon. With load times of nearly seven seconds just to compare different eye colours, you may just result to a default look just to avoid the wait.

This doesn't get any better once into a bout. The load times are atrocious from the moment you start up the game, to the end of a fight; expect to be waiting between 15-30 seconds before anything gets accomplished. For a next-gen game this a truly last-gen setback, and hinders the overall experience.

I coulda been a contender

While it appears FNR3's visuals and content have received a lot of attention, the Career mode hasn't received the same TLC. Career mode (AKA the single player campaign) involves signing contracts to fight various boxers, earning money for newer equipment, while building your reputation to compete against stronger and stronger opponents.

You'll have a chance to train in between each fight by participating in four different mini-games to raise your stats. While fun at first, these games become very tedious as you wait for the game to load before and after your short mini-game. However you can skip them and choose to auto-raise your stats, but you'll only receive half of the maximum benefit available.

Now comes the fight night. Your opponents get harder as you go deeper into the game, but there are always ways to exploit the AI that you couldn't do against a regular human opponent.

Sometimes you'll fight a "Hard Hits" bout or a championship fight, but the majority of your time will be spent boxing in regular events. There are plenty of unlockables here, such as arenas, different items, and more; but the empty experience that makes up the single player game may turn you off before you get them. The core fighting remains solid, but the flimsy solo game is a devastating body blow to the overall package.

Saved by the bell

Multiplayer is a different story altogether. Both online and offline multiplayer are an absolute blast to play. In offline multiplayer you've got several modes including Get in the Ring, Hard Hits, ESPN Classic, and Play Now. You'll be dodging, weaving, laughing, and yelling as you play this game with your friends.

Even when you're a pro and your friend is a beginner, simply change weight classes to even the playing field. The best part of offline multiplayer is that it never stops being entertaining to watch the blood fly out of your friends mouth just after you deliver a brutal haymaker.

Online, you have all of the modes you had in single-player with the exception of Hard Hits. You can play either ranked or unranked games as you compete. If you're new to online play, you should stick to unranked in the beginning, otherwise you'll get dominated a couple times before you learn the ropes.

Although FNR3 doesn't have your PlayStation Network buddy list built into its online play, the inclusion of lobbies makes it easy to find your friends while playing. Also, feel free to trash talk as much as you want, as this game includes headset support.

With the exception of the sometimes unreliable EA servers (occasional disconnect), lag and no PSN buddy list built in, online is a decent experience which complements a solid game.