Reaching a final conclusion about Fight Night Round 3, the latest boxing game from EA Sports, is very easy. Do you like boxing online via Xbox Live or battling it out with a buddy on the same machine? If so, this third installment of Fight Night is a no-brainer. It's addictive, fun, and the best multiplayer boxing experience in video game form. However, if you're more of a solo gamer, then this latest update can be considered nothing more than a major disappointment.

The reason that Round 3 is an underachiever is because EA Sports seems to have really done nothing more than go through the motions to make the solo game better. Sure, the graphics look good despite the lack of an in-ring referee (although they look a whole lot better on the Xbox 360) the game's career mode, where you create a boxer from scratch and fight your way to a title, is woefully underdeveloped.

No longer do you see rankings in a weight class but rather a nebulous "popularity" meter that's supposed to tell you how close you are to a title shot. You also get a chosen "rival" who is supposed to be your arch nemesis but the game practically assigns this foe for you – it's not developed throughout the course of your career. This rival may be nothing more than a walk-over opponent; you could be 5-0 against this guy but he's still considered your rival. It's just plain silly. It's hard to classify something as a rivalry when one side beats the snot out of the other every time out.

The boxing world created by the career mode is cookie cutter thin. There's no personalities, no continuity – nothing. It's simply you battling your way up through the masses, earning popularity, to fight such guys like "Beast" and "Dollar Bill". It's strange that the announcer of the fights continue to call the boxers solely by their nickname rather than their real name. It's annoying and something EA Sports really needs to fix. If NCAA football can call its players by their last name, why can't Fight Night? How crazy would it be for Jim Lampley to call Bernard Hopkins, B-Hop or The Executioner throughout the course of a telecast on HBO? They'd fire him. Boxers in real life have nicknames, but their use in Fight Night continues to get overplayed.

The most egregious error in the solo game is the complete and utter inability of the AI boxers to put up a fight. As the career mode starts, you are an amateur boxer (headgear and all) beating other amateurs with ease even on the hardest level of difficulty. This is fine. The problem is after you're 25-0 and beating every fighter with relative ease, even the title bouts are shockingly easy. The AI has no strategy, no surprises – every fight plays out almost exactly the same and in the end it gets staggeringly boring.

Speaking of title bouts, after winning a belt of a particular weight class (many of which still are not in the game: no Cruiserweights, Super Middles, etc.) you are rewarded with…nothing. No celebration, no post fight cut scene – zip. You may have well just won a five round exhibition in Topeka. It's the most unrewarding "end game" sequence you can possibly imagine and rather surprising that EA would skimp in this department. You are left wondering after you have reached the pinnacle, "Is that all there is?"

The career mode still has the incredibly monotonous Training Mode where you get to beat on a heavy bag or do some weight training (thankfully you can automate this part of the game) and the Fight Store is also back for another spin. The store feature is admittedly pretty cool, although it's kind of silly that some new trunks improve your boxer's skill. Still, unlocking stuff with the cash you earn is pretty neat.

In order for Fight Night's career mode to be worthwhile, EA Sports simply must make the AI fighters competent and not all "stand in the middle of the ring counter punchers." In addition, creating a real boxing world would go a long way to make this mode worth playing. You should be able to view every current champion in each division, a complete ranking list, their records, and the fighters they have faced, and so on. If Madden, and NCAA can track all of this stuff, then why not Fight Night? As it stands, the solo game has limited features and a poor sense of scope with poor AI. Not good.

What is good, however, is when you take the Fight Night Round 3 engine online or play against a buddy while you both sit on the couch. This is where the game shines and why it's definitely worth buying if you're more of a multiplayer maven.

A few changes and additions make the fighting in the ring a lot more convincing. First off, the Haymakers aren't the golden punch that they used to be mainly because it's easier to see them coming – no longer does every fighter have a lightning fast Joe Frazier left hook. Two new punches, the Flash KO and the Stun, also add a lot to the game. The Flash punch can be devastatingly effective but it's very tough to pull off. This is needed in the game though because before every knockout was one of attrition; rarely would you see the big one punch KO and now that's possible, although still rare. The stun is a great way to get your opponent on the defensive. These new punches are great when playing two-player although you rarely even need them against the AI.