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Video games are constantly getting more detailed and intuitive but few games let you pummel the living daylights out of someone with such control, such finesse as Fight Night Round 4. Round 4 is the latest iteration of EA's Boxing franchise Fight Night and features many of the big names in boxing including Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson and even grill-king George Foreman.

There are two local game play options to choose from in the arcade style “Fight Now” or “Legacy mode”. The latter involves picking either a pre-made boxer or build your own and try to work your way up through the ranks towards being a world champion by scheduling and participating in matches, training sessions and the occasional tournament.

Training sessions consist of choosing one of the six tasks to increase a few of the veritable myriad of statistics such as as the strength of your left punch, the strength of your right punch (seriously...) your ability to absorb hits and the speed at which you move. Some mini-games are easier than others but thanks to the ability to skip them all, even the really frustrating ones aren't a hindrance if you don't mind receiving a smaller stat boost.

Once you battle - or simulate - your way through the training sessions, you can get on with the actual art of boxing with a scheduled match. These fights are divided into six to ten three minute rounds and are actually very enjoyable and can be intensely satisfying when you dodge or block your opponent and manage a counter punch accompanied by a pleasing bone crunching sound effects. Even better if you manage to knock out your opponent. If after all the rounds of frantic arm flailing, no knock out occurs it goes down to a judges score card which can be quite difficult to predict with usually only 1 or 2 points difference between fighters each round.

As with most sports games, while the computer players are fun to pummel for a while, this game definitely shines in multiplayer mode – either screeching at the buddy sitting next to you, or using your headset to screech at a stranger over Xbox live.

The graphics are highly polished, with the fighters even sporting delicious swelling and cuts as they take more damage. The realism is only slightly reduced by the impressive cascade of sweat that seems to pour off the fighters body after a bit of a work-out. The arenas, while not the focus of the attention are excellent and full of advertising, lighting and cheering crowds that give an authentic atmosphere to the game.

The sound too is brilliant, with the thump of fists, surprisingly bearable commentary, and the scream of the crowd all adding up to a very immersive boxing experience. The sound track is similar to most EA Sports games, with the standard mix of hip-hop, rock and techno with a few exclusive tracks from big names like Mr Snoop Dogg.

Controls are fantastic with a very pleasing learning curve, where even your non-gaming compatriots can get in on the action in minutes but as you put more time into the game you will find yourself constantly learning more of the nuances and tricks required to become the greatest of all time.

This game is a fantastic boxing simulator which will mainly appeal to existing fans of the genre but also has enough casual pick up and play enjoyment to warrant a rental even if you don't normally like sports games.