Tag Archives: UFC

The Ultimate Fighter 9 : Send Pierce HOME!

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Time to send this fool home. He’s a joke and makes the entire USA team look bad. It isn’t about the ipod incident or the fact that he discussed USA fighting strategies (which was f’ed up by the way) with the UK team either. Just from watching the past few shows you can see that the guy doesn’t want to be in the house, doesn’t appreciate the opportunity, doesn’t care for his teammates, and does not want to fight. All the negative energy he’s brings is just pathetic and I don’t see how he helps the American Team at all. Ship his monkey ass home already!

Off Topic: As much as I like the UK fighters, I got Dangerous Dan Henderson beating Mike Bisping via TKO in the 2nd round! I can’t stand Bisping. BOO!

UFC: Undisputed (Xbox 360, PS3)

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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.

Entertainment Wrap #12

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I’m super psyched about everything going down in the entertainment world this weekend, so this week’s wrap comes a little early! ( although some weeks it doesn’t show up at all lol) So without further ado…let’s get to it!

THEATERS

The summer blockbuster season is officially in full swing. to say that I’m pumped about this week’s releases is a bit of an understatement. On the big screen this week we have: Night at the Museum II, Dance Flick, and ….wait for it…wait for it…Terminator: Salvation! Night at the Museum is the sequel to the Ben Stiller flick where the entire museum comes alive due to a magic curse.  The original had some pretty good laughs and was pretty entertaining. The sequel seems a bit corny and overdone, but still worth watching. This seems like one of those rare movies that adults will be into just as much as the kiddies.

Then there’s the Wayans brothers’ Dance Flick. I’m not a huge fan of these slapstick satire movies that spoof a whole genre ala Disaster Flick. However, I’ve been laughing at the Wayans’ humor since the In Living Color days. Seeing as how they started this whole trend with the insanely funny Scary Movie  and Scary Movie 2 (every one after these two was just junk) I’m actually eager to see what they can bring to the table with Dance Flick. While the previews look a bit on the stupid side, they are funny stupid as opposed to stupid stupid.

Then there’s the movie I’ve been waiting for, perhaps my most anticipated film this summer, second only to Transformers 2, Terminator: Salvation. When I first found out it was going to be directed by Mc G (director of both Charlie’s Angels flicks) I was a bit worried. I thought enough damage had already been done to the franchise with T3 Rise of the Machines.  It wasn’t a bad movie, but nowhere near the standards of the first two. Then I saw the trailers for Salvation and I started to get excited. Now that the hype machine is in full swing and previews are everywhere, this movie looks sick! Not to mention Christian Bale as John Connor, which adds another layer of credibility to the flick in my book.

DVD

With such a killer week on all fronts, something’s got to give. That something is this week’s DVD releases. Out this week are: Valkyrie, Paul Blart : Mall Cop, and My Bloody Valentine.  I posted up a review for Valkyrie when it was in theaters. It’s actually a pretty decent thriller so for more info, look up that review.  Paul Blart: Mall Cop is pretty self explanatory. If you’ve seen the previews, you know everything that happens in this movie. If you haven’t, then its about a fat mall cop whose mall gets overrun by terrorists. Think Die Hard but instead of Bruce Willis it’s a fat mall cop running around trying to stop them.  My Bloody Valentine looked cool in theaters, but only for the fact it was in 3d. The DVD version comes with 3d glasses but they are the crappy red and blue lens ones that give more of a headache than anything.

GAMING

The gaming gods have heard our cries, and they have answered. the drought is now over. Out this week: UFC Undisputed, Bionic Commando, and Punch Out! UFC Undisputed looks to be a solid game. I can’t remember the last time I spent so much time playing a demo, but I was hooked on this one. They seem to have finally got MMA right in a video game. The game has a solid ground fighting component, the stand up fighting is crisp, and overall the controls and gameplay are pretty deep showing each fighter’s unique style. Although the demo only featured Chuck Lidell and Shogun, you could really get a feel for their individual styles, which the game captured perfectly.  For MMA and gaming fans, this is the best of both worlds and definitely worth picking up and its available for PS3 and 360.

Bionic Commando is the modern revamping of the classic 8 bit game featuring a commando with an Inspector Gadget arm who could swing from platform to platform. This new Bionic Commando is just awesome. The game features intense gunplay combined with the free swinging feeling of a Spiderman game. Its a bit hard to put into words, but after spending some time with the multi-player demo, this game has all the potential to be the next big game from Capcom and its also availalbe for Ps3 and 360.

Speaking of blasts from the past, Nintendo resurrects one of its greatest games of all time with Punch Out for the Wii.  I haven’t even tried a demo, but needless to say this game makes me overjoyed that I have a Wii. From the previews, players once again play as Little Mac and fight their way up through the ranks against Glass Joe, King Hippo, and a bunch of new opponents in classic Punch Out fashion. Sadly, there is no Iron Mike in this one, but it still looks like a blast to play.

MMA

This weekend is UFC 98. There is a UFC event just about every month. While the cards keep getting better and better, this one is unique in that it features a championship bout in which both the Champ, Rashad Evans, and the challenger, Lyoto Machida, are undefeated. What is even crazier is that the Champ is the underdog. While I don’t really care for Evans, he has beaten some of the best MMA fighters in the world. No one can argue that the man definitely earned his title. Then we have Machida, who is just an anomaly. He is an elusive striker who uses his point karate style of fighting to knock people out. So far, no one has been able to figure out him out.  Just when opponents seem to have got a lock on him, he side steps strikes.

It’s almost impossible to try and pick a winner for this one, but I’ll try.  I like Machida and I don’t like Evans, but I’m going to go with Evans on this one. So many times I’ve thought he was outgunned and just outclassed, but he manages to pull out a victory, and often in devastating fashion. It wouldn’t surprise me if Machida took this fight, but I’m going to go with Evans.

Prediction: Evans round 3, TKO

The other highly touted matchup on this card is between Matt Serra and Matt Hughes. While both fighters seem to be in the twilight of their careers, this one is interesting because it’s a grudge match that’s been in the making for a few years now and is ust finally going down. Neither fighter is a contender for the belt, but they should definitely bring the heat to each other.  This fight is also difficult to call. In his prime, Hughes was a beast, and if they met back then I would choose him to win hands down. He’s lost a bit of his fire and has become a highlight reel for his opponents in his last couple fights. 

Serra is a bit of a wild card. In my opinion, Hughes has beaten the better competition overall, but you can’t discount Serra at all.  Serra shocked the world when he crushed GSP, which is no easy feat.  Although Serra went on to lose the rematch, the fact that he is unpredictable and explosive enough to take out GSP says a lot. This is definitely a tough call, but I’m going to go with Serra because his jiu jitsu will be the deciding factor. Both fighters look fairly even on their feet, but I think Serra’s jits is better than Hughes’ wrestling.  this fight could easily go either way, but that’s my pick.

Prediction:  Serra  round 3, TKO

Like I said before, this week is stacked in terms of entertainment. That’s the week and that’s a wrap.