What I Think Of: EA Sports UFC

UFC and MMA in general can be a niche thing. Some people are WAY into it, others could really care less. Much like boxing. I am in the camp that likes watching someone get knocked the fuck out! I could do without all the ground humping. (Just an outside opinion, please don't punch me!)

THQ made several UFC games before they ceased to exist, and they were quite good. UFC Undisputed 3 was a pretty fantastic game. Also, EA came out with EA Sports MMA in 2010, which was also a pretty great game. So how does the latest trip to the Octagon fair? Well...

llllllllllLLLLLET'S GET READY TO R-(whoops, wrong Buffer)....

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIII'TS TIME!

It's best that I get this out of the way up front: This game looks pretty incredible. If you show a picture of virtual Jon Jones to a UFC fan, they would be able to tell right away. The facial hair looks great, the ring entrances look like you are watching a real televised event. This is next-gen UFC at it's finest.

Then you get into the actual fight and the attempt to knock someone the fuck out. While some animations look a little weird, overall it still looks fantastic. The punches and kicks look like they hurt, the fighters give facial grimaces when they get hit, the close up replays look great, and there is no better feeling than watching your fighter K.O. your opponent and watch him crumble to the mat.

The attention to detail is pretty superb. Besides the facial animations, the shorts move like they should, the hair moves as best as video game hair can (few moments of clipping but nothing too outrageous), and the blood looks real overall. (few look like ketchup but overall a real feel).

Great 'stache or GREATEST 'stache?

Now let's move on to the modes, which basically boil down to Quick Match, Career, and Online (There is a "Challenge" mode, which basically amounts to the training mini-games in Career mode).

When you start your career mode, you get the option of importing your EA Gameface, which never seems to work for me and makes me look like a mutant. I'm gonna blame the lighting and my weirdly shaped head. You then put your information in, run through a few drills, then go on The Ultimate Fighter. This basically amounts to your first few fights being MUST wins to progress, with no flair, no commentary, and being pretty boring.

Then you jump into the UFC ranks and begin the cycle: fight, 3 training mini-games, boost your attributes, fight, 3 training mini-games, boost your attributes, fight, 3 training mini-games, boost your attributes, fight....

Bored yet? See what I'm getting at?

Your opponent is picked for you, you don't have a choice. Along the way you gain sponsors which unlocks new gear for your fighter and you can add them to your banner that hangs from the cage.

One thing that I did find interesting is the inclusion of an "Abilities" system. Similar to Call of Duty perks. You have 5 slots in your "Game plan" in which to put various perks, and they can be ground focused, strike focused, or health focused.

Great beard or GREATEST beard?

Throughout the Career mode, you will get recorded videos from Dana White, as well as other UFC fighters and personalities. This is lame. First of all, most of them are in front of a green screen (and it's obvious) and secondly, they don't really have anything useful to say and don't ever reference YOU specifically, which is kinda what career mode should be all about. I can recall one video from Jon Jones that said "Hey, I read on the blogs that you got a new sponsor, keep it up". Unnecessary and unimportant and downright lame. I would have preferred a static image and some reference to my fighter by name.

Not all the video is bad though, when the game features a fighter or an aspect of fighting (The feeling of a K.O., the bounce-back from a loss, etc.), I found them at least enjoyable. Though, overall, I feel these videos to be dumb and really takes me out of the game.

Online play has some really interesting ideas. You can take part in tournaments where you move up or down a "season" depending on how many points you have. You may have 10 fights to get 15 points (3 for a win), and move up a rank, or down a rank if you do poorly within the tournament. You also can just fight in a straight quick match.

A problem I found here, however, is that there is no "Rematch" option after a fight. You have to go all the way back to the beginning, choose your weight class, and find someone else to play against. It would have been nice to have a "Rematch" option, or at least a "Find me another player NOW" option.

Great kick to the head, or GREATE.....you know never mind.

The controls in EA Sports UFC are worth at least mentioning. The game does a pretty good tutorial when you first boot the game up. It walks you though the various aspects of a fight: standing, on the ground, clinch, submissions, defense, etc. Then you forget everything by the first fight cause it's really confusing. I think the tutorial said to defend a takedown was RT and down on the R stick, even though I've never got that to work, and also I could be way wrong. When I am stuck in the full mount position, I jam on the R stick in circle motions to at least do something, anything, then I get knocked out, leaving me frustrated. I have had a couple of times where I flip over, giving up my back, then back to full mount, then giving up the back, and then getting knocked out. I guess I need to push LB while doing that. WHY? I don't want to put in "The Konami Code" just to stop getting punched in the face.

I mean I get the whole "easy to learn, difficult to master" thing, and I know I need to spend more time with it, but EA had a control scheme in EA Sports MMA that was easier to understand and fun.

Let's ring the bell on this (does the UFC use bells? Don't they use horns?). It seems that EA Sports UFC is EA's attempt to iterate on the THQ games instead of what should have been a hybrid of the THQ ideas and EA's ideas from MMA. I'm not saying this is a bad game, it looks great, and it is fun to play, but it just seems flat and boring at the same time.

Also, it's awesome that Bruce Lee is in the game.....but why is Bruce Lee in this game?

Greatest punch ever. That's all...