My UFC 2010 Undisputed Review

First I’d like to thank THQ for allowing community members to attend the event.  When all was said and done, I probably had a good three hours of gameplay time.

As an avid UFC 2009 player I wanted to provide details to the new game that the previous gamer would find important. 

The version we played essentially could be a demo, but if it is going to be the demo, than it is the greatest demo in the history of demos.  The modes available at the event were Exhibition, Tournament, and Create-A-Fighter.  The roster available was 8 heavyweights, and 8 welterweights.  Heavyweights included the previously shown fighters: Mir, Nog, Cain, Nelson (who looks fat-tastic), McSweeney, Schaub, and Jones, with Shane Carwin.  The welterweights were the usual bunch of GSP, Alves, Fitch, Serra, Thiago, and Swick with new guys Hardy and Trigg.

IN GENERAL

The gameplay is a lot more dynamic and is a much faster pace.  Plus, all speeds seem to have been normalized.  This means that moves like the flying Muy Thai knee or the Boxer’s lunging hook that were inexplicably faster than normal strikes are gone.  If you step punch you don’t fly across the cage and you travel at the same speed as the normal punches/steps.  Every move now looks completely realistic and the cage use has been done extremely well.  Perhaps my most shocked moment of the night was when I had full mounted an opponent and started to punch away, only for them to kick off the cage and land in my guard! 

STRIKING

All fighters have a custom moveset, so no two fighters are exactly the same.  This also means that there is more signature moves per fighter.  GSP has his unique ‘superman jab’ and a devastating sidekick that is responsible for the most ridiculous KO of the night.  Speaking of KOs, the randomly generated animations are gone and replaced with a physics based response.  This produces the most realistic KOs I have seen.  While the game does not allow you to keep hitting someone after the KO blow, it does make it seem like your fighter did not want to.  For example, as Fitch I high kick KOd Alves and after it connects Alves’ legs buckle and he collapses.  Fitch watches this and then raises his arms and walks away.  This segues right to the post-fight celebration which shows Thiago being attended to on the ground in the background.  Also, big change from last year is that no strikes will ‘freeze’ your fighter.  So when someone leg kicks you or throws body hooks you can keep striking and moving.  You will never be in a position striking where you cannot move.  Also, the sway really adds some dimension to the boxing.

CLINCH/TAKEDOWNS

Completely different.  Fighters pummel using transition just like the ground game.  You can also get to a thai clinch and let some knees fly – but it’s very escapable compared to last year’s version. 

Takedowns are much faster.  I remember Matt Serra shooting lightning double legs on opponents who were trying to strike.  And different characters have different takedowns.  GSP has his knee-tap, while Nogueira’s looks more like bum rush.  Most takedowns land you in half guard.

GROUND GAME

This is by far the most improved aspect of the game.  Fighters are constantly moving on the ground and transitions are completely redone.  I keep saying “more realistic” because it’s true and it applies here as well.  Gone are the ‘Guard Up & Mount Up’ positions where a fighter can just stop an opponent from transition and land one shot at a time.  Now you’re ground and pound is determined by the new posture system.  In guard, or in mount you can land short elbows and such.  But if you transition to a posture, you’re only slightly higher.  From here you need to land blows to keep elevating your posture and do real damage.  However, the higher you get, the better chance your opponent has to escape.  So if you’re in mount landing blows and get overzealous – you’re opponent may kick you off to a standing position!

TOURNAMENT MODE

Self-explanatory.  CPU vs. CPU matches are in.

CREATE-A-FIGHTER

First, you can give your fighter pre-recorded first and last names, as well as nicknames.  All dimensions have values attached to them so you can post your formulas online.  Color is now a Hue, Saturation , Intensity scale (think Photoshop) so you can select any color you want.  And when you create your fighter you can select post-fight celebration reactions and gear.  Plus, you can specify how the AI treats your CAF when you’re playing against him.

CONCLUSION

This is essentially a completely different game from last year.  THQ really has delivered the most realistic fighting game yet.  Every strike in this game matters so guard well (by the way the game automatically blocks the correct side for you).  The only downside to playing the game on Thursday night, is now I absolutely cannot go back to playing 2009!  But UFC 2010 is definitely worth the two month wait.