UFC: Undisputed (Xbox 360, PS3)

MMA fans have been waiting for a game that would capture the excitement and depth of the sport they love.   Although PRIDE FC had released an MMA game a few years back, it didn’t even come close to capturing the details of such an intricate sport as mixed martial arts. UFC: Undisputed is the latest attempt to bring the sport to consoles, taking full advantage of modern gaming technology. So how does it measure up to the real deal?

GRAPHICS 8/10

The character models in this game are awesome. The fighters look nearly identical to their real life counterparts and they take some realistic looking damage throughout the fights. Developer THQ managed to capture most of the details of all the fighters featured, most notably their trademark victory celebrations. Nothing is cooler than winning and seeing Rampage howl up at the sky or GSP do a back flip then start trying to windmill in the middle of the octagon.  The only gripe I have with the graphics are some of the backgrounds. The people in the audience look like heads on sticks for the most part. While Im not expecting to be able to read the beer label in someone’s hand in the audience, a little bit more detail would be nice. There is a huge discrepancy between how great the fighters look and how slopped together the crowd looks, especially in the front row.

PRESENTATION 9/10

There is a ton of polish on this game, other than some of the background graphics mentioned earlier. The menus are all very streamlined, the voice overs from Joe Rogan and Bruce Buffer are spot on. Even Dana makes an appearance or two. There are also a ton of MMA sponsor found on banners, shorts, and the octagon floor itself all adding to the authenticity. My only complaint is that there are a million save confirmation messages that pop up everythime you save something. It gets a bit irritating at times when you just want to get to the next scrap but have to suffer all of these pop up save confirmations that plague the game. this is just minor though, as the game’s presentation is definitely top notch.

GAMEPLAY 8/10

This is what really matters in this game. It would be nearly impossible to truly capture all of the possibilities that could come up in an MMA fight, but THQ does a pretty good job.  There are a total of 6 different fighting styles – 3 striking and 3 ground styles. The striking styles are: muay thai, kickboxing, and boxing. The ground game has: wrestling, judo, and of course jiu jitsu.  Every fighter in the game has a combination featuring one of each type, i.e. muay thai and jiu jitsu for Anderson Silva.

At first, limiting it to these styles may seem pretty bare, as mixed martial arts is just that- mixed. Fighters are never really training in only two disciplines, but it makes sense in terms of the game.  The styles are relatively the same from fighter to fighter. For instance, Thiago Alves plays almost identically to Shogun Rua simply because they both specialize in Muay thai and BJJ. What is cool is that each fighter has enough of their trademark mannerisms to make you feel like they control completely unique to others with similar styles. For instance, when BJ Penn throws a jab he bobs his head to the side immediately after, just like in real life. It’s little details like this that add to the overall experience.

The striking gameplay is surprisingly rewarding, perhaps the best aspect of the entire game.  There are a ton of devastating strikes in each fighters aresenal, all of which look awesome to pull off. Nothing is cooler than blasting someone with a superman punch from a few feet away and seeing your fist just crush the side of their face or blasting a head kick to an opponent’s unguarded temple.  They even managed to capture the clinch game, as dirty boxing and the muay thai clinch are utilized numerous times in a fight.  Shoots and sprawls are well executed, with stuffing takedowns feeling just as rewarding as driving someone into the mat.

Unfortunately, the ground component is pretty bare bones. Jiu jitsu experts only have one submission in their arsenal. While I haven’t tried every single fighter, the only performable submission I have found so far is a kimura, which seems very limited. When you’re on the ground, sometimes your fighter will throw up a random sub attempt like an armbar or triangle, but successfully submitting someone is nearly impossible unless their energy is completely drained.  Also, a lot of the control inputs on the ground don’t always execute as they should. You will be inputting the commands to transition to another position and your character will wind up doing nothing more than a butt scoot. It gets frustrating at times and I found myself wanting to stand it back up, even if I was using a fighter who is normally a beast on the mat.

Its a shame that they couldnt find a way to better incorporate the grappling aspects of a fight into this game. I’m sure in future UFC games they will find a way to upgrade this.  Luckily, the standing and clinching more than make up for any shortfalls of the ground portion.

OTHER 7/10

The game also features a career mode in which you can take a created fighter up through the ranks of the UFC. This feature is a mixed bag for me. while it is cool to put yourself in the game, or whatever character you decide to create, it is also a bit of a pain in the ass. For instance, you have to choose the training regimen for each week. You can focus on strength, cardio, speed, or sparring.  the only part you actually control is the sparring portion. The rest is simulated once you choose what you want to improve. this seems a bit tedious to me, and I would have liked to just skip ahead to the scrap itself. Some people may actually enjoy this mode, and I admit it was cool seeing my name up there victorious over GSP and other top fighters, but overall the mode isnt for me.

The other option is exhibition mode, which allows you to choose a created fighter or a real fighter from the UFC. This mode is awesome, but I would have liked the option to choose a current fighter and bring them up through the ranks of their weight class. Something like this would greatly add to the replay value instead of having to choose a fighter and an opponent after every match.  Another cool aspect is the online mode. This works basically the same as exhibition mode, only you can fight against other opponents via xbox live.  I’ve only tried a couple of online matches, but the lag was narely noticeable and its cool to see how a human opponent reacts.

OVERALL 8.5/10

This is a great game and it is definitely a blast to play. You get the impression that there will be future installments to this game franchise, especially with the growing popularity of MMA. Hopefully the future versions can add more to the ground fighting component of the game. As it is now, this game is still unmatched in terms of gaming MMA action. It is definitely one of the funnest games to come along in a loooong time. If you’re a gamer AND an MMA fan, this is a must have.